CN106332153A

CN106332153A - Method and device for controlling bandwidth in WLAN (wireless local area network)

Info

Publication number: CN106332153A
Application number: CN201510372945.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王云贵
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-06-30
Filing date: 2015-06-30
Publication date: 2017-01-11
Anticipated expiration: 2035-06-30
Also published as: CN106332153B

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a device for controlling the bandwidth in a WLAN (wireless local area network), so as to solve the problem that abandon of part of data packets causes a terminal to occupy the bandwidth of a channel, and the bandwidth of the channel is thus wasted. The method comprises steps: when a network device determines the bandwidth value occupied by a monitored service flow is larger than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, at least one QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object is reduced, and the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is reduced is sent to the monitored object. Thus, when the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow is larger than the maximum bandwidth threshold, the QoS parameter of the monitored object is adjusted, the service flow transmission chance of the monitored object is thus adjusted, the chance of transmitting a data packet by the monitored object is restrained, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the monitored object is further adjusted, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow is controlled to be in a reasonable range, and basically, bandwidth control is realized.

Description

Bandwidth control method and device in WLAN

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a bandwidth control method and apparatus in a WLAN.

Background

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are widely used in various places. In the WLAN, a wireless Access Point (AP) and a terminal are included. Wherein the terminal accesses the network through the wireless access point. A wireless controller may also be added to the WLAN to manage the access points.

In a WLAN, in order to ensure the service quality of a terminal in a service-level agreement (SLA) range, network devices such as a wireless controller and a wireless access point need to manage bandwidth consumed by a terminal service flow, that is, bandwidth control. For example, the network device configures a maximum bandwidth for each terminal device, when the terminal sends a service flow, the network device counts the service flow in the terminal unit time and compares the service flow with the maximum bandwidth, and if the service flow in the terminal unit time is greater than the maximum bandwidth of the terminal, part of data messages in the service flow are discarded, thereby achieving bandwidth control.

However, when the above method is used to perform bandwidth control, on one hand, the data packet in the service flow of the terminal is already sent to the network device and already occupies the air interface resource of the wireless medium, and in addition, after the network device discards part of the data packet in the data flow, the terminal may retransmit the data packet, further occupy the channel, and cause waste to the bandwidth of the channel.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a bandwidth control method and device in a WLAN (wireless local area network), which are used for solving the problem that in a bandwidth control mode, a terminal occupies the bandwidth of a channel due to the fact that a part of data messages are discarded, and the bandwidth of the channel is wasted.

The embodiment of the invention provides the following specific technical scheme:

in a first aspect, a method for controlling bandwidth in a WLAN includes:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment determines that a service flow occupied bandwidth value of a monitored object is larger than a maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, the network equipment reduces at least one QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object, the QoS parameter set comprises QoS parameters of the monitored object for different access types to access channels, wherein the network equipment is an Access Point (AP) or a wireless controller for managing the AP, the monitored object is a first terminal group or a first terminal associated with the AP, the first terminal group comprises one or more terminals associated with the AP, and the one or more terminals in the first terminal group are all terminals of a virtual AP associated with the AP;

and the network equipment sends the QoS parameter set with the reduced QoS parameters to the monitoring object.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after the network device reduces at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitoring object, the method further includes:

the network device determines that a bandwidth value occupied by a service flow of the monitored object is smaller than a minimum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and the network device increases at least one decreased QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object, wherein the minimum bandwidth threshold is smaller than the maximum bandwidth threshold, and the increased QoS parameter is smaller than or equal to the QoS parameter before the decrease;

and the network equipment sends the QoS parameter set with the increased QoS parameter to the monitoring object.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible manner,

reducing the QoS parameter, including one or more of: increasing an arbitration interframe space number AIFSN in the QoS parameters, increasing an Exponential Contention Window (ECW) in the QoS parameters, and decreasing a transmission opportunity TXOP limit in the QoS parameters.

With reference to the first aspect and any one of the second and third possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a third possible manner of the first aspect, before the reducing, by the network device, the QoS parameter, the method further includes:

determining that the access types of all data messages in the service flow are the same; and reducing the QoS parameters is to reduce the QoS parameters corresponding to the access types of the data messages in the service flow.

With reference to the first aspect and any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when the monitored object is a first terminal, sending the QoS parameter set with the QoS parameter reduced to the first terminal, includes:

sending a QoS parameter set modification message to the first terminal, wherein the QoS parameter set modification message comprises the QoS parameter set after QoS parameters are reduced, and the QoS parameter set modification message is a first beacon frame or an active probe response frame; wherein, the receiver address of the first beacon frame is a media access control MAC address of the first terminal, the MAC address of the first terminal is a unicast address, and the active probe response frame is a probe response frame that is actively sent to the terminal by the network device without depending on a probe request frame sent by the terminal;

when the monitoring object is a first terminal group, sending the QoS parameter set to the first terminal group, including:

the AP broadcasts a second beacon frame of the virtual AP, the second beacon frame including the set of QoS parameters after the QoS parameters are reduced.

