CN106899922B

CN106899922B - End-to-end communication method, network allocation vector NAV setting method and website

Info

Publication number: CN106899922B
Application number: CN201510957067.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱俊; 苏宏家; 林英沛; 马驰翔
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-12-18
Filing date: 2015-12-18
Publication date: 2019-08-27
Anticipated expiration: 2035-12-18
Also published as: WO2017101617A1; CN106899922A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a kind of end-to-end communication methods to improve system throughput to reduce the channel competition expense under end-to-end communication.Method includes: the first station for acquiring first time window, and first time window is the time for progress end-to-end communication between website that access point determines, the first website has end-to-end communication ability, and the first website and access point belong to identical basic service unit B SS；First website carries out end-to-end communication in the first time window, the communication frame that first website is sent during carrying out end-to-end communication includes the second time window, as initial time at the time of second time window sends communication frame place using the first website, a length of first stop point of the window of the second time window carries out this end-to-end communication and needs duration.

Description

End-to-end communication method, Network Allocation Vector (NAV) setting method and station

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication, and in particular, to an end-to-end communication method, a network allocation vector NAV setting method, and a station.

Background

The end-to-end (D2D) communication technology is a technology that allows direct communication between terminals, and can increase the spectrum efficiency of the communication system, reduce the transmission power of the terminals, solve the problem of insufficient spectrum resources of the wireless communication system to a certain extent, and significantly improve the performance of the whole network system. A Link used for end-to-end communication between two stations is called a station-to-station Link (DSSL).

In the existing end-to-end communication, a Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) mechanism is adopted, and the core of the CSMA mechanism is Carrier Sense. All stations participate in channel competition after determining that the channel is in an idle state through carrier monitoring, and the stations which have end-to-end communication capability and compete for the channel can only carry out end-to-end communication. Both the station with the end-to-end communication capability and the station without the end-to-end communication capability can participate in channel competition after determining that the station is in an idle state, so that certain competition overhead can be generated in the channel competition process.

Especially, under the scene of dense sites, the requirements of end-to-end communication and uplink/downlink communication are large, which causes the competition overhead generated by the sites participating in channel competition to be greatly increased, and affects the system throughput.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides an end-to-end communication method, a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) setting method and a site, which are used for reducing channel competition overhead under end-to-end communication and improving the throughput rate of a system.

In a first aspect, an end-to-end communication method provided in an embodiment of the present invention includes:

a first station acquires a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time for performing end-to-end communication between stations determined by an access point, the first station has end-to-end communication capability, and the first station and the access point belong to the same basic service unit (BSS);

the first station carries out end-to-end communication in the first time window, a communication frame sent by the first station in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication comprises a second time window, the second time window takes the moment of sending the communication frame by the first station as an initial moment, and the window length of the second time window is the time required by the first station to carry out the current end-to-end communication.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the second time window is carried in a MAC header field of the communication frame; or

The second time window is carried in a frame body of a media access control, MAC, payload of the communication frame; or

The second time window is carried in high efficiency signaling of a physical layer preamble of the communication frame.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an end-to-end communication method, including:

a second station acquires a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time for performing end-to-end communication between stations determined by an access point, the second station has end-to-end communication capability, and the second station and the access point belong to the same basic service unit BSS;

the second station carries out end-to-end communication in the first time window, a communication frame sent by the second station in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication comprises a third time window, the third time window takes the moment when the second station sends the communication frame as the starting moment, and the window length of the third time window is the time from the moment when the second station sends the communication frame as the starting moment to the ending moment of the first time window.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the third time window is carried in a MAC header field of the communication frame; or

The third time window is carried in high efficiency signaling of a physical layer preamble of the communication frame.

In a third aspect, a method for setting a network allocation vector NAV according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

a third station acquires a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations, wherein the third station has end-to-end communication capability and does not perform end-to-end communication within the time window;

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, the NAV to indicate that the channel is busy within the time window.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the third station, a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations includes:

the third station monitors a communication frame which is sent by a first station in an end-to-end communication process and comprises a second time window, the second time window takes the moment when the first station sends the communication frame as an initial moment, the second time window is used for the first station to carry out the end-to-end communication, and the third station and the first station belong to the same basic service unit BSS;

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the second time window.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the second time window is carried in a medium access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

With reference to the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the third station, a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations includes:

the third station monitors a communication frame which is sent by a second station in an end-to-end communication process and comprises a third time window, the third time window takes the moment when the second station sends the communication frame as an initial moment, the third time window is used for end-to-end communication between stations, and the third station and the second station belong to different basic service units (BSSs);

