CN106535293B

CN106535293B - Active scanning processing method and related device and communication system

Info

Publication number: CN106535293B
Application number: CN201510570574.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林英沛; 苏宏家
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-09-09
Filing date: 2015-09-09
Publication date: 2020-10-27
Anticipated expiration: 2035-09-09
Also published as: WO2017041629A1; CN106535293A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses an active scanning processing method, a related device and a communication system. An active scanning processing method includes: the method comprises the steps that an access point receives a detection request frame sent by a station in a first available channel; the access point sends a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel; and the access point receives an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the first available channel. The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is beneficial to reducing the times of competition collision among the access points, further reducing the competition overhead and the communication resource waste, and further improving the overall performance of the system.

Description

Active scanning processing method and related device and communication system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless network technologies, and in particular, to an active scanning processing method, a related apparatus, and a communication system.

Background

To a Station (STA) become a member of a Wi-Fi wireless network, the STA needs to scan for the Wi-Fi wireless network. Under the existing Wi-Fi standard IEEE802.11 framework, two modes, namely passive scanning and active scanning, are available for the STA to select to scan the Wi-Fi wireless network.

In the passive scanning mode, the STA needs to scan a Beacon frame (Beacon frame) in each channel, and the Beacon frame includes information of a wireless network for the STA to access. In the active scanning mode, the STA actively transmits a Probe Request (Probe Request) frame, and after an Access Point (AP) receives a Request from the STA, the AP may grant the Request of the STA if a condition is satisfied, and the AP may reply a Probe Response (Probe Response) frame to the STA. Specifically, the AP listens to the channel state, and starts to backoff when the duration of the channel idle state exceeds the duration of a Distributed Inter-frame Space (DIFS), until the channel idle time is greater than the total backoff duration, that is, when the backoff timer reaches 0, the AP successfully contends for the channel. The AP sends a Probe Response frame to the STA, and the STA that receives the Probe Response frame replies an acknowledgement frame (ACK frame) to the AP.

The inventor of the present invention finds, in research and practice, that, in the existing Wi-Fi technology, due to the Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) mechanism, an AP needs to contend for an entire channel in an active scanning mode to transmit a Probe Response frame. However, in a dense deployment scenario, the number of neighboring APs and STAs is large, and the number of APs participating in contention may be large, which may increase the number of contention collisions between APs, further increase contention overhead and waste of communication resources, and may reduce the overall performance of the system.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide an active scanning processing method, a related apparatus, and a communication system, so as to reduce the number of times of contention and collision between APs, thereby reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further improving the overall performance of the system.

A first aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides an active scanning processing method, including:

the method comprises the steps that an access point receives a detection request frame sent by a station in a first available channel;

the access point sends a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel;

and the access point receives an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the first available channel.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending, by the access point, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame in 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel includes: and the access point randomly selects 1 of the sub-channels in the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel to send the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication;

before the access point transmits a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel, the method further includes: the access point divides the first available channel into a plurality of subchannels based on the subchannel division indication.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before the access point sends a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of multiple subchannels of the first available channel, the method further includes: the access point divides the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on protocol configuration information.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to be a wildcard symbol or a specified color value, and the basic service unit color field is used to indicate a basic service unit.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, if a value of a basic service unit (bsu) color field of the probe request frame is set to a specified color value, the access point is an access point corresponding to the specified color value.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the receiving, by the access point, an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the first available channel includes: and the access point receives an acknowledgement frame which is sent by the station on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access mode or a multicast mode or a broadcast mode and aims at the probe response frame on the first available channel.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to seventh possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect,

the method further comprises the following steps:

the access point receives the probe request frame sent by the station on a second available channel;

the access point sends a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the second available channel;

and the access point receives an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the second available channel.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides an active scanning processing method, including:

a station sends a detection request frame on a first available channel;

the station receives a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel on the first available channel;

the station sends an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving, on the first available channel, the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel includes: and receiving a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point in 1 subchannel randomly selected by the access point from the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel.

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 probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication, where the subchannel division indication is used to indicate that the access point divides the first available channel into multiple subchannels.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to be a wildcard or a designated color value, and the basic service unit color field is used to indicate a basic service unit.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect or the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, if a value of a basic service unit color field of the probe request frame is set to a specified color value, the access point is an access point corresponding to the specified color value.

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the sending, by the station, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel includes: the station sends an acknowledgement frame aiming at the probe response frame on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access mode or a multicast mode or a broadcast mode.

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible embodiments of the second aspect, in a seventh possible embodiment of the second aspect,

the method further comprises the following steps:

the station sends the probe request frame on a second available channel; the station receives, on the second available channel, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the multiple sub-channels of the second available channel; the station sends an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the second available channel.

A third aspect of the present invention provides an access point, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive, at a first available channel, a probe request frame sent by a station;

a sending unit, configured to send a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive, on the first available channel, an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending unit is specifically configured to randomly select 1 of the subchannels of the first available channel to send the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication; the access point further comprises a channel determination unit for dividing the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on the sub-channel division indication.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the access point further includes a channel determination unit, configured to divide the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on protocol configuration information.

With reference to the third aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to be a wildcard symbol or a specified color value, and the basic service unit color field is used to indicate a basic service unit.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, if a value of a basic service unit (bsu) color field of the probe request frame is set to a specified color value, the access point is an access point corresponding to the specified color value.

With reference to the third aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in terms of the first available channel receiving the acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame, the receiving unit is specifically configured to receive, on the first available channel, the acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, a multicast manner, or a broadcast manner on the first available channel.

With reference to the third aspect or any one of the first to seventh possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the receiving unit is further configured to receive, on a second available channel, the probe request frame sent by the station;

the sending unit is configured to send a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of the multiple subchannels of the second available channel;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive, on the second available channel, an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame.

A fourth aspect of the present invention provides a station comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a probe request frame on a first available channel;

a receiving unit, configured to receive, on the first available channel, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by an access point on 1 of multiple sub-channels of the first available channel;

the transmitting unit is further configured to transmit an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the receiving, on the first available channel, the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel includes: and receiving a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point in 1 subchannel randomly selected by the access point from the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication, where the subchannel division indication is used to indicate that the access point divides the first available channel into multiple subchannels.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to be a wildcard or a designated color value, and the basic service unit color field is used to indicate a basic service unit.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, if a value of a basic service unit color field of the probe request frame is set to a specified color value, the access point is an access point corresponding to the specified color value.

With reference to the fourth aspect or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in the aspect that the first available channel transmits the acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame: the transmitting unit is specifically configured to transmit the acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, a multicast manner, or a broadcast manner.

With reference to the fourth aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the sending unit is further configured to send the probe request frame on a second available channel;

wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive, on the second available channel, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the second available channel;

the transmitting unit is further configured to transmit an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the second available channel.

A fifth aspect of the present invention provides an access point, comprising:

a processor, a memory, and an antenna;

wherein, by calling instructions or codes stored in the memory, the processor is configured to perform the following steps:

receiving a probe request frame sent by a station at a first available channel through the antenna; sending a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel through the antenna; and receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the first available channel through the antenna.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the processor is specifically configured to randomly select 1 of the subchannels of the first available channel to send a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication; the processor is also configured to divide the first available channel into a plurality of subchannels based on the subchannel division indication.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the access point further includes a channel determination unit, configured to divide the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on protocol configuration information.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to be a wildcard or a specified color value, and the basic service unit color field is used to indicate a basic service unit.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect or the fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, if a value of a basic service unit color field of the probe request frame is set to a specified color value, the access point is an access point corresponding to the specified color value.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the processor is specifically configured to receive, through the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame, sent by the station in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner or a multicast manner or a broadcast manner on the first available channel, on the first available channel.