In a second aspect, a bandwidth control apparatus in a WLAN, where the bandwidth control apparatus in the WLAN is implemented by a network device, and the network device is an access point AP or a wireless controller that manages the AP, and includes:

a processing unit, configured to determine that a bandwidth value occupied by a service flow of a monitored object is greater than a maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and reduce at least one QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object, where the QoS parameter set includes QoS parameters of access channels of different access types for the monitored object, where the monitored object is a first terminal group or a first terminal associated with the AP, the first terminal group includes one or more terminals associated with the AP, and the one or more terminals in the first terminal group are all terminals of a virtual AP associated with the AP;

a sending unit, configured to send the QoS parameter set with reduced QoS parameters to the monitoring object.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the processing unit is further configured to:

after reducing at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitoring object, determining that a bandwidth value occupied by a traffic flow of the monitoring object is smaller than a minimum bandwidth threshold of the monitoring object, and increasing the reduced at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitoring object, wherein the minimum bandwidth threshold is smaller than the maximum bandwidth threshold, and the increased QoS parameter is smaller than or equal to the QoS parameter before reduction;

the sending unit is further configured to send the QoS parameter set with increased QoS parameters to the monitoring object.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the reducing the QoS parameter includes one or more of: increasing an arbitration interframe space number AIFSN in the QoS parameters, increasing an Exponential Contention Window (ECW) in the QoS parameters, and decreasing a transmission opportunity TXOP limit in the QoS parameters.

With reference to the second aspect and any one of the first and second possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the processing unit is further configured to: before reducing the QoS parameter, determining that the access types of all data messages in the service flow are the same;

and the reducing the QoS parameter is to reduce only the QoS parameter corresponding to the access type of the data message in the service flow.

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when the monitored object is a first terminal, the sending unit, when sending the QoS parameter set with the reduced QoS parameter to the first terminal, is configured to:

sending a QoS parameter set modification message to the first terminal, wherein the QoS parameter set modification message comprises the QoS parameter set after QoS parameters are reduced, and the QoS parameter set modification message is a first beacon frame or an active probe response frame; wherein, the receiver address of the first beacon frame is a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the first terminal, the MAC address of the first terminal is a unicast address, and the active probe response frame is a probe response frame which is actively sent to the terminal by the device independent of a probe request frame sent by the terminal;

when the monitoring object is a first terminal group, the network device is an AP, and the sending unit is configured to, when sending the QoS parameter set with the QoS parameter reduced to the first terminal group:

broadcasting a second beacon frame for the virtual AP, the second beacon frame including the set of QoS parameters after decreasing the QoS parameters.

By adopting the bandwidth control method in the WLAN, the network equipment determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the monitored service flow is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitored object can be reduced, and the QoS parameter set with the QoS parameter reduced is sent to the monitored object.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an EDCA parameter set element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for controlling bandwidth in a WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a detailed flowchart of a bandwidth control method in a first WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a detailed flowchart of a bandwidth control method in a second WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a bandwidth control apparatus in a WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiment of the invention provides a bandwidth control method and a bandwidth control device, which are used for solving the problem that in a bandwidth control mode, a terminal occupies the bandwidth of a channel due to the fact that a part of data messages are discarded, and the bandwidth of the channel is wasted. The method and the device are based on the same inventive concept, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not repeated.

Conventionally, when a network device performs bandwidth control, it determines that a service flow of a terminal in a unit time is greater than a maximum bandwidth of the terminal, and discards part of data packets in the service flow, so that the service flow of the terminal is transmitted to the network device, and the bandwidth of a channel is occupied. In the embodiment of the present invention, the network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the monitored service flow is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, reduces at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitored object, and sends the QoS parameter set with the reduced QoS parameter to the monitored object. Therefore, when the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold, the QoS parameter of the monitored object is adjusted, so that the transmission opportunity of the service flow of the monitored object is adjusted, the opportunity of the monitored object for sending the data message is inhibited, and the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the monitored object is adjusted, so that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow is controlled in a reasonable range, the bandwidth control is fundamentally realized, and the waste of the bandwidth of a channel caused by discarding the data message when the service flow exceeding the preset bandwidth threshold is transmitted can be avoided.

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for controlling bandwidth in a WLAN, which can be applied to, but not limited to, a WLAN network architecture as shown in fig. 1, where the network architecture includes a wireless controller 101, a wireless access point 102, a terminal 103, and the like. Wherein,

the wireless controller 101 may be an access gateway, a network switch, a router, etc., and is responsible for controlling or managing the wireless access point, and may also perform service configuration and radio frequency configuration on the wireless access point.

A wireless access point 102, or simply access point, includes Stations (STAs) and provides access to a distribution service (distribution service) for associated STAs via a Wireless Medium (WM).

The terminal 103 may be a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a wearable device, an electronic book reader (e-book reader), and the like. The terminal 103 associates to the wireless access point 102 as a STA in the WLAN.

Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) may be used to provide a prioritized access mechanism in WLANs. In a network using EDCA, a wireless access point transmits an EDCA Parameter Set element (EDCA Parameter Set element) including a Quality of Service (QoS) Parameter Set to a terminal. The QoS parameter set includes QoS parameters of a terminal for different access types (AC), where the access types include: AC _ BE (meaning best effort), AC _ BK (meaning background), AC _ VI (meaning video), and AC _ VO (meaning voice service). QoS parameters for each access type, such as a minimum size and a maximum size of an exponential form contention window (hereinafter, referred to as "contention window"), a transmission opportunity (TXOP) limit, and the like. Therefore, different values are set for the QoS parameters of each access type, so that some multimedia real-time services (such as AC _ VI and AC _ VO type services) have more opportunities to access channels, the time delay of the multimedia real-time services is reduced, the data transmission of the multimedia real-time services is smoother, and the user experience is improved.