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the third time window.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the third time window is carried in a medium access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

With reference to the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the third station, a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations includes:

the third station receives a downlink frame which is sent by an access point and comprises a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time which is determined by the access point and is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between stations, and the third station and the access point belong to different basic service units (BSSs);

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the first time window.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a first station, including:

a transceiver unit, configured to obtain a first time window, where the first time window is time for performing end-to-end communication between stations determined by an access point, and the first station has an end-to-end communication capability, and the first station and the access point belong to a same basic service unit BSS;

a processing unit, configured to control the first station to perform end-to-end communication within the first time window obtained by the transceiver unit;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send a communication frame to the peer station during end-to-end communication, where the communication frame includes a second time window, the second time window takes a time at which the transceiver unit sends the communication frame as an initial time, and a window length of the second time window is a time that needs to last the first station for the end-to-end communication.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the second time window is carried in a MAC header field of the communication frame; or

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a second station, including:

a transceiver unit, configured to obtain a first time window, where the first time window is time for performing end-to-end communication between stations determined by an access point, and a second station has an end-to-end communication capability, and the second station and the access point belong to a same basic service unit BSS;

a processing unit, configured to control the second station to perform end-to-end communication within the first time window obtained by the transceiver unit;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send a communication frame to the peer station during end-to-end communication, where the communication frame includes a third time window, the third time window takes a time at which the transceiver unit sends the communication frame as a start time, and a window length of the third time window is a time between the time at which the transceiver unit sends the communication frame as the start time and an end time of the first time window.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the third time window is carried in a medium access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a third station, including:

a transceiver unit, configured to obtain a time window for performing end-to-end communication between sites, where the third site has an end-to-end communication capability and does not perform end-to-end communication within the time window;

and the processing unit is used for setting a NAV (navigation indicator) to the time window acquired by the transceiving unit, and the NAV is used for indicating that the channel is in a busy state in the time window.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

monitoring a communication frame which is sent by a first station in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication and comprises a second time window, wherein the second time window takes the moment when the first station sends the communication frame as an initial moment, the second time window is used for carrying out the current end-to-end communication by the first station, and a third station and the first station belong to the same basic service unit BSS;

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the second time window.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the second time window is carried in a medium access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

monitoring a communication frame which is sent by a second station in an end-to-end communication process and comprises a third time window, wherein the third time window takes the moment when the second station sends the communication frame as an initial moment, the third time window is used for end-to-end communication between stations, and the third station and the second station belong to different basic service units (BSSs);

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the third time window.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the third time window is carried in a medium access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the first time window.

In a seventh aspect, a method for setting a network allocation vector NAV provided in an embodiment of the present invention includes:

a fourth station acquires a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations, wherein the fourth station does not have end-to-end communication capability;

the fourth station sets a NAV to the time window, the NAV to indicate that the channel is in a busy state within the time window.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the fourth station, a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations includes:

the fourth station receives a downlink frame which is sent by an access point and comprises a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time which is determined by the access point and is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between stations;

the fourth station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the fourth station sets a NAV to the first time window.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the fourth station, a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations includes:

the fourth station monitors a communication frame which is sent by the first station in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication and comprises a third time window, the third time window takes the moment when the first station sends the communication frame as an initial moment, and the third time window is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between the stations;

the fourth station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the fourth station sets a NAV to the third time window.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the third time window is carried in a medium access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a fourth station, including:

a transceiver unit, configured to obtain a time window for performing end-to-end communication between sites, where the fourth site does not have an end-to-end communication capability;

With reference to the eighth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

receiving a downlink frame which is sent by an access point and comprises a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time which is determined by the access point and is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between stations;

the processing unit is specifically configured to:

setting a NAV to the first time window received by the transceiver unit.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

detecting a communication frame which is sent by a first site in an end-to-end communication process and comprises a third time window, wherein the third time window takes the moment when the first site sends the communication frame as an initial moment, and the third time window is used for end-to-end communication between the sites;

the processing unit is specifically configured to:

setting a NAV to the third time window that is heard by the transceiver unit.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the third time window is carried in a MAC header field of the communication frame; or

The embodiment of the invention provides an end-to-end communication method and a NAV setting method, which can realize end-to-end communication among stations, judge the channel state by setting NAV of the station which does not perform end-to-end communication, and when the station judges that the channel is in a busy state through NAV, the station does not participate in competition channels to send data, so that on one hand, the competition overhead generated by channel competition is reduced, the system throughput rate is further improved, and on the other hand, the station power consumption is reduced.