With reference to the fifth aspect or any one of the first to seventh possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the processor is further configured to receive, through the antenna, the probe request frame sent by the station on a second available channel; sending a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the second available channel through the antenna; and receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the second available channel through the antenna.

A sixth aspect of the present invention provides a station comprising:

a processor, a memory, and an antenna;

wherein, by calling instructions or codes stored in the memory, the processor is configured to perform the following steps: transmitting a probe request frame on a first available channel through the antenna; receiving, by the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by an access point on 1 of a plurality of subchannels of the first available channel on the first available channel; transmitting, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processor is configured to receive, through the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point in 1 subchannel randomly selected by the access point from among the multiple subchannels of the first available channel.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication, where the subchannel division indication is used to indicate that the access point divides the first available channel into multiple subchannels.

With reference to the sixth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to be a wildcard or a specified color value, and the basic service unit color field is used to indicate a basic service unit.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect or the fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, if a value of a basic service unit color field of the probe request frame is set to a specified color value, the access point is an access point corresponding to the specified color value.

With reference to the sixth aspect or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processor is configured to transmit, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, or in a multicast manner, or in a broadcast manner.

With reference to the sixth aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processor is further configured to transmit the probe request frame on a second available channel through the antenna; receiving, by the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the second available channel on the second available channel; transmitting, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the second available channel.

A seventh aspect of the present invention provides a communication system, including:

any access point provided in the embodiments of the present invention further includes any station provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into multiple sub-channels, and an AP sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to a Probe Request frame in 1 of the multiple sub-channels of the first available channel after receiving the Probe Request frame sent by an STA in the first available channel, even if multiple APs send the Probe Response frame in the same available channel in a certain scenario, if multiple APs send the Probe Response frame in different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the multiple APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned solution of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that the AP can reply the corresponding Probe Response frame in 1 of the available channels of the received Probe Request frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and this mechanism is favorable to reduce the number of contention collisions between APs and further favorable to reduce contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further favorable to improve the overall performance of the wireless system, compared with the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism (where, in the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, the AP receives the Probe Request frame in the entire available channel and replies the corresponding Probe Response frame in the entire available channel.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the embodiments and the drawings used in the description of the prior art, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can also obtain other drawings according to these drawings without inventive labor.

Fig. 1-a is a schematic diagram of a wireless network deployment architecture provided by way of example in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 1-b is a schematic diagram of another wireless network deployment architecture provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 1-c is a schematic diagram of another wireless network deployment architecture provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of an active scanning processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of another active scanning processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4-a is a schematic flow chart of another active scanning method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4-b is a schematic structural diagram of a Probe Request frame and a physical layer frame header according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4-c is a diagram of a frame interaction provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5-a is a schematic flow chart of another active scanning method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5-b is a diagram illustrating another frame interaction provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5-c is a diagram of another frame interaction provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6-a is a schematic flow chart of another active scanning method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6-b is a diagram of another frame interaction provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6-c is a diagram of another frame interaction provided by an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another access point provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a station provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another station provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the embodiments described below are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The terms "first," "second," "third," and "fourth," etc. in the description and claims of the invention and the above-described drawings are used for distinguishing between different objects and not for describing a particular order. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Referring to fig. 1-a, fig. 1-b and fig. 1-c, fig. 1-a to fig. 1-c are schematic diagrams of three wireless network deployment architectures provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1-a illustrates the presence of multiple STAs within the signal coverage of multiple APs, fig. 1-b illustrates the presence of multiple STAs within the signal coverage of a single AP, and fig. 1-c illustrates the presence of a single STA within the signal coverage of multiple APs. The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented based on the wireless network deployment architecture illustrated in fig. 1-a, fig. 1-b, or fig. 1-c, for example, or a modified architecture thereof.

Among them, due to the overlapping areas of the signal coverage of the APs in fig. 1-a and fig. 1-c, when the STA in the overlapping area performs active scanning, a contention collision may occur between the APs. The technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention strives to reduce the times of competition collision among APs, thereby reducing the competition overhead and the communication resource waste and further improving the overall performance of the system.

The scenario description is first made from the AP perspective.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of an active scanning processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2 by way of example, an active scanning processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention may include:

s201, the AP receives a Probe Request frame sent by the STA in the first available channel.

The product form of the STA according to the embodiments of the present invention may be, for example, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a mobile internet device, a palm computer, a desktop computer, a mobile phone, or other product forms of a user terminal.

For example, the STA may send the Probe Request frame on the first available channel, e.g., the STA may send the Probe Request frame over the entire bandwidth of the first available channel. Accordingly, the AP may receive the Probe Request frame transmitted by the STA on the first available channel, e.g., the AP may receive the Probe Request frame over the entire bandwidth of the first available channel.

Wherein, the number of available channels provided for communication interaction between the AP and the STA may be N, and the first available channel is one of the N available channels. For example, the available channels for communication interaction provided to the AP and the STA may include only the first available channel, or the available channels for communication interaction provided to the AP and the STA may include the first available channel and the second channel, and so on. Of course, the number of available channels for communication interaction provided to the AP and the STA may be greater.

Wherein the bandwidths of the N available channels may be equal or partially equal or different from each other. For example, the bandwidth of the first available channel may be equal to 20M, etc.

Wherein N may be an integer greater than or equal to 1.

For example, N may be equal to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or other values, for example.

S202, the AP sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to the ProbeRequest frame in 1 of the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel.

The AP sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel, which may be regarded as that the AP sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner on the first available channel, that is, the AP does not send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in the entire bandwidth of the first available channel, but sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in a partial bandwidth of the first available channel.

Wherein an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into a plurality of subchannels (which may be represented as K subchannels). The K may be an integer greater than or equal to 2. The bandwidths of the K sub-channels may be equal or partially equal or different from each other, that is, the distances between the K sub-channels may be equal or partially equal or different from each other.

For example, one subchannel may be equivalent to one or more resource units.

For example, K may be equal to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 29, 36, or other value.

In practical applications, the AP may determine how to divide the available channel (e.g., the first available channel) into a plurality of (K) sub-channels based on a variety of ways.

For example, before the AP sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on 1 subchannel of the first available channel, the method may further include: the AP divides the first available channel into a plurality of (K) sub-channels based on protocol configuration information, wherein K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. That is, the correlation protocol may specify how an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) is divided into K subchannels, and the AP may divide the first available channel into a plurality of (K) subchannels based on the specification of the correlation protocol.

For another example, the Probe Request frame carries a subchannel partition indication, and before the AP sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on 1 subchannel of the first available channel, the method may further include: the AP divides the first available channel into a plurality of (K) subchannels based on the subchannel division indication. The subchannel division indication may indicate, for example, a value of K, that is, the subchannel division indication may indicate the number of subchannels usable by the AP, and may even indicate a bandwidth or a resource location of each of the K subchannels.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the sub-channel division indication may be carried in an AP Configuration (AP Configuration) information field carried in a Probe Request frame, and the AP Configuration information field may be carried in, for example, an HE-SIG-B (high efficiency signaling-B) field or other positions of the Probe Request frame.

S203, the AP receives the acknowledgement frame sent by the STA aiming at the Probe Response frame in the first available channel.