Referring to fig. 2, the EDCA parameter set element specifies setting different QoS parameters for different access types, where the meaning of the fields is as follows.

The Element identification (english: Element ID) is a unique identification of the EDCA parameter set Element, for distinguishing from other elements.

Length (english: Length), which is the parameter Length of an EDCA parameter set element, does not include the element identification and Length fields.

The QoS Info, which indicates Quality of Service Information (english), includes a sub-option, which is an EDCA Parameter Set Update counter (EDCA Parameter Set Update Count) for notifying the terminal whether the EDCA Parameter Set element is changed.

As shown in the figure, the parameter recording field of each access type includes an AC index (AC index, ACI)/an arbitration inter-frame space number (AIFSN), an exponential contention window, and a transmission opportunity (TXOP) limit. Wherein:

the ACI/AIFSN includes AIFSN. The AIFSN indicates the number of slots delayed after a short interframe space (SIFS) time when the terminal accesses the network, and the smaller the parameter value, the shorter the time the terminal waits for accessing the channel.

ECW is the size of a contention window of EDCA, the value determines the size of the terminal average back-off time, the smaller the value is, the shorter the terminal average back-off time is, wherein the ECW parameters comprise the minimum size (ECWmin) of the ECW and the maximum size (ECWmax) of the ECW;

the TXOP limit represents a time limit for the terminal to occupy the wireless medium to transmit data, and the larger the value, the longer the terminal can continue to occupy the channel.

The QoS parameters such as AISFN, ECW, TxOP, etc. contained in the parameter record field of each access type in the EDCA parameter set cell may be collectively referred to as a QoS parameter set.

The network device sends the EDCA parameter set element to the terminal. The EDCA parameter set element includes QoS parameter sets for processing respective access types set by the network device for the terminal. The network device may have different QoS parameters configured for different access types. For example, smaller AIFSN, ECWmin and ECWmax and larger TxOP are configured for AC _ VI and AC _ VO that need real-time transmission, while larger AIFSN, ECWmin and ECWmax and smaller TxOP are configured for other access types, so that AC _ VI and AC _ VO traffic have higher priority when accessing the channel, and other traffic has lower priority, which meets the needs of real-time traffic and obtains better traffic experience.

Referring to fig. 3, a method for controlling a bandwidth in a WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a network device, such as a wireless controller, a wireless access point, and the like, and a processing flow of the method includes:

step 301: the method comprises the steps that a network device determines that a service flow occupied bandwidth value of a monitored object is larger than a maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, the network device reduces at least one QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object, the QoS parameter set comprises QoS parameters of the monitored object for different access types to access channels, the network device is an AP or a wireless controller for managing the AP, the monitored object is a first terminal group or a first terminal associated with the AP, the first terminal group comprises one or more terminals associated with the AP, and the one or more terminals in the first terminal group are all terminals of a virtual AP associated with the AP.

When the network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the monitored object is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, the network device will discard part of the data messages in the service flow, which is the same as the conventional method, and the method is not described again.

The monitored object may be a first terminal or a first terminal group, the first terminal is a terminal associated with the AP, the first terminal group is a terminal group associated with the AP, and one or more terminals in the first terminal group are all terminals of a virtual AP associated with the AP.

In an actual WLAN network, a plurality of service sets are usually distinguished according to different user identity categories or different services, each service set has a corresponding unique Service Set Identifier (SSID), for example, a service set used for a client to access, and the SSID is SSID _ Guest; a service set for staff access, wherein SSID is SSID _ employee; and the SSID is SSID _ TV.

A plurality of virtual APs may be created on an AP, where each virtual AP has a unique identifier, i.e., a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), and the BSSID may be a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the virtual AP. The BSSID of each virtual AP may generate one SSID, but each service set may be generated by one or more virtual APs.

Terminals having the same SSID and BSSID may be set as one terminal group, or terminals having the same SSID may be set as one terminal group. That is, the terminals in one terminal group are all terminals associated with one virtual AP, or the terminals in one terminal group are all terminals associated with a plurality of virtual APs having the same SSID.

In a WLAN where a terminal group is deployed, the network device may allocate QoS parameter sets directly for one terminal group, so that each terminal in the terminal group may access the channel using the same QoS parameters, while in a WLAN network where a terminal group is not deployed, the network device allocates QoS parameter sets for each terminal.

The service flow generates a service flow sent to the network side for the monitoring object, or a service flow sent to the monitoring object by the network side, or a sum of the two, which is not limited in the present invention.

The method for determining the bandwidth occupied by the service flow of the monitoring object by the network equipment comprises the following steps:

the network device determines the capacity per unit time to transmit the traffic flow.

Optionally, before executing step 301, the method further includes: the network device determines bandwidth configuration information of the monitored object. The bandwidth configuration information includes a maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and optionally may further include a minimum bandwidth threshold.

Optionally, the bandwidth configuration information may be set for all terminals that may be associated with the network device, or may be set for different terminals or terminal groups, respectively. When the bandwidth configuration information is for a different terminal, the bandwidth configuration information also contains a terminal identification of the terminal. When the bandwidth configuration information is set separately for different terminal groups, the bandwidth configuration information further includes an SSID and/or a BSSID of the terminal group.