Drawings

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

fig. 2(a) is a schematic flow chart of an end-to-end communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2(b) is a schematic flow chart of an end-to-end communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for setting a network allocation vector NAV according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for setting a network allocation vector NAV according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an interaction process between an access point and a station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a first station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a second station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a third station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a fourth station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a first station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a second station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a third station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a fourth station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments 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 embodiment of the invention provides an end-to-end communication method, a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) setting method and a site, so as to reduce the channel competition cost under end-to-end communication and improve the system throughput rate. The method and the device are based on the same inventive concept, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not described again.

The embodiment of the invention relates to an end-to-end communication technology, which is a technology for allowing terminals (stations in the invention) to directly communicate with each other, can increase the spectrum efficiency of a communication system, reduce the transmitting power of the terminals and solve the problem of insufficient spectrum resources of a wireless communication system to a certain extent. The embodiment of the invention is suitable for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), including but not limited to Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems represented by 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n and 802.11ac, is especially suitable for site-intensive scenes, and can meet the requirements of the next generation of Wi-Fi standards on high-intensity users and high throughput.

In the communication network shown in fig. 1, stations 1 to 4 belong to the same Basic Service Set (BSS) as the access point, and stations 1 to 4 maintain connection with the access point via Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) links, respectively, and perform control information interaction with the access point via UL and DL; the station 1, the station 2 and the station 3 have end-to-end communication capability, the station 1 and the station 2 carry out end-to-end communication within a time window determined by the access point and used for the end-to-end communication, and the station 4 does not have the end-to-end communication capability; the station 5, the station 6 and the access point belong to different BSSs, the station 5 has end-to-end communication capability, and the station 6 does not have end-to-end communication capability. Station 1 and station 2 correspond to a first station or a second station in the embodiment of the present invention, the first station and the second station indicate stations of the same type, that is, indicate stations performing end-to-end communication within a time window determined by an access point, station 3 and station 5 correspond to a third station in the embodiment of the present invention, and station 4 and station 6 correspond to a fourth station in the embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in a practical application scenario, a station in a communication network is not limited to what is provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

Channel competition cost can be generated by adopting a CSMA mechanism in end-to-end communication and uplink/downlink communication, and particularly under the condition of dense sites, the channel competition cost is greatly increased, and the throughput rate of a system is influenced. By the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the channel competition overhead of end-to-end communication and uplink/downlink communication can be reduced, and the system throughput rate is further improved. The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is described in detail below.

As shown in fig. 2(a), an embodiment of the present invention provides an end-to-end communication method, including:

s201, a first station acquires a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time for performing end-to-end communication between stations determined by an access point, the first station has end-to-end communication capability, and the first station and the access point belong to the same basic service unit BSS;

s202, the first station carries out end-to-end communication in a first time window, a communication frame sent by the first station in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication comprises a second time window, the second time window takes the moment of sending the communication frame by the first station as the starting moment, and the window length of the second time window is the time required by the first station to carry out the current end-to-end communication.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a first station obtains a first time window by receiving a downlink frame including the first time window sent by an access point. The first time window carries a duration (duration) field of a Media Access Control (MAC) header field of a downlink frame transmitted by an access point, or the first time window carries a transmission opportunity (TXOP) duration field of a high efficiency signaling a (HE-SIG-a) field of a Physical Layer (PHY) preamble of the downlink frame.

The first station carries out end-to-end communication in a first time window, and communication frames sent in the end-to-end communication process comprise data frames, control frames and management frames. The communication includes a second time window, and preferably, the second time window takes a time at which the first station finishes transmitting the communication frame as a starting time.

Wherein the second time window is carried in a frame body of a MAC payload portion of the communication frame; or

The second time window is carried in a Media Access Control (MAC) header field of the communication frame; or

As shown in fig. 2(b), an embodiment of the present invention provides an end-to-end communication method, including:

s211, a second station acquires a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time for performing end-to-end communication between stations determined by an access point, the second station has end-to-end communication capacity, and the second station and the access point belong to the same basic service unit BSS;

s212, the second station performs end-to-end communication in the first time window, where the communication frame sent by the second station during the end-to-end communication includes a third time window, the third time window takes a time at which the second station sends the communication frame as a start time, and a window length of the third time window is a time between the time at which the second station sends the communication frame as the start time and an end time of the first time window.