The STA may send the acknowledgement frame sent for the Probe Response frame on the first available channel, for example, the STA may send the acknowledgement frame sent for the Probe Response frame on the entire bandwidth of the first available channel. Accordingly, the AP may receive, on the first available channel, the acknowledgement frame sent by the STA on the first available channel for the Probe Response frame, e.g., the AP may receive the acknowledgement frame sent for the Probe Response frame over the entire bandwidth of the first available channel.

It can be seen that, in the technical solution of this embodiment, since an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into a plurality of sub-channels, and after receiving a Probe Request frame sent by an STA on the first available channel, an AP sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on 1 of the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel, even if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frame on the same available channel in a certain scenario, if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frame on different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the plurality of APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned solution of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that the AP can reply the corresponding Probe Response frame in 1 of the available channels that receive the Probe Request frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric (asymmetric in the transmission and reception bandwidth) Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and this mechanism is favorable to reduce the number of contention collisions between APs and is favorable to reduce contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further is favorable to improve the overall performance of the wireless system, compared with the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism (where, in the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, the AP receives the Probe Request frame in the entire available channel and replies the corresponding Probe Response frame in the entire available channel, and the transmission and reception frame is symmetric in the bandwidth).

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the sending, by the AP, a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel may include: the AP randomly selects 1 of the multiple sub-channels of the first available channel to send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame, or the AP may send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on 1 designated sub-channel of the multiple sub-channels of the first available channel, where the designated sub-channel to send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame may be designated by the STA.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, a value of a Basic Service Set (BSS _ color) field of the Probe Request frame may be Set to a Wildcard (e.g., Wildcard) or a specific color value. The BSS _ color field is used to indicate a basic service unit, for example, different color values may be used to designate different basic service units, for example, a BSS _ color field value of 1 and a BSS _ color field value of 2 indicate that different BSSs are designated.

Therefore, the AP may be defined by the color value. For example, when the value of the BSS _ color field is set to the designated color value, it may indicate that the AP belonging to the BSS designated by the designated color value is required to have the right to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame. For another example, when the value of the BSS _ color field is set to a wildcard, it may indicate that no requirement is made on the BSS to which the AP that replies to the Probe Response frame belongs, that is, the AP that belongs to any BSS has the right to reply to the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Response frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the BSS _ color field may be carried in a high efficiency signaling-a (HE-SIG-a) field or a high efficiency signaling-B (HE-SIG-B) field of a high efficiency Preamble (high efficiency Preamble) of the Probe Request frame, for example, the BSS _ color field may be carried in a common part field of the HE-SIG-B field. Of course, the BSS _ color field may also be carried in other fields of the HE Preamble of the Probe Request frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the receiving, by the AP, an acknowledgement frame sent by the STA for the Probe Response frame in the first available channel includes: the AP receives, on the first available channel, an acknowledgement frame (ACK frame) for the Probe Response frame, which is sent by the STA on the first available channel in a multicast manner or a broadcast manner or an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) manner. The acknowledgement frame may be, for example, a block acknowledgement (BA, BlockACK)/Multi-user block acknowledgement (M-BA, Multi-STABlockACK), or the like.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the STA may further declare Capability information of the STA itself in a high efficiency Capability (HE Capability) field or other fields carried in the mac payload of the Probe Request frame, where the Capability information of the STA itself may indicate that the STA can receive the data packet in the OFDMA mode. After obtaining the capability information, the AP may acquire the capability of the STA sending the Probe Request frame, and may reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame in the OFDMA manner, and accordingly, the STA may receive the corresponding Probe Response frame replied by the AP in the OFDMA manner on the first available channel, and may send an acknowledgement frame (ACK frame) for the Probe Response frame in the OFDMA manner (or in a multicast manner or in a broadcast manner) on the first available channel.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the method may further include:

the AP receives the Probe Request frame sent by the STA on a second available channel; the AP sends a ProbeResponse frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in 1 of a plurality of subchannels of the second available channel; and the AP receives an acknowledgement frame sent by the STA for the Probe Response frame in the second available channel.

The STA may send the Probe Request frame on the second available channel, and accordingly, the AP may receive the Probe Request frame sent by the STA on the second available channel. Specifically, for example, the STA may respectively transmit the Probe Request frame in the first available channel and the second available channel at the same time period or the same time, and the AP may respectively receive the Probe Request frame transmitted by the STA in the second available channel and the first available channel.

That is, the STA may send the Probe Request frame on a plurality of available channels, and the AP may reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame on the plurality of available channels, which is beneficial to improving the success rate of the STA active scanning.

The scheme description is made below from the perspective of the STA.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of another active scanning processing method according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3 by way of example, another active scanning method according to another embodiment of the present invention may include:

s301, the STA sends a Probe Request frame in the first available channel.

The product form of the STA mentioned in the embodiments of the present invention may be, for example, a product form of a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a mobile internet device, a palmtop computer, a desktop computer, a mobile phone, or other user terminals.

For example, the STA may send a Probe Request frame over the entire bandwidth of the first available channel. The AP may receive the Probe Request frame sent by the STA on the first available channel, e.g., the AP may receive the Probe Request frame over the entire bandwidth of the first available channel.

S302, the STA may receive, in the first available channel, a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame sent by the AP in 1 of the multiple sub-channels of the first available channel.

The AP sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel, which may be regarded as that the AP sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner on the first available channel, that is, the AP does not send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in the entire bandwidth of the first available channel, but sends the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in a partial bandwidth of the first available channel. Therefore, the STA specifically receives, on the first available channel, a Probe response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame sent by the AP in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner on the first available channel.

For example, the STA may receive, on the first available channel, a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame sent by the AP on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among the multiple subchannels of the first available channel. Or, the STA may receive, in the first available channel, a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame sent by the AP in 1 designated subchannel of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel.

S303, the STA sends an acknowledgement frame aiming at the Probe Response frame in the first available channel.

For example, the STA may transmit the acknowledgement frame transmitted for the Probe Response frame over the entire bandwidth of the first available channel, or the STA may transmit the acknowledgement frame transmitted for the Probe Response frame in OFDMA on the first available channel. Accordingly, the AP may receive, on the first available channel, the acknowledgement frame sent by the STA on the first available channel for the ProbeResponse frame, e.g., the AP may receive the acknowledgement frame sent on the ProbeResponse frame over the entire bandwidth of the first available channel.

It can be seen that, in the technical solution of this embodiment, since an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into a plurality of sub-channels, and after receiving a Probe Request frame sent by an STA on the first available channel, an AP sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on 1 of the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel, even if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frame on the same available channel in a certain scenario, if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frame on different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the plurality of APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned solution of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that the AP can reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame in 1 of the available channels of the received Probe Request frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and this mechanism is favorable to reduce the number of contention collisions between APs, reduce contention overhead and waste of communication resources, and further promote the overall performance of the wireless system, compared with the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism (where, in the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, the AP replies to the corresponding Probe Response frame in the entire available channels of the received Probe Request frame).

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the Probe Request frame may carry a subchannel division indication, where the subchannel division indication is used to indicate that the AP divides the first available channel into multiple (K) subchannels.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, a value of a basic service unit color field of the Probe Request frame is set to be a wildcard or a designated color value.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of an efficient preamble carried in the Probe Request frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, if a value of a basic service unit color field of the Probe Request frame is set to be a designated color value, the AP is an AP corresponding to the designated color value.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the sending, by the STA, an acknowledgement frame for the Probe Response frame in the first available channel includes: the acknowledgement frame for the Probe Response frame is sent by the STA in an OFDMA or multicast mode or a broadcast mode on the first available channel.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the method further includes:

the STA sends the Probe Request frame on a second available channel; the STA receives a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame sent by the AP in 1 of the plurality of sub-channels of the second available channel in the second available channel; the STA sends an acknowledgement frame for the Probe Response frame on the second available channel.