The network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the monitored object is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and at this time, in order to ensure the service quality within the SLA range, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the monitored object needs to be reduced, so that the transmission opportunity of the service flow of the monitored object needs to be reduced, that is, at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitored object needs to be reduced.

Optionally, the QoS parameter is reduced, including one or more of:

increasing AIFSN in the QoS parameters, increasing ECW in the QoS parameters, and decreasing TXOP limit in the QoS parameters.

Wherein ECW includes ECWmin and ECWmax, therefore, when ECW is increased or decreased, ECWmin and ECWmax need to be increased simultaneously.

According to the above meaning of the fields in EDCA, when the AIFSN indicates that the terminal accesses the network, the number of time slots delayed after SIFS time, the smaller the parameter value, the shorter the time that the terminal waits for accessing the channel, so that the transmission opportunity of the service stream of the monitored object is reduced, the AIFSN can be increased, and the time that the terminal waits for accessing the channel is increased; the ECW determines the size of the average back-off time of the terminal, and the smaller the value is, the shorter the average back-off time of the terminal is, so that the opportunity of transmitting the service stream of the monitored object is reduced, the ECW can be increased, and the back-off time of the terminal for accessing the channel is increased; the TXOP limit represents the time limit for the terminal to occupy the wireless medium for transmitting data, and the larger the value is, the longer the terminal can continuously occupy the channel, so that the transmission opportunity of the traffic stream of the monitored object is reduced, the TXOP limit can be reduced, and the time for the terminal to continuously occupy the channel is reduced.

Because the QoS parameter set includes the QoS parameters of the monitoring object for different access types of access channels, the QoS parameters of each access type in the QoS parameter set can be optionally adjusted, increased or decreased, so that the transmission opportunity of the service stream of the monitoring object can be reduced when the monitoring object sends or receives the service stream of any access type, or when the monitoring object sends or receives the service streams of multiple access types.

Optionally, before the network device decreases the QoS parameter, the method further includes:

and determining that the access types of all the data messages in the service flow are the same.

And reducing the QoS parameters is to reduce only the QoS parameters corresponding to the access types of the data messages in the service flow.

Specifically, decreasing the QoS parameter includes one or more of: increasing only the AIFSN of the access type for data packets in the traffic flow in the QoS parameter set, increasing only the ECW of the access type for data packets in the traffic flow in the QoS parameter set, and decreasing only the TXOP limit for the access type for data packets in the traffic flow in the QoS parameter set. Therefore, when the monitoring object sends or receives one access type, the service flow transmission opportunity of the monitoring object aiming at the access type is reduced, and the service flow transmission opportunities of other access types can be ensured to be unchanged.

The determining the access type of the data message in the service flow comprises the following steps:

and the network equipment determines the access type of the data message according to the priority of the data message in the service flow. The data packet includes a priority field for indicating the priority of the data packet, such as type of service (TOS), class of service (COS), Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP), and the like, which can be used to indicate the priority of the data packet. The network device and the terminal are generally provided with a corresponding relation between the priority and the access type in the data message, so that the access type of the data message sent by the terminal can be estimated according to the value of the priority in the data message.

For example, the COS priority value in the MAC header ranges from 0 to 7, where the COS priority value is 6, the access type corresponding to 7 is AC _ VO, and the COS priority field is 4, and the access type corresponding to 5 is AC _ VI. For example, the value of the DSCP Class Selector (CS) in the IP packet header includes CS0-CS6, where each CS value may be mapped to a MAC header priority, for example, the MAC header priority value corresponding to CS0 is 0, the corresponding access type is AC _ BK, the MAC header priority value corresponding to CS6 is 7, and the corresponding access type is AC _ VO.

Step 302: and the network equipment sends the QoS parameter set with the reduced QoS parameter to the monitoring object.

Optionally, when the monitored object is a first terminal, in step 302, the method includes:

sending a QoS parameter set modification message to the first terminal, wherein the QoS parameter set modification message comprises the QoS parameter set after QoS parameters are reduced, and the QoS parameter set modification message is a first beacon frame or an active probe response frame; the receiver address of the first beacon frame is the MAC address of the first terminal, the MAC address of the first terminal is a unicast address, and the active probe response frame is a probe response frame that is actively sent to the terminal by the network device without depending on a probe request frame sent by the terminal.

Specifically, the sending the QoS parameter set modification message to the first terminal includes: and sending a QoS parameter set modification message carrying an EDCA parameter set element to the first terminal, wherein the QoS parameter set is included in the EDCA parameter set element.

The receiver address in the first beacon frame is the MAC address of the first terminal, and the first beacon frame is a unicast beacon frame, so that other terminals do not process the unicast beacon frame even after receiving the unicast beacon frame, the purpose of the modified QoS parameter set is ensured, and the adjusted QoS parameter set is accurately sent to the first terminal.

Generally, the network device sends the corresponding probe response frame to the terminal only after receiving the probe request frame of the terminal, and the active probe response frame can be actively sent to the terminal at any time without receiving the probe request frame again, so that the network device can accurately send the adjusted QoS parameter set to the first terminal at a specified time without being triggered by the terminal.

Optionally, when the monitored object is the first terminal group, in step 302, the method includes:

the AP broadcasts a second beacon frame of the virtual AP, wherein the second beacon frame comprises the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is reduced.