Preferably, the third time window takes a time at which the second station finishes transmitting the communication frame as a starting time.

Wherein the third time window is carried in a media access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

Since the first station and the second station in the embodiment of the present invention indicate stations of the same type, that is, stations indicating end-to-end communication within a time window determined by the access point, for understanding the embodiment, the first station and the second station are collectively referred to as the first station in the following method content.

With reference to fig. 2(a) and fig. 2(b), in an embodiment of the present invention, a communication frame sent by a first station during peer-to-peer communication may only include a second time window, may only include a third time window, or may include both the second time window and the third time window.

With reference to fig. 2(a) and 2(b), the following illustrates a frame format adopted by a communication frame transmitted by the first station.

The first and second time windows are carried in the MAC of the communication frame.

1. The communication frame is a data frame. In the frame format of the communication frame shown in fig. 3, the uplink/downlink bit in the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble is configured to be "0" to indicate that the communication frame is a non-uplink frame; the type (type) bit in the frame control (frame control) field of the MAC header field is configured To be "10", and the To DS bit and the From DS bit are respectively configured To be "0", for indicating that the communication frame is a data frame other than an uplink frame.

A partial (partial) TXOP duration field for carrying the second time window is added in the frame body (frame body) field of the MAC payload, it should be noted that the partial TXOP duration field may be located at any position in the frame body (frame body) field of the MAC payload as agreed by the protocol, and is not limited to the position shown in fig. 3. At this time, the third time window may be carried in a duration field of the MAC header field, or the third time window may be carried in a TXOP duration field of the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble, or the communication frame does not carry the third time window.

After receiving the communication frame shown in fig. 3, the other station may determine that the communication frame is a non-uplink data frame according to the uplink/downlink bit configuration in the communication frame and the type (type) bit configuration in the frame control (frame control) field of the MAC header field, and then obtain the second time window from the partial TXOP duration field of the frame body (frame body) of the MAC payload.

Optionally, the second time window may also be carried in a duration field of the MAC header field shown in fig. 3, in which case, the third time window may be carried in a TXOP duration field of the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble, or the third time window is not carried in the communication frame.

The form of the MAC header field of the communication frame is not limited to that shown in fig. 3, and may be another form.

2. The communication frame is a control frame. In the frame format of the communication frame shown in fig. 4, the communication frame may be indicated as a DSSL control frame using a subtype (subtype) field set to a different value, for example, setting the subtype field to "0000" indicates that the communication frame is a DSSL Request To Send (RTS) frame, setting the subtype field to "0001" indicates that the communication frame is a DSSL Clear To Send (CTS) frame, setting the subtype field to "0010" indicates that the communication frame is a DSSL Acknowledgement (ACK) frame, and so on. "0010" indicates a DSSL (acknowledgment) frame or the like.

The Sub-type field may be newly added after the duration field as shown in fig. 4, or the 4 fields of To DS, From DS, More Fragments and Retry in the original frame control field may be multiplexed, because when the communication frame is a control frame, these 4 fields are all 0. For example, setting the subtype field To "0001" indicates that the communication frame is a DSSL control frame, and then multiplexing the 4 fields of To DS, From DS, More Fragments, and Retry in the original frame control field To further distinguish the different DSSL control frame subtypes, each of the 4 fields of To DS, From DS, More Fragments, and Retry being 1 bit. For example, setting 4 bits of the above 4 fields to "0000" indicates that the communication frame is a DSSL RTS frame, setting 4 bits of the above 4 fields to "0001" indicates that the communication frame is a DSSL CTS frame, and setting 4 bits of the above 4 fields to "0010" indicates that the communication frame is a DSSL ACK frame.

A partial TXOP duration field for carrying the second time window is newly added in the MAC header field of the DSSL control frame, it should be noted that the partial TXOP duration field may be located at any position agreed by the protocol of the MAC header field, and is not limited to the position shown in fig. 4. Or,

a partial TXOP duration field for carrying the second time window is added in the frame body field of the MAC payload of the DSSL control frame, it should be noted that the partial TXOP duration field may be located at any position in the frame body field of the MAC payload as agreed by the protocol. For example, the DSSL Block acknowledgement ((Block ACK, BA) frame shown in fig. 5.

For the position of the partial TXOP duration field carrying the second time window in fig. 4 or fig. 5, the third time window may be carried in the duration field of the MAC header field, or the third time window is carried in the TXOP duration field of the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble, or the communication frame does not carry the third time window.