Accordingly, the AP may receive, on the second available channel, the Probe Request frame transmitted by the STA on the second available channel. Specifically, for example, the STA may respectively transmit the Probe Request frame in the first available channel and the second available channel at the same time period or the same time, and the AP may respectively receive the Probe Request frame transmitted by the STA in the second available channel and the first available channel.

In order to better understand and implement the above technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, some application scenarios of the embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 4-a, fig. 4-a is a schematic flow chart of another active scanning processing method according to another embodiment of the present invention. The active scanning approach illustrated in fig. 4-a may be implemented in the wireless network deployment architecture illustrated in fig. 1-a or fig. 1-b or fig. 1-c.

As shown in fig. 4-a for example, another active scanning processing method provided by another embodiment of the present invention may include:

s401, STA #1 transmits Probe Request frame #1 on available channel # 1.

One possible structure of the Probe Request frame #1 and the physical layer frame header can be as shown in fig. 4-b by way of example.

As shown in fig. 4-b, for example, the physical layer frame header carried by the Probe Request frame #1 includes a Legacy Preamble (Legacy Preamble) and a High Efficiency Preamble (High Efficiency Preamble). The high-efficiency preamble carried by the Probe Request frame #1 may carry an HE-SIG-a field, and may or may not carry an HE-SIG-B field, etc.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that a value of the BSS _ color field carried by the Probe Request frame #1 is set to a designated color value.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the BSS _ color field may be carried in an HE-SIG-a field or an HE-SIG-B field of a HighEfficiency Preamble carried in a Probe Request frame, for example, the BSS _ color field may be carried in a common part field of the HE-SIG-B field. Of course, the BSS _ color field may also be carried in other locations of the HE Preamble carried by the Probe Request frame.

Wherein the bandwidth of the available channel #1 may be 20M or other bandwidth.

S402, AP #1 receives the Probe Request frame #1 transmitted by STA #1 on the available channel #1, and AP #1 determines whether AP #1 belongs to the BSS specified by the color value carried in the BSS _ color field carried in the Probe Request frame # 1.

If so (indicating that AP #1 has the right to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame), step S403 is executed.

If not (indicating that AP #1 has no right to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame), AP #1 may ignore the received Probe Request frame #1, that is, AP #1 does not reply to the Probe Response frame corresponding to Probe Request frame # 1.

S403, AP #1 randomly selects 1 subchannel from the plurality of subchannels of available channel #1 to transmit Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to Probe request frame # 1.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, if AP #1 receives Probe Request frame #1 on available channel #1, AP #1 may send Legacy Preamble and highefficiencyprobable on available channel #1 after time interval xfs (xfs < DIFS (where xfs has a value x, for example, xfs ═ 16us, DIFS ═ 34us, xfs < DIFS)), and may randomly select Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to 1 of the transmitted Probe Request frames #1 from among multiple sub-channels (for example, 9 sub-channels) of available channel # 1.

The AP #1 randomly selects 1 subchannel from the plurality of subchannels of the available channel #1 to transmit the Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1, and may be regarded as the AP #1 transmitting the Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1 in the OFDMA manner on the available channel # 1.

The situation in which multiple APs transmit Probe Response frames in OFDMA on the available channel #1 can be as shown in fig. 4-c by way of example. The example shown in fig. 4-c is mainly exemplified by a case where a plurality of APs transmit ProbeResponse frames on different subchannels of the available channel # 1.

S404, STA #1 receives, on available channel #1, Probe Response frame # p1 transmitted by AP #1 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #1, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p1, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #1, an acknowledgement frame # a1 for Probe Response frame # p 1. Accordingly, the AP #1 can receive the acknowledgment frame # a1 transmitted by the STA #1 on the available channel # 1.

It is understood that when STA #1 is still in a scene of signal coverage of other APs, the interaction manner between the other APs and STA #1 may be similar to the interaction manner between AP #1 and STA #1, and so on for the corresponding scene.

It should be noted that, in the case where the AP #1 transmits the Probe Response frame # p1 without generating a contention collision (collision) with another AP, the Probe Response frame # p1 can be normally correctly received by the STA #1, and in the case where the AP #1 transmits the Probe Response frame # p1 with another AP #1 and generates a random collision (the contention collision occurs, that is, the other AP also transmits the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Response frame #1 using the same subchannel in the same time period or at the same time), the Probe Response frame # p1 cannot be normally correctly received by the STA # 1.

It can be seen that, in the technical scheme of this embodiment, since the available channel #1 may be logically divided into a plurality of subchannels, and after receiving the Probe Response frame sent by the STA #1 on the available channel #1, the AP #1 may randomly select 1 subchannel from the plurality of subchannels of the available channel #1 to send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame, that is, the AP #1 may send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame in the OFDMA manner on the available channel #1, so even if a plurality of APs including the AP #1 send the Probe Response frame on the same available channel in a certain scenario, if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frame on different subchannels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collision among the plurality of APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned scheme of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that an AP can randomly select 1 subchannel from a plurality of subchannels of an available channel for receiving a Probe Request frame to reply a corresponding Probe Response frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and compared with a conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, this mechanism is beneficial to reducing the number of contention collisions between APs, and is beneficial to reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, thereby being beneficial to improving the overall performance of a wireless system.

Referring to fig. 5-a, fig. 5-a is a schematic flow chart of another active scanning processing method according to another embodiment of the present invention. The active scanning approach illustrated in fig. 5-a may be implemented in the wireless network deployment architecture illustrated in fig. 1-a or 1-c, for example. As shown in fig. 5-a for example, another active scanning processing method provided by another embodiment of the present invention may include:

s501, STA #1 transmits Probe Request frame #1 on available channel # 1.

One possible structure of the Probe Request frame #1 and the physical layer frame header can be as shown in fig. 4-c by way of example.

S502 and AP #1 receive the Probe Request frame #1 transmitted by STA #1 on the available channel #1, and AP #1 randomly selects 1 subchannel from among a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #1 to transmit the Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to the Probe Request frame # 1.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, if AP #1 receives Probe Request frame #1 on available channel #1, AP #1 may send Legacy Preamble and highefficiencyprobable on available channel #1 after time interval xfs (xfs < DIFS (where xfs has a value x, for example, xfs ═ 16us, DIFS ═ 34us, xfs < DIFS)), and may randomly select Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to 1 of the transmitted Probe Request frames #1 from among multiple sub-channels (for example, 9 sub-channels) of available channel # 1. That is, the AP #1 may transmit the Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1 in the OFDMA manner on the available channel # 1.

S503, STA #1 receives, on available channel #1, Probe Response frame # p1 transmitted by AP #1 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #1, and STA #1 transmits, on available channel #1, acknowledgement frame # a1 for Probe Response frame # p 1. Accordingly, the AP #1 can receive the acknowledgment frame # a1 transmitted by the STA #1 on the available channel # 1.

S504, AP #2 receives Probe Request frame #1 transmitted by STA #1 on available channel #1, and AP #2 randomly selects 1 subchannel from among the plurality of subchannels of available channel #1 to transmit Probe Response frame # p2 corresponding to Probe Request frame # 1.