If the terminals in a terminal group are all terminals associated with a virtual AP, the AP's broadcast frame is a second beacon frame of the virtual AP, the second beacon frame including the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is reduced. If the terminals in a terminal group are all terminals of a plurality of virtual APs associated with the same SSID, the AP broadcasts second beacon frames of the virtual APs, that is, the SSID of each second beacon frame is the same and the BSSID is different, and each second beacon frame includes the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is reduced. In this way, the adjusted QoS parameter set is accurately transmitted to all terminals in the first terminal group.

After step 302, further comprising:

The network device determines that a bandwidth value occupied by a service flow of a monitored object is smaller than a minimum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and at this time, in order to ensure quality of service transmission, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the monitored object needs to be increased, so that a transmission opportunity of the service flow of the monitored object needs to be increased, that is, at least one QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object needs to be increased.

After reducing at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitored object in step 301, the service flow transmission opportunity of the monitored object is reduced, so that it may happen that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the monitored object is smaller than the minimum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, obviously, the service flow transmission opportunity after reducing the QoS parameter cannot meet the transmission requirement of the service, and therefore, the reduced QoS parameter needs to be recovered, and therefore, the reduced QoS parameter is increased, and the increased QoS parameter needs to be smaller than or equal to the QoS parameter before reduction.

Increasing the QoS parameter, including one or more of: decreasing AIFSN in the QoS parameters, decreasing ECW in the QoS parameters, and increasing TXOP limit in the QoS parameters.

According to the above meaning of the fields in EDCA, when the AIFSN indicates that the terminal accesses the network, the number of time slots delayed after SIFS time, the smaller the parameter value, the shorter the time that the terminal waits for accessing the channel, so that the transmission opportunity of the service stream of the monitored object is increased, the AIFSN can be reduced, and the time that the terminal waits for accessing the channel is reduced; the ECW determines the size of the average back-off time of the terminal, and the smaller the value is, the shorter the average back-off time of the terminal is, so that the opportunity of transmitting the service stream of the monitored object is increased, the ECW can be reduced, and the back-off time of the terminal for accessing the channel is reduced; the TXOP limit represents a time limit for the terminal to occupy the wireless medium for transmitting data, and the larger the value, the longer the terminal can continuously occupy the channel, and therefore, increasing the transmission opportunity of the traffic stream of the monitored object can increase the TXOP limit and increase the time for the terminal to continuously occupy the channel.

Because the QoS parameter set comprises the QoS parameters of the monitoring object for different access types of access channels, when the QoS parameters are reduced, the QoS parameters of each access type can be reduced, and when the QoS parameters are increased, only one reduced QoS parameter can be increased.

Before the network device increases the QoS parameter, the method further includes:

determining that the access types of all data messages in the service flow are the same;

increasing the QoS parameter is to increase only the QoS parameter corresponding to the access type of the data packet in the service flow, and specifically includes one or more of the following: decreasing only the AIFSN of the access type for data packets in the traffic flow in the QoS parameter set, decreasing only the ECW of the access type for data packets in the traffic flow in the QoS parameter set, and increasing only the TXOP limit for the access type for data packets in the traffic flow in the QoS parameter set. Therefore, when the monitoring object sends or receives one access type, the service stream transmission opportunity of the monitoring object aiming at the access type is increased, and the service stream transmission opportunities of other access types can be ensured to be unchanged.

The specific step of the network device sending the QoS parameter set with the increased QoS parameter to the monitoring object is the same as the step of the network device sending the QoS parameter set with the decreased QoS parameter to the monitoring object in step 302, which is not described again in the present invention.

By adopting the bandwidth control method in the WLAN in the above embodiment of the present invention, the network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the monitored traffic flow is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, will reduce at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitored object, and sends the QoS parameter set with the QoS parameter reduced to the monitored object, so that, by adopting the bandwidth control method, when the bandwidth value occupied by the traffic flow is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold, the QoS parameter of the monitored object is adjusted, thereby adjusting the traffic flow transmission opportunity of the monitored object (terminal or terminal group), suppressing or improving the opportunity of the terminal or terminal group to send data packets, further adjusting the bandwidth value occupied by the traffic flow of the terminal or terminal group, controlling the bandwidth value occupied by the traffic flow within a reasonable range, fundamentally realizing bandwidth control, and avoiding transmitting traffic flow exceeding the preset bandwidth threshold, discarding data packets results in a waste of channel bandwidth.

Based on the above embodiments, the present invention further provides a bandwidth control method in a WLAN, where the method is directed to a single terminal, as shown in fig. 4, where a network device is an AP or a wireless controller that manages the AP, and a specific flow of the method includes:

step 401: and the network equipment determines the bandwidth value occupied by the current service flow of the terminal.

The network device determines the capacity per unit time to transmit the traffic flow. The service flow may be a service flow generated by the terminal and sent to the network side, or a service flow sent by the network side to the terminal, or a sum of the two, which is not limited in the present invention.

Step 402: the network equipment determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the terminal, and reduces the QoS parameters in the QoS parameter set of the terminal.

The network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the terminal, and at this time, in order to ensure the service quality within the SLA range, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal needs to be reduced, so that the transmission opportunity of the service flow of the terminal needs to be reduced, that is, at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the terminal needs to be reduced.

Optionally, the QoS parameter is reduced, including one or more of:

increasing AIFSN in the QoS parameters of the terminal, increasing ECW in the QoS parameters of the terminal, and decreasing TXOP limits in the QoS parameters of the terminal.