After receiving the communication frame shown in fig. 4 or fig. 5, the other station may determine that the communication frame is a control frame according to the setting of the subtype field in the communication frame, and then obtain the second time window from the partial TXOP duration field.

Optionally, the second time window may also be carried in a duration field of the MAC header field shown in fig. 4 or fig. 5, in this case, the third time window may be carried in a TXOP duration field of the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble, or the third time window is not carried in the communication frame.

The form of the MAC header field of the communication frame is not limited to that shown in fig. 4 or 5, and may be other forms.

3. The communication Frame is a Management Frame (Management Frame) and the function Frame (Action Frame) belongs to the Management Frame, in the Frame format of the communication Frame shown in fig. 6, the type (category) field is set to a different value to indicate that the communication Frame is a DSSL function Frame, and then the DSSL Action field newly added after the category field is set to a different value to indicate a subtype of the different DSSL Management Frame, for example, the category field is set to "00010010" to indicate that the communication Frame is a DSSL function Frame, the DSSL Action field is set to "00000000" to indicate that the DSSL function Frame is a DSSL setup request (setup request) Frame, the DSSL Action field is set to "00000001" to indicate that the DSSL function Frame is a DSSL setup response (setup) Frame, and so on.

A partial TXOP duration field for carrying the second time window is added in the frame body field of the MAC payload of the DSSL management frame, it should be noted that the partial TXOP duration field may be located at any position of the frame body field of the MAC payload as agreed by the protocol, and is not limited to the position shown in fig. 6. At this time, the third time window may be carried in a duration field of the MAC header field, or the third time window may be carried in a txoperation field of the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble, or the communication frame may not carry the third time window.

After receiving the communication frame shown in fig. 6, the other stations may determine that the communication frame is a management frame according to the setting of the category field in the communication frame, and then obtain the second time window from the partial TXOP duration field.

Optionally, the second time window may also be carried in a duration field of the MAC header field shown in fig. 6, in this case, the third time window may be carried in a TXOP duration field of the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble, or the third time window is not carried in the communication frame.

The form of the MAC header field of the communication frame is not limited to that shown in fig. 6, and may be another form.

The second and third time windows are carried in the PHY preamble of the communication frame.

1. In the frame format of the communication frame shown in fig. 7, the DSSL/Non-DSSL field in the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble may be used to indicate that the communication frame is a DSSL frame, and the second time window is carried in the HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble through the partial txoperation field. It should be noted that the partial TXOP duration field may be a multiplexing field, and when the communication frame is not a DSSL frame, the partial TXOP duration field may be used to indicate other information. For example, the partial TXOP duration field is a Spatial Reuse (SR) field.

The third time window may be carried in a duration field of a MAC header field, or the third time window may be carried in a TXOP duration field of an HE-SIG-a field of the PHY preamble, or the communication frame may not carry the third time window.

The other station may determine whether the communication frame is a DSSL frame based on the information indicated by the DSSL/Non-DSSL field. If a DSSL frame, the second time window may be obtained from the partial TXOP duration field in the HE-SIG-A domain.

2. The second time window may be carried using an L-length field in the L-SIG field of the PHY preamble or carried using an L-length field in the RL-SIG field of the PHY preamble. Whether the communication frame is a DSSL frame or not is indicated by a bit in an HE-SIG-A field.

The L-length field in the L-SIG field and the RL-SIG field carries the second time window if the communication frame is a DSSL frame. The L-length fields in the L-SIG field and RL-SIG field may be used to carry other information if the communication frame is a non-DSSL frame.

It should be noted that, during the end-to-end communication between the stations, multiple DSSL frames may be interacted between the stations, in the embodiment of the present invention, a second time window may be carried in a part of the DSSL frames, or a second time window may be carried in all the DSSL frames, the DSSL frame carrying the second time window may adopt the frame format provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and the DSSL frame not carrying the second time window may adopt the current frame format. In the real-time example of the present invention, the communication frame sent by the first station in the process of performing end-to-end communication is a DSSL frame.

In the frame structures shown in fig. 3 to 7, the chinese meaning in english is shown in the following table one.

Watch 1

The embodiment of the invention also provides a network allocation vector NAV setting method, and the time length of NAV setting is used for indicating that the channel is in a busy state in the time length. The stations judge the channel state by setting NAVs, and when the stations judge that the channel is in a busy state by NAVs, the stations do not participate in competing the channel to send data, so that on one hand, the competition overhead generated by channel competition is reduced, the system throughput rate is improved, and on the other hand, the station power consumption is reduced.