Alternatively, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, if AP #2 receives Probe Request frame #1 on available channel #1, AP #2 may send Legacy Preamble and HighEfficiency Preamble on the available channel #1 after time interval xfs (xfs < DIFS (xfs value is x, for example, xfs ═ SIFS ═ 16us, DIFS ═ 34us, xfs < DIFS)), and may randomly choose Probe Response frame # p2 corresponding to 1 of the transmitted Probe Request frames #1 from among multiple sub-channels (e.g., 9 sub-channels) of the available channel # 1. That is, the AP #2 may transmit the Probe Response frame # p2 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1 in the OFDMA manner on the available channel # 1.

S505, STA #1 receives Probe Response frame # p2 transmitted by AP #2 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #1 on available channel #1, and STA #1 transmits acknowledgement frame # a2 for Probe Response frame # p2 on available channel # 1. Accordingly, the AP #2 can receive the acknowledgment frame # a2 transmitted by the STA #1 on the available channel # 1.

It is understood that if the sub-channel used by AP #1 to transmit Probe Response frame # p1 is different from the sub-channel used by AP #2 to transmit Probe Response frame # p2, no contention collision (collision) occurs between AP #1 and AP # 2. On the other hand, if the subchannel used by AP #1 to transmit Probe Response frame # p1 is the same as the subchannel used by AP #2 to transmit Probe Response frame # p2, a contention collision occurs between AP #1 and AP # 2.

It is understood that there is no necessary execution sequence between step S502 to step S503 and step S504 to step S505. For example, steps S502 to S503 and steps S504 to S505 may be performed within the same period.

Of course, in addition to AP #1 and AP #2, there may be other one or more APs capable of receiving the Probe Request frame #1 on the available channel #1, which respond to the Probe Request frame #1 in a manner similar to AP #1 and AP # 2.

For example, referring to fig. 5-b, APs such as AP #1, AP #2, AP #3, AP #4, AP #5, and AP #6 may each reply to a corresponding Probe Response frame in a similar manner. Fig. 5-c shows that AP #1, AP #2, AP #3, and AP #6 respectively select different sub-channels of available channel #1 to transmit corresponding Probe Response frames, and AP #4 and AP #5 select the same sub-channel of available channel #1 to transmit corresponding Probe Response frames, so that a random collision occurs, which may result in that STA #1 cannot correctly receive the corresponding Probe Response frames transmitted by AP #4 and AP # 5.

For example, in a dense scenario, the number of APs capable of receiving (hearing) the Probe Request frame of the STA may be much larger than the number of available subchannels of the available channel, so when the AP randomly selects a subchannel to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame, some subchannels are inevitably selected by multiple APs, thereby generating contention collisions of the Probe Response frame. For the case of contention collision, when an STA prepares to receive a Probe Response frame on an available channel, the STA can usually detect the signal energy of a corresponding sub-channel but cannot correctly interpret the signal energy (i.e., cannot correctly receive the corresponding Probe Response frame), if such a result exists on most sub-channels, the STA may consider the current scenario as a more densely deployed scenario according to the result, and the number of APs is relatively large, so that there may be more contention collisions for the AP to randomly select a sub-channel to transmit the corresponding Probe Response frame, and then one scan may not be enough to complete all effective identifications of currently available wireless networks, and the STA may trigger the Probe Request frame again to continuously perform active scanning after replying an ACK frame to the AP, as illustrated in fig. 5-c. And the AP which replies the corresponding Probe Response frame in the last scanning and successfully receives the corresponding ACK frame replied by the STA may not participate in the current scanning any more, and only the AP which does not obtain the corresponding ACK frame participates in the process of randomly selecting the sub-channel and sending the Probe Response frame in the current scanning.

For example, in the scenario illustrated in fig. 5-c, during the first active scanning process of the STA, several APs including AP #4, AP #5, AP #6, AP #7, AP #8, and AP #9 reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame, and several APs including AP #1, AP #2, AP #3, and AP #10 do not have contention collisions. The STA finds that the number of contention collisions is large, and therefore initiates a second active scan, and AP #1, AP #2, AP #3, and AP #10 successfully identified in the first active scan do not reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame in the second active scan, and in the scenario illustrated in fig. 5-c, several APs including AP #4, AP #5, AP #6, AP #7, AP #8, and AP #9 are also successfully identified by the STA through the second active scan.

When the STA actively scans and sends the Probe Request frame for the second time, the STA may maintain the configuration of the relevant parameters in the previous round, or may reconfigure new parameters and indicate in the Probe Request frame, for example, the STA may increase the number of sub-channels of the available channels to further reduce the probability of random collision. Of course, if the number of competing collisions exceeding the set threshold still occur during the second active scan, the SAT may again initiate the active scan.

It can be seen that, in the technical solution of this embodiment, since the available channel #1 may be logically divided into a plurality of sub-channels, after receiving the Probe Request frame sent by the STA #1 on the available channel #1, a plurality of APs including the AP #1 and the AP #2 may respectively randomly select 1 sub-channel from the plurality of sub-channels of the available channel #1 to send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame, that is, each AP may respectively send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on the available channel #1 in an OFDMA manner, therefore, if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frames on different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collision between the plurality of APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned scheme of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that an AP can randomly select 1 subchannel from a plurality of subchannels of an available channel for receiving a Probe Request frame to reply a corresponding Probe Response frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and compared with a conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, this mechanism is beneficial to reducing the number of contention collisions between APs, and is beneficial to reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further is beneficial to improving the overall performance of a wireless system.

Referring to fig. 6-a, fig. 6-a is a schematic flow chart of another active scanning processing method according to another embodiment of the present invention. The active scanning approach illustrated in fig. 6-a may be implemented in the wireless network deployment architecture illustrated in fig. 1-a or fig. 1-c, for example. As shown in fig. 6-a for example, another active scanning method according to another embodiment of the present invention may include:

s601 and STA #1 transmit a ProbeRequest frame #1 on available channel #1, available channel #2, available channel #3, and available channel #4, respectively.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that a value of the BSS _ color field carried in the Probe Request frame #1 is set to a wildcard, that is, it indicates that no requirement is made on a BSS to which an AP that replies to the Probe Response frame belongs, that is, an AP that belongs to any BSS has the right to reply to the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame # 1.

For example, the bandwidth of available channel #1 may be 20M or other bandwidth, and the bandwidths of available channel #2, available channel #3, and available channel #4 may be the same as or different from the bandwidth of available channel # 1. Among them, the bandwidths of the available channel #1, the available channel #2, the available channel #3, and the available channel #4 may be partially or completely the same or different from each other.

S602 and AP #1, for example, receive the Probe Request frame #1 from STA #1 on available channel #1 and available channel #2, respectively, and AP #1 finds the color value wildcard carried in the BSS _ color field carried in the Probe Request frame #1, and thus determines that AP #1 has the right to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame. The AP #1 randomly selects 1 subchannel from a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #1 to transmit a Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1, and the AP #1 may also randomly select 1 subchannel from a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #2 to transmit a Probe Response frame # p1 corresponding to the Probe Request frame # 1.

S603, STA #1 receives, on available channel #1, Probe Response frame # p1 transmitted by AP #1 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #1, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p1 from available channel #1, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #1, acknowledgement frame # a1 for Probe Response frame # p 1.

And, STA #1 may receive, on available channel #2, Probe Response frame # p1 transmitted by AP #1 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #2, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p1 from available channel #2, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #2, acknowledgement frame # a1 for the Probe Response frame # p 1.