Optionally, the QoS parameter corresponding to each access type in the QoS parameter set of the terminal may be reduced, or only the QoS parameter corresponding to the access type of the data packet in the service flow in the QoS parameter set of the terminal is adjusted when it is determined that the access types of all the data packets in the service flow are the same.

Step 403: and the network equipment sends the QoS parameter set with the decreased QoS parameter to the terminal through the first beacon frame or the active probe response frame.

The receiver address of the first beacon frame is a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the first terminal, and the MAC address of the first terminal is a unicast address. The first beacon frame is also referred to as a unicast beacon frame.

Specifically, in step 403, a first beacon frame or an active probe response frame carrying an EDCA parameter set element including a QoS parameter set after reducing a QoS parameter is sent to the terminal.

The receiver address in the first beacon frame is the MAC address of the terminal, so that other terminals do not process the first beacon frame even after receiving the first beacon frame, and the adjusted QoS parameter set is accurately transmitted to the terminal.

Generally, the network device sends the corresponding probe response frame to the terminal only after receiving the probe request frame of the terminal, and the active probe response frame can be actively sent to the terminal at any time without receiving the probe request frame again, so that the network device can accurately send the adjusted QoS parameter set to the terminal at a specified time without the need of terminal triggering.

After receiving the QoS parameter set obtained in step 403 after reducing the QoS parameter, the terminal accesses the channel according to the QoS parameter therein, and reduces the traffic stream transmission opportunity of the terminal, that is, reduces the bandwidth occupied by the traffic of the terminal.

Step 404: and the network equipment determines the bandwidth value occupied by the current service flow of the terminal.

After the terminal reduces the service flow transmission opportunity, the network device continues to determine the bandwidth value occupied by the current service quantity of the terminal.

Step 405: and the network equipment determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal is smaller than the minimum bandwidth threshold of the terminal, and increases the reduced QoS parameters in the QoS parameter set of the terminal.

The network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal is smaller than the minimum bandwidth threshold of the terminal, and at this time, in order to ensure the service transmission quality, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal needs to be increased, so that the service flow transmission opportunity of the terminal needs to be increased, that is, at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the terminal is increased.

When the network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal is smaller than the minimum bandwidth threshold of the terminal, it indicates that the transmission opportunity of the service flow with the reduced QoS parameter cannot meet the transmission requirement of the service, and therefore, the reduced QoS parameter needs to be recovered. I.e. the increased QoS parameter set cannot be larger than the original QoS parameter before the decrease.

Optionally, the QoS parameter is increased, including one or more of the following:

decreasing the AIFSN in the QoS parameters of the terminal, decreasing the ECW in the QoS parameters of the terminal, and increasing the TXOP limit in the QoS parameters of the terminal.

Optionally, the reduced QoS parameters corresponding to each access type in the QoS parameter set of the terminal may be reduced, or only the reduced QoS parameters corresponding to the access types of the data packets in the service flow in the QoS parameter set of the terminal are increased when it is determined that the access types of all the data packets in the service flow are the same.

Step 406: and the network equipment sends the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is added to the terminal through the first beacon frame or the active probe response frame.

After step 406, the network device will continue to adjust the QoS parameters in the terminal QoS parameter set according to the bandwidth occupied by the service flow of the terminal, the maximum bandwidth threshold, and the minimum bandwidth threshold, but the adjusted QoS parameters cannot be larger than the initial QoS parameters. Therefore, the network equipment can adjust the QoS parameter of the terminal through the bandwidth occupied by the service flow, thereby adjusting the transmission opportunity of the service flow of the terminal, inhibiting or improving the opportunity of the terminal for sending the data message, further adjusting the bandwidth occupied by the service flow of the terminal, controlling the bandwidth occupied by the service flow within a reasonable range, fundamentally realizing bandwidth control, and avoiding the bandwidth waste of a channel caused by discarding the data message when the service flow exceeding the preset bandwidth threshold is transmitted.

Based on the above embodiments, the present invention further provides a bandwidth control method in a WLAN, which is shown in fig. 5 for a terminal group, where a network device is an AP or a wireless controller that manages the AP, and the specific flow of the method includes:

in an actual WLAN network, a plurality of terminal groups are usually distinguished according to different user identity categories or different services, and each terminal group has a corresponding unique SSID. When multiple service groups are deployed, optionally, multiple virtual access points may be created on the wireless access point, and each virtual access point is uniquely matched with one terminal group, where each virtual access point also has a unique identification BSSID, and the BSSID may be a MAC address of the virtual access point, and obviously, the MAC address of each virtual access point matches an SSID of one unique terminal group.

Step 501: the network device determines the bandwidth value occupied by the current traffic flow of a terminal group.

The network device determines the capacity per unit time to transmit the traffic flow. The service flow may be a service flow generated by all terminals in the terminal group and sent to the network side, or a service flow sent by the network side to the terminal group, or a sum of the two, which is not limited in the present invention.

Step 502: and the network equipment determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal group is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the terminal group, and reduces the QoS parameters in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group.

The network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal group is greater than the maximum bandwidth threshold of the terminal group, and at this time, in order to ensure the service quality within the SLA range, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal group needs to be reduced, so that the transmission opportunity of the service flow of the terminal group needs to be reduced, that is, at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group is reduced.