As shown in fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for setting a network allocation vector NAV, including:

s801, a third site obtains a time window for performing end-to-end communication between sites, the third site has end-to-end communication capability, and the third site does not perform end-to-end communication within the time window;

s802, the third station sets NAV to a time window, and the NAV is used for indicating that the channel is in a busy state in the time window.

In the embodiment of the invention, the third station has the end-to-end communication capability, and the third station does not perform end-to-end communication within a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations. The third station obtains the time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations, which is divided into the following three cases:

the first station, the third station and the first station belong to the same BSS.

The third station detects that the first station sends a communication frame in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication, the communication frame comprises a second time window, the second time window takes the moment when the first station sends the communication frame as the starting moment, and the second time window is used for carrying out the current end-to-end communication by the first station.

At this time, the third station sets a NAV to a second time window, which is used to indicate that the channel is in a busy state in the second time window, and the third station does not participate in channel contention in the second time window.

The second time window is carried in the MAC header field of the communication frame; or, the second time window is carried in a frame body of a MAC payload of the communication frame; alternatively, the second time window is carried in the HE-SIG-a of the PHY preamble of the communication frame. The frame format of the communication frame carrying the second time window may adopt the content provided by the first site-side embodiment, and is not described herein again.

The second station, the third station and the first station belong to different BSS.

The third station detects that the first station sends a communication frame in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication, the communication frame comprises a third time window, the third time window takes the moment when the first station sends the communication frame as the starting moment, and the third time window is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between the stations.

At this time, the third station sets a NAV to a third time window, which is used to indicate that the channel is in a busy state in the third time window, and the third station does not participate in channel contention in the third time window.

The third time window is carried in the MAC header field of the communication frame; alternatively, the third time window is carried in the HE-SIG-a of the PHY preamble of the communication frame. The frame format of the communication frame carrying the third time window may adopt the content provided by the first site-side embodiment, and is not described herein again.

And thirdly, the third station and the access point belong to different BSS.

And the third station receives a downlink frame which is sent by the access point and comprises a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time which is determined by the access point and is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between the stations.

At this time, the third station sets a NAV to the first time window, which is used to indicate that the channel is in a busy state in the first time window, and the third station does not participate in channel contention in the first time window.

The first time window is carried in a duration field of a MAC header field of a downlink frame sent by an access point, or the first time window is carried in a TXOP duration field of an HE-SIG-A field of a PHY preamble of the downlink frame.

After the third station sets the NAV by the method, the third station does not participate in channel competition within the time length indicated by the NAV, so that the competition overhead generated by the channel competition is reduced, and the system throughput rate is improved. The third station may choose to sleep for the length of time indicated by the NAV to further reduce power consumption by the third station.

As shown in fig. 9, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for setting a network allocation vector NAV, including:

s901, a fourth station acquires a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations, and the fourth station does not have end-to-end communication capability;

and S902, the fourth station sets the NAV to a time window, wherein the NAV is used for indicating that the channel is in a busy state in the time window.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the fourth station does not have an end-to-end communication capability, and the fourth station may belong to the same BSS as the access point of the first station or may belong to a different BSS.

The time window for the fourth station to obtain end-to-end communication between the stations may be the first time window or the third time window, and specifically the following steps are performed:

the first and the fourth stations receive a downlink frame which is sent by an access point and comprises a first time window, wherein the first time window is the time which is determined by the access point and is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between the stations.

At this time, the fourth station sets a NAV to the first time window, which is used to indicate that the channel is in a busy state in the first time window, and the fourth station does not participate in channel contention in the first time window.

And secondly, the fourth site monitors a communication frame sent by the first site in the process of carrying out end-to-end communication, the communication frame comprises a third time window, the third time window takes the moment of sending the communication frame by the first site as the starting moment, and the third time window is used for carrying out end-to-end communication between the sites. Optionally, the communication frame includes a data frame, a control frame, and a management frame.

At this time, the fourth station sets a NAV to a third time window, which is used to indicate that the channel is in a busy state in the third time window, and the fourth station does not participate in channel contention in the third time window.

After the fourth station sets the NAV by the method, the fourth station does not participate in channel competition within the time length indicated by the NAV, so that the competition overhead generated by the channel competition is reduced, and the system throughput rate is improved. The fourth station may choose to sleep for the length of time indicated by the NAV to further reduce the power consumption of the fourth station.

The technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention is described below through an interaction process among the access point, the first station, the third station, and the fourth station.