S604 and AP #2, for example, receive the Probe Request frame #1 from STA #1 on available channel #1 and available channel #3, respectively, and AP #2 finds the color value wildcard carried in the BSS _ color field carried in the Probe Request frame #1, and thus determines that AP #2 has the right to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame. The AP #2 randomly selects 1 subchannel from a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #1 to transmit the Probe Response frame # p2 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1, and the AP #2 may also randomly select 1 subchannel from a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #3 to transmit the Probe Response frame # p2 corresponding to the Probe Request frame # 1.

S605, STA #1 receives, on available channel #1, Probe Response frame # p2 transmitted by AP #2 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #1, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p2 from available channel #1, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #1, acknowledgement frame # a2 for the Probe Response frame # p 2.

And, STA #1 may receive, on available channel #3, Probe Response frame # p2 transmitted by AP #2 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #3, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p2 from available channel #3, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #3, acknowledgement frame # a2 for the Probe Response frame # p 2.

S606 and AP #3, for example, receive the Probe Request frame #1 from STA #1 in the available channel #2 and the available channel #4, respectively, and AP #3 finds the color value wildcard carried in the BSS _ color field carried in the Probe Request frame #1, and thus determines that AP #3 has the right to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame. The AP #3 randomly selects 1 subchannel from among a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #2 to transmit a Probe Response frame # p3 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1, and the AP #3 may also randomly select 1 subchannel from among a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #4 to transmit a Probe Response frame # p3 corresponding to the Probe Request frame # 1.

S607, STA #1 receives, on available channel #2, Probe Response frame # p3 transmitted by AP #3 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #2, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p3 from available channel #2, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #2, acknowledgement frame # a3 for the Probe Response frame # p 3.

And, STA #1 may receive, on available channel #4, Probe Response frame # p3 transmitted by AP #3 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #4, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p3 from available channel #4, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #4, acknowledgement frame # a3 for the Probe Response frame # p 3.

S608 and AP #4, for example, receive the Probe Request frame #1 sent by STA #1 in the available channel #3 and the available channel #4, respectively, and AP #4 finds the color value wildcard carried in the BSS _ color field carried in the Probe Request frame #1, and thus determines that AP #4 has the right to reply to the corresponding Probe Response frame. The AP #4 randomly selects 1 subchannel from among a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #3 to transmit a Probe Response frame # p4 corresponding to the Probe Request frame #1, and the AP #4 may also randomly select 1 subchannel from among a plurality of subchannels of the available channel #4 to transmit a Probe Response frame # p4 corresponding to the Probe Request frame # 1.

S609, STA #1 receives, on available channel #3, Probe Response frame # p4 transmitted by AP #4 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #3, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p4 from available channel #3, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #3, acknowledgement frame # a4 for said Probe Response frame # p 4.

And, STA #1 may receive, on available channel #4, Probe Response frame # p4 transmitted by AP #4 on 1 subchannel randomly selected from among a plurality of subchannels of available channel #4, wherein if STA #1 correctly receives Probe Response frame # p4 from available channel #4, STA #1 transmits, on available channel #4, acknowledgement frame # a4 for the Probe Response frame # p 4.

It can be understood that there is no inevitable execution sequence among steps S602 to S603, steps S604 to S605, steps S606 to S607, and steps S608 to S609. For example, step S602 to step S603, step S604 to step S605, step S606 to step S607, and step S608 to step S609 may be performed within the same period.

It can be understood that, as shown in fig. 6-b by way of example, the present embodiment is mainly described by taking an example that the STA can simultaneously perform frame transceiving on 4 available channels, such as available channel #1, available channel #2, available channel #3, and available channel #4, of course, the STA can also simultaneously perform frame transceiving on a greater or lesser number of available channels, and the processing manner of the STA and the AP in the corresponding scenario can be analogized. In this embodiment, a description is given mainly by taking an example that the STA can simultaneously perform frame transceiving with 4 APs such as AP #1, AP #2, AP #3, and AP #4, and certainly, the STA can also simultaneously perform frame transceiving with a greater or smaller number of APs, and the processing manner of the STA and the AP in the corresponding scene can be analogized.

A general scenario in which a STA simultaneously transmits and receives frames with multiple APs on multiple available channels may be as illustrated in fig. 6-c.

Similarly, the STA may still trigger active scanning again according to the actual system conditions, for example, the STA may trigger active scanning again according to the number of contention collisions of the probe response frame returned by the AP, and the main procedure is similar to the above exemplary procedure.

It can be seen that, in the technical scheme of this embodiment, since the available channel may be logically divided into a plurality of subchannels, and after the AP respectively receives the Probe Response frames sent by the STA on the plurality of available channels, 1 subchannel may be randomly selected to send the Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Response frame on the plurality of subchannels of the corresponding available channel, so that even if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frames on the same available channel in some scenarios, if a plurality of APs send the Probe Response frames on different subchannels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the plurality of APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned scheme of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that an AP can randomly select 1 subchannel from a plurality of subchannels of an available channel for receiving a Probe Request frame to reply a corresponding Probe Response frame, and this innovative mechanism is regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and compared with a conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, this mechanism is favorable to reducing the number of contention collisions between APs, and is favorable to reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further is favorable to improving the overall performance of a wireless system.

To facilitate a better understanding and implementation of the above-described aspects of embodiments of the present invention, the following also provides related apparatus for implementing the above-described aspects.

Referring to fig. 7, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an access point 700, which may include: a receiving unit 710 and a transmitting unit 720.

A receiving unit 710, configured to receive, at a first available channel, a probe request frame sent by a station.

A sending unit 720, configured to send a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel.

For example, one subchannel may be equivalent to one or more resource units.

The receiving unit 710 is further configured to receive, on the first available channel, an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the sending unit is specifically configured to randomly select 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel to send the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication; the access point further comprises a channel determining unit 730 for dividing the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on the sub-channel division indication.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the sub-channel division indication may be carried in an AP Configuration (AP Configuration) information field carried in a ProbeRequest frame, and the AP Configuration information field may be carried in, for example, an HE-SIG-B (high efficiency signaling-B) field or other positions of the ProbeRequest frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the access point further includes a channel determining unit 730, configured to divide the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on protocol configuration information.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to be a wildcard symbol or a designated color value, and the basic service unit color field is used to indicate a basic service unit.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the basic service unit color field is carried in an efficient signaling-a field or an efficient signaling-B field of the high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, if a value of a basic service unit color field of the probe request frame is set to be a designated color value, the access point is an access point corresponding to the designated color value.

Alternatively, in some possible embodiments of the invention,

in an aspect that the first available channel receives the acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame, the receiving unit is specifically configured to receive, on the first available channel, the acknowledgement frame sent by the station on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, a multicast manner, or a broadcast manner for the probe response frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the receiving unit 710 is further configured to receive the probe request frame sent by the station on a second available channel;

the sending unit 720 is further configured to send a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of the multiple sub-channels of the second available channel;

the receiving unit 710 is further configured to receive, on the second available channel, an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame.

It can be understood that the functions of the access point 700 in this embodiment may be specifically implemented according to the method in the foregoing method embodiment, and the specific implementation process may refer to the related description of the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into a plurality of sub-channels, after a first available channel receives a Probe Request frame sent by an STA, AP 700 sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on 1 of the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel, so even if multiple APs send Probe Response frames on the same available channel in a certain scenario, if multiple APs send Probe Response frames on different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the multiple APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned solution of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that the AP can reply the corresponding Probe Response frame in 1 of the available channels of the received Probe Request frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and compared with the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, this mechanism is favorable to reducing the number of contention collisions between APs, and further favorable to reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further favorable to improving the overall performance of the wireless system.

Referring to fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an access point 800 including: a processor 810, a memory 820, and an antenna 830.

Wherein, by calling the instructions or codes stored in the memory 820, the processor 810 is configured to perform the following steps:

receiving a probe request frame transmitted by a station on a first available channel through the antenna 830; sending a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel through the antenna; and receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the first available channel through the antenna.

For example, one subchannel may be equivalent to one or more resource units.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the processor is specifically configured to randomly select 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel to send the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication; the processor is also configured to divide the first available channel into a plurality of subchannels based on the subchannel division indication.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the access point further includes a channel determining unit, configured to divide the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on protocol configuration information.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the processor is specifically configured to receive, through the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame, where the acknowledgement frame is sent by the station on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, a multicast manner, or a broadcast manner.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the processor is further configured to receive, through the antenna, the probe request frame sent by the station on a second available channel; sending a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the second available channel through the antenna; and receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the second available channel through the antenna.

It can be understood that the functions of the access point 800 in this embodiment may be specifically implemented according to the method in the foregoing method embodiment, and the specific implementation process may refer to the related description of the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into a plurality of sub-channels, after a first available channel receives a Probe Request frame sent by an STA, AP 800 sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to the Probe Request frame on 1 of the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel, so even if multiple APs send Probe Response frames on the same available channel in a certain scenario, if multiple APs send Probe Response frames on different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the multiple APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned solution of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that the AP can reply the corresponding Probe Response frame in 1 of the available channels of the received Probe Request frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and compared with the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, this mechanism is favorable to reducing the number of contention collisions between APs, and further favorable to reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further favorable to improving the overall performance of the wireless system.

Referring to fig. 9, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a station 900, including:

a sending unit 910, configured to send a probe request frame on a first available channel;

a receiving unit 920, configured to receive, on the first available channel, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel;

the transmitting unit 930 is further configured to transmit an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the receiving, on the first available channel, the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the multiple subchannels of the first available channel includes: and receiving a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point in 1 subchannel randomly selected by the access point from the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication, where the subchannel division indication is used to indicate that the access point divides the first available channel into multiple subchannels.

For example, one subchannel may be equivalent to one or more resource units.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, in an aspect that the acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame is sent on the first available channel: the transmitting unit is specifically configured to transmit the acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, a multicast manner, or a broadcast manner.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the sending unit is further configured to send the probe request frame on a second available channel;

It is understood that the product form of the site 900 of the present embodiment may be, for example, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a mobile internet device, a palm computer, a desktop computer, a mobile phone, or a product form of other user terminals.

It can be understood that the functions of the station 900 in this embodiment may be specifically implemented according to the method in the foregoing method embodiment, and the specific implementation process may refer to the related description of the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into multiple sub-channels, and an AP sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to a Probe Request frame in 1 of the multiple sub-channels of the first available channel after receiving the Probe Request frame sent by an STA900 through the first available channel, even if multiple APs send the Probe Response frame in the same available channel in a certain scenario, if multiple APs send the Probe Response frame in different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the multiple APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned solution of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that the AP can reply the corresponding Probe Response frame in 1 of the available channels of the received Probe Request frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and compared with the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, this mechanism is favorable to reducing the number of contention collisions between APs, and further favorable to reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further favorable to improving the overall performance of the wireless system.

Referring to fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a station site 1000, including:

a processor 1010, a memory 1020, and an antenna 1030.

Wherein, by calling the instructions or codes stored in the memory 1020, the processor 1010 is configured to perform the following steps: transmitting a probe request frame on a first available channel through the antenna 1030; receiving, by the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by an access point on 1 of a plurality of subchannels of the first available channel on the first available channel; transmitting, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the processor is configured to receive, through the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point in 1 subchannel randomly selected by the access point from among the multiple subchannels of the first available channel in the first available channel.

For example, one subchannel may be equivalent to one or more resource units.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the processor is configured to send, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, or in a multicast manner, or in a broadcast manner.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments of the present invention, the processor is further configured to transmit the probe request frame on a second available channel through the antenna; receiving, by the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the second available channel on the second available channel; transmitting, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the second available channel.

It is understood that the product form of the website 1000 of the present embodiment may be, for example, a product form of a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a mobile internet device, a palm computer, a desktop computer, a mobile phone, or other user terminals.

It can be understood that the functions of the station 1000 in this embodiment may be specifically implemented according to the method in the foregoing method embodiment, and the specific implementation process may refer to the relevant description of the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since an available channel (e.g., a first available channel) may be logically divided into multiple sub-channels, and an AP sends a Probe Response frame corresponding to a Probe Request frame in 1 of the multiple sub-channels of the first available channel after receiving the Probe Request frame sent by the STA 1000 on the first available channel, even if multiple APs send the Probe Response frame on the same available channel in a certain scenario, if multiple APs send the Probe Response frame on different sub-channels of the same available channel in the same time period, it is beneficial to avoid contention collisions among the multiple APs. It can be seen that the above-mentioned solution of this embodiment introduces an innovative mechanism that the AP can reply the corresponding Probe Response frame in 1 of the available channels of the received Probe Request frame, and this innovative mechanism can be regarded as a similar asymmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, and compared with the conventional symmetric Probe Response frame reply mechanism, this mechanism is favorable to reducing the number of contention collisions between APs, and further favorable to reducing contention overhead and communication resource waste, and further favorable to improving the overall performance of the wireless system.

Referring to fig. 11, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication system, including:

an access point 1110 and a station 1120. The access point 1110 may be any access point provided by the embodiments of the present invention. The station 1120 may be any one of the stations provided by the embodiments of the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, where the computer storage medium may store a program, and when the program is executed, the program includes some or all of the steps of any one of the active scanning processing methods described in the foregoing method embodiments.

In the foregoing embodiments, the descriptions of the respective embodiments have respective emphasis, and for parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment, reference may be made to related descriptions of other embodiments.

It should be noted that, for simplicity of description, the above-mentioned method embodiments are described as a series of acts or combination of acts, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is not limited by the order of acts, as some steps may occur in other orders or concurrently in accordance with the invention. Further, those skilled in the art should also appreciate that the embodiments described in the specification are preferred embodiments and that the acts and modules referred to are not necessarily required by the invention.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and for example, the above-described division of the units is only one type of division of logical functions, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection of some interfaces, devices or units, and may be an electric or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention 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 may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if it is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a separate product. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like, and may specifically be a processor in the computer device) to execute all or part of the steps of the above-described method according to the embodiments of the present invention. Among them, the aforementioned storage medium may include: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The above-mentioned embodiments are only used for illustrating the technical solutions of the present invention, and not for limiting the same; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; and such modifications or substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the corresponding technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. An active scanning processing method, comprising:

a probe request frame sent by an access point at a receiving station of the whole bandwidth of a first available channel, wherein the probe request frame carries a sub-channel division indication, and the channel division indication is used for indicating the access point to divide the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on the sub-channel division indication;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending, by the access point, the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel comprises: and the access point randomly selects 1 of the sub-channels in the plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel to send the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the probe request frame carries a sub-channel partition indication;

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the access point sends the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel, and wherein the method further comprises: the access point divides the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on protocol configuration information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a value of a basic service unit (BSSU) color field carried by the probe request frame is set to a wildcard character or a designated color value, and the BSSU color field is used for marking the BSS.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the basic service unit (BSSL) color field is carried in an efficient signaling-A field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein if a value of a basic service unit (BSS) color field of the probe request frame is set to a designated color value, the AP is an AP corresponding to the designated color value.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the access point receiving, on the first available channel, an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame comprises: and the access point receives an acknowledgement frame which is sent by the station on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access mode or a multicast mode or a broadcast mode and aims at the probe response frame on the first available channel.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

the method further comprises the following steps:

10. An active scanning processing method, comprising:

a station sends a detection request frame in the whole bandwidth of a first available channel, wherein the detection request frame carries a sub-channel division indication, and the channel division indication is used for indicating an access point to divide the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on the sub-channel division indication;

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the receiving, on the first available channel, the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel comprises: and receiving a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point in 1 subchannel randomly selected by the access point from the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication, wherein the subchannel division indication is used to indicate that the access point divides the first available channel into a plurality of subchannels.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein a value of a basic service unit color field carried by the probe request frame is set to a wildcard character or a designated color value, and the basic service unit color field is used for indicating a basic service unit.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the basic service unit (BSSL) color field is carried in an efficient signaling-A field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein if a value of a basic service unit (BSS) color field of the probe request frame is set to a designated color value, the AP is an AP corresponding to the designated color value.

16. The method according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the station transmitting an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel comprises: the station sends an acknowledgement frame aiming at the probe response frame on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access mode or a multicast mode or a broadcast mode.

17. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12,

the method further comprises the following steps:

18. An access point, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a probe request frame sent by a station over a whole bandwidth of a first available channel, where the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication, and the channel division indication is used to indicate, by the access point, that the first available channel is divided into multiple subchannels based on the subchannel division indication;

19. The ap of claim 18, wherein the sending unit is specifically configured to randomly select 1 of the subchannels in the first available channel to send the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

20. The access point of claim 18, wherein the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication; the access point further comprises a channel determination unit for dividing the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on the sub-channel division indication.

21. The access point of claim 18,

the access point further comprises a channel determination unit for dividing the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on protocol configuration information.

22. The access point of any of claims 18 to 21,

the value of a basic service unit color field carried by the detection request frame is set as a wildcard character or a designated color value, and the basic service unit color field is used for marking a basic service unit.

23. The access point of claim 22, wherein the basic service unit (BSSL) color field is carried in an efficient signaling-A field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

24. The ap of claim 22, wherein if a value of a basic service unit (bsu) color field of the probe request frame is set to a specific color value, the ap is an ap corresponding to the specific color value.

25. The access point of any of claims 18 to 21,

26. The access point according to any of claims 18 to 21, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive the probe request frame sent by the station on a second available channel;

27. A station, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a probe request frame over an entire bandwidth of a first available channel, where the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication, and the channel division indication is used to indicate an access point to divide the first available channel into multiple subchannels based on the subchannel division indication;

28. The station of claim 27, wherein the receiving, on the first available channel, the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel comprises: and receiving a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point in 1 subchannel randomly selected by the access point from the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel.

29. The station of claim 27, wherein the probe request frame carries a sub-channel partition indication, wherein the sub-channel partition indication is used to indicate to the access point to partition the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels.

30. The station according to any one of claims 27 to 29, wherein a value of a basic service unit (bsu) color field carried by the probe request frame is set to a wildcard character or a designated color value, and the bsu color field is used to indicate a bsu.

31. The station of claim 30, wherein the basic service unit (BSSC) color field is carried in an efficient signaling-A field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

32. The station of claim 30, wherein if a value of a basic service unit (BSS) color field of the probe request frame is set to a designated color value, the AP is an AP corresponding to the designated color value.

33. A station as claimed in any one of claims 27 to 29, wherein, in respect of the first available channel transmitting an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame: the transmitting unit is specifically configured to transmit the acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner, a multicast manner, or a broadcast manner.

34. The station according to any of claims 27 to 29, wherein the sending unit is further configured to send the probe request frame on a second available channel;

35. An access point, comprising:

a processor, a memory, and an antenna;

a probe request frame sent by the antenna at a receiving station of the whole bandwidth of a first available channel, wherein the probe request frame carries a sub-channel division indication, and the channel division indication is used for indicating the access point to divide the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels based on the sub-channel division indication; sending a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the first available channel through the antenna; and receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the first available channel through the antenna.

36. The access point of claim 35, wherein the processor is further configured to randomly select 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel for sending the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame.

37. The access point of claim 35, wherein the probe request frame carries a subchannel division indication; the processor is also configured to divide the first available channel into a plurality of subchannels based on the subchannel division indication.

38. The access point of claim 35,

39. The ap of any one of claims 35 to 38, wherein a value of a basic service unit (bsu) color field carried by the probe request frame is set to a wildcard character or a designated color value, and the bsu color field is used to indicate a bsu.

40. The access point of claim 39, wherein the basic service unit (BSSL) color field is carried in an efficient signaling-A field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

41. The AP of claim 39, wherein if a value of a basic service unit (BSS) color field of the probe request frame is set to a designated color value, the AP is an AP corresponding to the designated color value.

42. The access point of any of claims 35 to 38,

the processor is specifically configured to receive, through the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame, where the acknowledgement frame is sent by the station in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner or a multicast manner or a broadcast manner on the first available channel.

43. The access point of any of claims 35 to 38,

the processor is further configured to receive, through the antenna, the probe request frame sent by the station on a second available channel; sending a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame on 1 of a plurality of sub-channels of the second available channel through the antenna; and receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the station for the probe response frame on the second available channel through the antenna.

44. A station, comprising:

a processor, a memory, and an antenna;

wherein, by calling instructions or codes stored in the memory, the processor is configured to perform the following steps: sending a probe request frame over the entire bandwidth of a first available channel through the antenna, the probe request frame carrying a subchannel division indication, the subchannel division indication being used to indicate an access point to divide the first available channel into a plurality of subchannels based on the subchannel division indication; receiving, by the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by an access point on 1 of a plurality of subchannels of the first available channel on the first available channel; transmitting, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the first available channel.

45. The station of claim 44, wherein the processor is configured to receive, via the antenna, the probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 subchannel randomly selected from the plurality of subchannels of the first available channel on the first available channel.

46. The station of claim 44, wherein the probe request frame carries a sub-channel partition indication, wherein the sub-channel partition indication is used to indicate to the access point to partition the first available channel into a plurality of sub-channels.

47. The station according to any one of claims 44 to 46, wherein a value of a basic service unit (BSS) color field carried in the probe request frame is set to a wildcard character or a designated color value, and the BSS color field is used for indicating a BSS.

48. The station of claim 47, wherein the basic service unit (BSSC) color field is carried in an efficient signaling-A field or an efficient signaling-B field of a high efficiency preamble of the probe request frame.

49. The station of claim 47, wherein if a value of a basic service unit (BSS) color field of the probe request frame is set to a designated color value, the AP is an AP corresponding to the designated color value.

50. A station as claimed in any of claims 44 to 46, wherein the processor is configured to transmit an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame via the antenna on the first available channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access manner or in a multicast manner or in a broadcast manner.

51. A station as claimed in any of claims 44 to 46, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the probe request frame on a second available channel via the antenna; receiving, by the antenna, a probe response frame corresponding to the probe request frame sent by the access point on 1 of the plurality of subchannels of the second available channel on the second available channel; transmitting, by the antenna, an acknowledgement frame for the probe response frame on the second available channel.

52. A communication system, comprising:

an access point according to any of claims 18 to 26 or 35 to 43, further comprising a station according to any of claims 27 to 34 or 44 to 51.