Optionally, the QoS parameter is reduced, including one or more of:

increasing AIFSN in the QoS parameters of the terminal group, increasing ECW in the QoS parameters of the terminal group, and decreasing TXOP limit in the QoS parameters of the terminal group.

Optionally, the QoS parameters corresponding to each access type in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group may be all reduced, or only the QoS parameters corresponding to the access types of the data packets in the service flow in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group are adjusted when it is determined that the access types of all the data packets in the service flow are the same.

Step 503: and the network equipment sends the QoS parameter set with the decreased QoS parameter to the terminal group through the second beacon frame.

If the terminals in a terminal group are all terminals associated with a virtual AP, the AP broadcasts a second beacon frame of the virtual AP, the second beacon frame including the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is reduced. If the terminals in a terminal group are all terminals of a plurality of virtual APs associated with the same SSID, the AP broadcasts second beacon frames of the virtual APs, that is, the SSID of each second beacon frame is the same and the BSSID is different, and each second beacon frame includes the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is reduced.

Specifically, in step 503, a first beacon frame carrying an EDCA parameter set element including a QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is reduced is broadcast to the terminal group.

After receiving the QoS parameter set with the reduced QoS parameter in step 503, all terminals in the terminal group access the channel according to the QoS parameter therein, and reduce the transmission opportunity of the traffic stream of each terminal in the terminal group, that is, reduce the bandwidth occupied by the traffic of the terminal group.

Step 504: and the network equipment determines the bandwidth value occupied by the current service flow of the terminal group.

After the terminal group reduces the transmission opportunity of the service stream, the network equipment continues to determine the bandwidth value occupied by the current service volume of the terminal group.

Step 505: and the network equipment determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal group is smaller than the minimum bandwidth threshold of the terminal, and increases the reduced QoS parameters in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group.

The network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal group is smaller than the minimum bandwidth threshold of the terminal group, and at this time, in order to ensure the service transmission quality, the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal group needs to be increased, so that the transmission opportunity of the service flow of the terminal group needs to be increased, that is, at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group is increased.

When the network device determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the service stream of the terminal group is smaller than the minimum bandwidth threshold of the terminal group, it indicates that the transmission opportunity of the service stream with the reduced QoS parameter cannot meet the transmission requirement of the service, and therefore, the reduced QoS parameter needs to be recovered. I.e. the increased QoS parameter set cannot be larger than the original QoS parameter before the decrease.

decreasing AIFSN in the QoS parameters of the terminal group, decreasing ECW in the QoS parameters of the terminal group, and increasing TXOP limit in the QoS parameters of the terminal group.

Optionally, the reduced QoS parameters corresponding to each access type in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group may be reduced, or only the corresponding reduced QoS parameters of the data packets in the service flow in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group may be increased when it is determined that the access types of all the data packets in the service flow are the same.

Step 506: and the network equipment sends the QoS parameter set added with the QoS parameter to the terminal group through the beacon frame.

After step 506, the network device will continue to adjust the QoS parameters in the QoS parameter set of the terminal group according to the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow of the terminal group, the maximum bandwidth threshold, and the minimum bandwidth threshold, but the QoS parameters adjusted cannot be larger than the initial QoS parameters. Therefore, the network equipment can adjust the QoS parameters of the terminal group through the service flow occupation bandwidth value, thereby adjusting the transmission opportunity of the service flow of the terminal group, inhibiting or improving the opportunity of the terminal for sending the data message, further adjusting the service flow occupation bandwidth value of the terminal group, controlling the service flow occupation bandwidth value in a reasonable range, fundamentally realizing bandwidth control, and avoiding the waste of the bandwidth of a channel caused by discarding the data message when the service flow exceeding the preset bandwidth threshold is transmitted.

Based on the above embodiment, the present invention further provides a bandwidth control apparatus in a WLAN, where the bandwidth control apparatus in the WLAN is implemented by a network device, and the network device is an AP or a wireless controller that manages the AP, and referring to fig. 6, the apparatus 600 includes: a processing unit 601, and a sending unit 602, wherein,

a processing unit 601, configured to determine that a bandwidth value occupied by a traffic flow of a monitored object is greater than a maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and reduce at least one QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object, where the QoS parameter set includes QoS parameters of access channels of different access types for the monitored object, where the monitored object is a first terminal group or a first terminal associated with the AP, the first terminal group includes one or more terminals associated with the AP, and the one or more terminals in the first terminal group are all terminals of a virtual AP associated with the AP;

a sending unit 602, configured to send the QoS parameter set with reduced QoS parameters to the monitoring object.

Optionally, the processing unit 601 is further configured to:

the sending unit 602 is further configured to send the QoS parameter set with increased QoS parameters to the monitoring object.

Optionally, the reducing the QoS parameter includes one or more of: increasing an arbitration interframe space number AIFSN in the QoS parameters, increasing an Exponential Contention Window (ECW) in the QoS parameters, and decreasing a transmission opportunity TXOP limit in the QoS parameters.