As shown in fig. 10, the first station performs an end-to-end communication procedure within a first time window determined by the access point, the first station transmits a communication frame in the end-to-end communication procedure, the communication frame includes a second time window and/or a third time window, and NAVs set by the fourth station and the third station are as shown in fig. 10. Specifically, the content of the embodiment on the third station side (see fig. 8) may be referred to as a method for setting a NAV by the third station, which is not described herein again; the method for setting NAV by the fourth station can refer to the content of the fourth station-side embodiment (see fig. 9), and is not described herein.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the station pairs performing end-to-end communication in the first time window may be one pair or multiple pairs. The communication type of the end-to-end communication performed in the first time window is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention, for example, end-to-end link establishment, end-to-end site discovery, end-to-end data transmission, and the like.

Based on the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a first station, where the first station may adopt the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 2(a), and referring to fig. 11, the first station 1100 includes: a transceiving unit 1101 and a processing unit 1102.

A transceiver 1101, configured to obtain a first time window, where the first time window is time determined by an access point for performing end-to-end communication between stations, and the first station has an end-to-end communication capability, and the first station and the access point belong to a same basic service unit BSS;

a processing unit 1102, configured to control the first station to perform end-to-end communication within the first time window acquired by the transceiver unit 1101;

the transceiver unit 1101 is further configured to send a communication frame to an opposite end station in an end-to-end communication process, where the communication frame includes a second time window, the second time window takes a time at which the transceiver unit 1101 sends the communication frame as an initial time, and a window length of the second time window is a time that the first station needs to last for the end-to-end communication of this time.

Optionally, the second time window is carried in a MAC header field of the communication frame; or

Based on the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a second station, where the second station may use the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 2(b), and referring to fig. 12, the second station 1200 includes: a transceiving unit 1201 and a processing unit 1202.

A transceiving unit 1201, configured to obtain a first time window, where the first time window is time for performing end-to-end communication between stations determined by an access point, and the second station has an end-to-end communication capability, and the second station and the access point belong to a same basic service unit BSS;

a processing unit 1202, configured to control the second station to perform end-to-end communication within the first time window obtained by the transceiver unit 1201;

the transceiving unit 1201 is further configured to send a communication frame to an opposite end station in an end-to-end communication process, where the communication frame includes a third time window, the third time window takes a time at which the transceiving unit 1201 sends the communication frame as a start time, and a window length of the third time window is a time between the time at which the transceiving unit 1201 sends the communication frame as the start time and an end time of the first time window.

Optionally, the third time window is carried in a MAC header field of the communication frame; or

Based on the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a third station, where the third station may adopt the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 8, and referring to fig. 13, the third station 1300 includes: a transceiving unit 1301 and a processing unit 1302.

A transceiving unit 1301, configured to obtain a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations, where the third station has an end-to-end communication capability, and the third station does not perform end-to-end communication within the time window;

a processing unit 1302, configured to set a NAV to the time window obtained by the transceiving unit 1301, where the NAV is used to indicate that a channel is in a busy state in the time window.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1301 is specifically configured to:

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the second time window.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1301 is specifically configured to:

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the third time window.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1301 is specifically configured to:

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the first time window.

Based on the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a fourth station, where the fourth station may adopt the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 9, and referring to fig. 14, the fourth station 1400 includes: a transceiving unit 1401 and a processing unit 1402.

A transceiver 1401, configured to obtain a time window for performing end-to-end communication between stations, where the fourth station does not have an end-to-end communication capability;

a processing unit 1402, configured to set a NAV to the time window acquired by the transceiving unit 1401, where the NAV is used to indicate that a channel is in a busy state in the time window.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1401 is specifically configured to:

the processing unit 1402 is specifically configured to:

setting a NAV to the first time window received by the transceiving unit 1401.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 1401 is specifically configured to:

the processing unit 1402 is specifically configured to:

a NAV is set to the third time window that the transceiving unit 1401 hears.

It should be noted that the division of the unit in the embodiment of the present invention is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method of the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

Based on the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a first station, which may adopt the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 2(a), and may be the same device as the first station shown in fig. 11. Referring to fig. 15, the first site 1500 includes: a transceiver 1501, a processor 1502, a bus 1503, and a memory 1504, wherein:

the transceiver 1501, processor 1502, and memory 1504 are interconnected by a bus 1503; the bus 1503 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 15, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

The transceiver 1501 corresponds to the transceiver unit 1101 in fig. 11, and the processor 1502 corresponds to the processing unit 1502 in fig. 11. The first site 1500 also includes a memory 1504 for storing programs and the like. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. The memory 1504 may include Random Access Memory (RAM) and may also include non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as at least one disk memory. The processor 1502 executes the application program stored in the memory 1504 to implement the peer-to-peer communication method as described above.

Based on the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a second station, and the second station may adopt the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 2(b), and may be the same device as the second station shown in fig. 12. Referring to fig. 16, the second station 1600 includes: a transceiver 1601, a processor 1602, a bus 1603, and a memory 1604, wherein:

the transceiver 1601, the processor 1602, and the memory 1604 are connected to each other by a bus 1603; bus 1603 may be a PCI bus or an EISA bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 16, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

The transceiver 1601 corresponds to the transceiving unit 1201 in fig. 12. The processor 1602 corresponds to the processing unit 1202 in fig. 12, and the second station 1600 further comprises a memory 1604 for storing programs and the like. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. The memory 1604 may include RAM and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage. The processor 1602 executes the application program stored in the memory 1604 to implement the peer-to-peer communication method as described above.

Based on the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a third station, where the third station may adopt the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 8, and may be the same device as the third station shown in fig. 13. Referring to fig. 17, the third site 1700 includes: a transceiver 1701, a processor 1702, a bus 1703, and a memory 1704, wherein:

the transceiver 1701, the processor 1702, and the memory 1704 are connected to each other through a bus 1703; the bus 1703 may be a PCI bus or an EISA bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 17, but this does not mean only one bus or one type of bus.

The transceiver 1701 corresponds to the transceiving unit 1301 in fig. 13. The processor 1702 corresponds to the processing unit 1302 in fig. 13, and the third site 1700 further includes a memory 1704 for storing a program and the like. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. Memory 1704 may include RAM, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk memory. The processor 1702 executes the application program stored in the memory 1704 to implement the NAV setting method as described above.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a fourth station, where the fourth station may adopt the method provided in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 9, and may be the same device as the fourth station shown in fig. 14. Referring to fig. 18, the fourth station 1800 includes: a transceiver 1801, a processor 1802, a bus 1803, and memory 1804, wherein:

the transceiver 1801, processor 1802, and memory 1804 are interconnected by a bus 1803; the bus 1803 may be a PCI bus or an EISA bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 18, but this does not mean only one bus or one type of bus.

The transceiver 1801 corresponds to the transceiving unit 1401 in fig. 14. The processor 1802 corresponds to the processing unit 1402 in fig. 14, and the fourth station 1800 further comprises a memory 1804 for storing programs and the like. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. Memory 1804 may include RAM, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk memory. The processor 1802 executes the application program stored in the memory 1804 to implement the NAV setting method as described above.

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

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the embodiments of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. An end-to-end communication method, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1,

the second time window is carried in a media access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

3. An end-to-end communication method, comprising:

4. The method of claim 3,

the third time window is carried in a media access control, MAC, header field of the communication frame; or

5. A method for setting a network allocation vector NAV, comprising:

a third station monitors a communication frame which is sent by a first station in an end-to-end communication process and comprises a second time window, wherein the second time window takes the moment when the first station sends the communication frame as an initial moment, the second time window is used for the first station to carry out the end-to-end communication, the third station and the first station belong to the same basic service unit BSS, the third station has end-to-end communication capability, and the third station does not carry out end-to-end communication in the time window;

the third station sets a NAV to the second time window, the NAV to indicate that a channel is in a busy state within the second time window.

6. The method of claim 5,

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

the third station sets a NAV to the third time window.

8. The method of claim 7,

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

the third station sets a NAV to the first time window.

10. A first station, comprising:

11. The first station of claim 10,

12. A second station, comprising:

13. The second station of claim 12,

14. A third station, comprising:

a transceiver unit, configured to listen to a communication frame including a second time window sent by a first station in an end-to-end communication process, where the second time window takes a time at which the first station sends the communication frame as an initial time, the second time window is used for the first station to perform this end-to-end communication, a third station and the first station belong to a same basic service unit BSS, the third station has an end-to-end communication capability, and the third station does not perform end-to-end communication within the time window;

and the processing unit is used for setting a NAV to the second time window acquired by the transceiving unit, and the NAV is used for indicating that the channel is in a busy state in the second time window.

15. The third station of claim 14,

16. The third station of claim 14, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:

the third station sets a NAV to the third time window.

17. The third station of claim 16,

18. The third station of claim 14, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:

the third station sets a NAV to the time window, including:

the third station sets a NAV to the first time window.