Optionally, the processing unit 601 is further configured to:

before reducing the QoS parameter, determining that the access types of all data messages in the service flow are the same;

Optionally, when the monitored object is a first terminal, the sending unit 602, when sending the QoS parameter set with the QoS parameter reduced to the first terminal, is configured to:

when the monitoring object is a first terminal group, the network device is an AP, and the sending unit 602 is configured to, when sending the QoS parameter set with the QoS parameter reduced to the first terminal group,:

The division of the unit in the embodiment of the present invention is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, for example, the first obtaining unit and the second obtaining unit may be the same obtaining unit or different obtaining units, or some features may be omitted, or may not be executed. In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. All or part of the technical solution of the present application may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a processor to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiment of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: flash memory disks (english: flash memory disks), portable hard disks, and various other media capable of storing program codes.

Based on the above embodiments, the present invention further provides a network device, where the network device is an AP or a wireless controller managing the AP, and as shown in fig. 7, the network device 700 includes: a transceiver 701, a processor 702, and a memory 703, wherein:

the transceiver 701, the processor 702, and the memory 703 are connected to each other.

The transceiver 701 is used for the associated terminal or terminal group to perform communication, such as receiving the traffic flow of the terminal or terminal group, and sending the QoS parameter set to the terminal or terminal.

The processor 702 is configured to implement the method for bandwidth control in the WLAN shown in fig. 3 according to the embodiment of the present invention, including:

determining that a traffic flow occupied bandwidth value of a monitored object is greater than a maximum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and reducing at least one QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object, wherein the QoS parameter set comprises QoS parameters of the monitored object for different access types to access channels, the monitored object is a first terminal group or a first terminal associated with the AP, the first terminal group comprises one or more terminals associated with the AP, and the one or more terminals in the first terminal group are all terminals of a virtual AP associated with the AP;

and sending the QoS parameter set with the reduced QoS parameters to the monitoring object.

Optionally, after reducing at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitoring object, the method further includes:

determining that a bandwidth value occupied by a service flow of the monitored object is smaller than a minimum bandwidth threshold of the monitored object, and increasing at least one decreased QoS parameter in a QoS parameter set of the monitored object, wherein the minimum bandwidth threshold is smaller than the maximum bandwidth threshold, and the increased QoS parameter is smaller than or equal to the QoS parameter before being decreased;

and sending the QoS parameter set after the QoS parameter is increased to the monitoring object.

Optionally, reducing the QoS parameter includes one or more of: increasing an arbitration interframe space number (AIFSN) in the QoS parameters, increasing an Exponential Contention Window (ECW) in the QoS parameters, and decreasing a transmission opportunity (TXOP) limit in the QoS parameters;

Optionally, before reducing the QoS parameter, the method further includes:

Optionally, when the monitored object is a first terminal, sending the QoS parameter set with the QoS parameter reduced to the first terminal, including:

The network device 700 also includes a memory 703 for storing programs and the like. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. The memory 704 may comprise Random Access Memory (RAM) and may also include non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as at least one disk memory. The processor 702 executes the application program stored in the memory 704 to implement the bandwidth control method in the WLAN as described above.

The invention provides a bandwidth control method and device in WLAN, network equipment determines that the bandwidth value occupied by the monitored service flow is larger than the maximum bandwidth threshold of a monitored object, at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitored object is reduced, and the QoS parameter set with the reduced QoS parameter is transmitted to the monitoring object, so that, with the bandwidth control method, when the bandwidth value occupied by the service flow is larger than the maximum bandwidth threshold, the QoS parameter of the monitored object is adjusted, thereby adjusting the transmission opportunity of the service stream of the monitored object, suppressing the opportunity of the monitored object for sending the data message, further adjusting the bandwidth occupied by the monitored object service flow to control the bandwidth occupied by the service flow in a reasonable range, thereby fundamentally realizing bandwidth control, the method and the device can avoid the bandwidth waste of the channel caused by discarding the data message when the service flow exceeding the preset bandwidth threshold is transmitted.

While embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including the embodiments of the invention and all such alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for bandwidth control in a WLAN, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after the network device decreases at least one QoS parameter in the set of QoS parameters for the monitoring object, further comprising:

3. The method of claim 1 or 2,

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, further comprising, prior to the network device decreasing the QoS parameter:

5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein when the monitored object is a first terminal, sending the set of QoS parameters after reducing the QoS parameters to the first terminal comprises:

6. A bandwidth control apparatus in a WLAN, wherein the bandwidth control apparatus in the WLAN is implemented by a network device, and the network device is an access point AP or a wireless controller that manages the AP, and the apparatus comprises:

7. The apparatus of claim 6,

the processing unit is further configured to: after reducing at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitoring object, determining that a bandwidth value occupied by a traffic flow of the monitoring object is smaller than a minimum bandwidth threshold of the monitoring object, and increasing the reduced at least one QoS parameter in the QoS parameter set of the monitoring object, wherein the minimum bandwidth threshold is smaller than the maximum bandwidth threshold, and the increased QoS parameter is smaller than or equal to the QoS parameter before reduction;

8. The apparatus of claim 6 or 7, wherein the reducing the QoS parameter comprises one or more of: increasing an arbitration interframe space number AIFSN in the QoS parameters, increasing an Exponential Contention Window (ECW) in the QoS parameters, and decreasing a transmission opportunity TXOP limit in the QoS parameters.

9. The apparatus of any one of claims 6-8,

the processing unit is further configured to: before reducing the QoS parameter, determining that the access types of all data messages in the service flow are the same;

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein when the monitoring object is a first terminal, the sending unit, when sending the QoS parameter set after reducing the QoS parameter to the first terminal, is configured to: