CN107534999B

CN107534999B - Data transmission method, access point and station

Info

Publication number: CN107534999B
Application number: CN201580079245.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 丁志明
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Chengdu jiaozi Xinxing Financial Investment Group Co.,Ltd.
Priority date: 2015-08-26
Filing date: 2015-08-26
Publication date: 2020-07-24
Anticipated expiration: 2035-08-26
Also published as: CN107534999A; WO2017031731A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to a data transmission method, an access point and a station, which are used for reducing resources occupied by a physical header field by shortening the length of the physical header field of a multi-user message so as to improve the data transmission efficiency. In the embodiment of the invention, the AP sends a request sending message and receives a clear sending message, the AP generates resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identification corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message, and the AP generates and sends multi-user messages according to the resource indication information. Therefore, the STA receiving the multi-user message determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the corresponding first identifiers in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, so that the header field of the multi-user message does not need to carry the longer STA identifier in the prior art, the length of the header field of the multi-user message is shortened, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

Description

Data transmission method, access point and station

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a data transmission method, an access point, and a station.

Background

Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is a Wireless local area network technology based on the IEEE802.11 standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The mainstream Wi-Fi specifications currently in use include IEEE802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, etc., wherein the usage of 802.11g and 802.11n is gradually decreasing, and the usage of 802.11ac is gradually increasing. In the technology, terminals such as a Personal Computer (PC) and a User Equipment (UE) form a communication network in a wireless manner. The Wi-Fi equipment can comprise an Access Point (AP) and a user Station (STA), and the Station and the Access Point can communicate with each other.

Ieee802.11g introduces Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology into Wi-Fi technology, and defines a transmission channel as 20 MHz. Ieee802.11ax introduces a multi-User (MU) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) transmission mechanism, divides a transmission bandwidth into a series of Orthogonal non-overlapping sub-channels, and allocates different sub-channels to different stations for use, so that an Access Point (AP) in a wireless local area network can simultaneously communicate with Multiple Stations (STAs) after competing for a channel, thereby improving the bandwidth resource use efficiency.

A Request To Send (RTS)/Clear To Send (CTS) protocol in the Wi-Fi communication protocol is equivalent To a handshake protocol and is mainly used To solve the problem of "hidden nodes". The term "Hidden Node" (Hidden Node) refers to, for example, that the AP1 sends a signal to the STA1, and the AP2 does not detect the signal sent by the AP1 to the STA1, so the AP2 may send a signal while the AP1 sends a signal to the STA1, and the signal of the AP2 may also reach the STA1, causing signal collision, that is, the signal sent by the AP1 to the STA1 is interfered, and finally the STA1 cannot correctly receive the signal sent by the AP1 to the STA 1. A "hidden node" will incur a loss of efficiency because the interfered message is forced to be retransmitted, the longer the interfered message, the greater the loss. Therefore, to solve the above problem, IEEE802.11 provides a solution that Wi-Fi devices can start RTS/CTS handshake protocol when transmitting long data packets and retransmit data packets when RTS/CTS interaction is successful, to reduce efficiency loss due to collision.

After introducing the multi-user transmission mechanism, ieee802.11ax performs multi-user downlink transmission, that is, an AP transmits messages to multiple STAs simultaneously, and a similar RTS/CTS transmission protection mechanism is also needed, so as to reduce the probability that the STA is interfered by other nearby Wi-Fi devices when receiving the downlink multi-user messages transmitted by the AP.

The specific message transmission process comprises the following steps:

after contending for the channel, the AP may Send a multi-User Request To Send (MU-RTS) message in a broadcast manner or other manners. The MU-RTS includes IDs of the scheduled STAs and indication information indicating a sub-channel used by each scheduled STA to transmit the CTS message. MU-RTS means that the AP is about to send a multi-user message to the scheduled STAs, through which the AP transmits data to the STAs.

And after receiving the MU-RTS, the scheduled STA sends a CTS message on the sub-channel appointed for the STA by an OFDMA transmission mechanism according to the indication information in the MU-RTS. The CTS message indicates that the STA is ready, and the AP may send a multi-user message to the STA. The CTS message includes time information that the STA itself wants to occupy the channel, and the remaining STAs and APs that hear the CTS message avoid using the channel during the time period, so as to avoid collision.

After the AP receives the CTS message sent by the STA, the AP starts sending the multi-user message to the STA. In specific implementation, 5 STAs are scheduled by the AP, and if the 5 STAs all send CTS messages to the AP, the AP sends a multi-user message to the 5 STAs; if the AP receives only a part of the STAs, for example, CTS messages sent by 3 STAs, the AP sends CTS messages only to the 3 STAs sending CTS; if the AP does not receive a CTS message, the AP abandons the transmission and re-contends for the channel.

In the above information transmission process, because the RTS/CTS are both short frames and the data volume is not large, if the transmission of such short frames fails, excessive efficiency waste is not caused, while a multi-user message is generally a long frame and the data volume is large, and if one long frame fails, great efficiency waste is caused. Therefore, the AP and the STA start transmitting data by sending the multi-user message after successfully exchanging the RTS/CTS message, i.e., completing the handshake, thereby reducing the possibility of a long frame transmission failure, avoiding excessive invalid transmission, and improving the data transmission efficiency.

The physical frame of the multi-user message sent by the AP to the STA is shown in fig. 1, and includes a physical header Field and a data Field, where the data Field is used to carry data sent to multiple STAs, and transmit data corresponding to each STA simultaneously on resources corresponding to the STA, and for the OFDMA mechanism, data of multiple STAs is transmitted simultaneously on different frequency domain resources, the physical header Field includes a legacy Preamble (L aggregation) Field, a High efficiency signaling a (HE-SIG-a) Field, a High efficiency signaling B (HE-SIG-B) Field, a High efficiency Short Training Field/long Training Field (HE-Short Training Field/L ong Training Field, HE-STF/L) Field, the HE-SIG-B Field of the physical header Field includes Resource Allocation (Resource Allocation, RA) Field, and a spectrum Allocation Identifier Field 355634, the length of the STA-STA Field is smaller than that of the STA ID Field in the physical header Field, the STA ID Field includes a Resource Allocation, the STA ID of the STA ID Allocation, the STA ID Allocation Field, the STA ID Allocation of the physical header Field, the STA ID Allocation of the physical header Field, the STA ID Allocation, the physical header Field, the STA ID, the STA Allocation of the physical header Field, the physical header.

One way to indicate the STA ID information of the RA field is to use the MAC address of the STA, which is 48 bits, and the length of the RA field is too long due to the too long MAC address of the STA. Another way is to indicate the ID information of the STA using an Association Identifier (AID) of the STA in the RA domain. The AID is a unique identifier within a Basic Service Set (BSS) assigned by an AP after the STA connects to the AP, and since one AP in the current specification allows access to 2007 STAs at most, the AID only needs 11 bits. As can be seen, the AID of the STA is shorter than the MAC address of the STA, but the AID is still longer. The third way is to use a 7-8 bit Partial (Partial) AID indication in the RA domain, considering that in fact there are usually not many STAs accessing one AP. However, if the number of STAs accessing the same AP is too large, the Partial AID will not uniquely indicate one STA.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a data transmission method, an access point, and a station, so as to reduce resources occupied by a physical header field of a multi-user message by shortening the length of the physical header field, thereby improving data transmission efficiency.

In a first aspect, a data transmission method is provided, including:

an Access Point (AP) sends a request sending message, wherein the request sending message comprises a first identifier of at least one Station (STA);

the AP receives a clear-to-send message sent by a first STA; wherein the first STA is one of the at least one STA;

the AP generates resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identification corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA;

the AP generates a multi-user message according to the resource indication information;

the AP sends a multi-user message.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, positions of the first identifiers corresponding to the first STAs in all the first identifiers in the request to send message are consistent with positions of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STAs in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the first STA, where the second identifier of the first STA is used to indicate a position of the first identifier of the first STA in all first identifiers of the request to send messages.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second identifier of the first STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

the number of first identities and the maximum number of STAs that the AP can schedule at one time included in the request-to-send message.

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

the AP sets the resource indication information of the second STA to an invalid value;

the second STA is an STA that does not send a clear-to-send message to the AP.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the second STA;

further comprising:

the AP sets the second identity of the second STA to an invalid value.

In a second aspect, a data transmission method is provided, including:

the method comprises the steps that an STA receives a request sending message sent by an access point AP, wherein the request sending message comprises a first identification of at least one STA;

the STA sends a clear-to-send message to the AP;

the STA receives a multi-user message sent by the AP; the multi-user message comprises resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the STA;

and the STA determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message, and receives the data sent by the AP on the resource corresponding to the resource allocation information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the determining, by the STA, resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to positions of the first identifier of the STA in all first identifiers of the request to send message includes:

the STA determines the positions of first identifications corresponding to the STA in all the first identifications requesting to send the message;

the STA determines resource indication information with the position consistent with the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message to obtain the resource indication information corresponding to the STA;

and the STA determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the resource indication information corresponding to the STA.

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 multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the STA; the second identification of the STA is used for indicating the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send messages;

the method for determining resource allocation information corresponding to the STA by the STA according to the positions of the first identifiers of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request sending message includes the following steps:

the STA determines a second identification of the STA in the multi-user message according to the positions of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message;

and the STA determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the second identification of the STA according to the determined second identification of the STA.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second identifier of the STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

In a third aspect, an access point is provided, including:

a sending unit, configured to send a request-to-send message and a multi-user message, where the request-to-send message includes a first identifier of at least one station STA;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a clear-to-send message sent by a first STA; wherein the first STA is one of the at least one STA;

the processing unit is used for generating resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identifications corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message, and generating a multi-user message according to the resource indication information; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, positions of the first identifiers corresponding to the first STAs in all the first identifiers in the request to send message are consistent with positions of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STAs in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message.

With reference to the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the first STA, where the second identifier of the first STA is used to indicate a position of the first identifier of the first STA in all first identifiers of the request to send messages.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the second identifier of the first STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

With reference to any one possible implementation manner of the third aspect to the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the processing unit is further configured to:

setting the resource indication information of the second STA to an invalid value; the second STA is an STA that does not send a clear-to-send message to the AP.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the second STA;

a processing unit further to:

setting a second identity of the second STA to an invalid value.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a station comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a request to send message and a multi-user message sent by an AP, where the request to send message includes a first identifier of at least one STA, the multi-user message includes resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used to indicate resource allocation information corresponding to the STA; receiving data sent by the AP on resources corresponding to the resource allocation information;

and the processing unit is used for determining the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the first identifiers of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request sending message.

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

determining the positions of first identifications corresponding to the STA in all first identifications requesting to send messages;

determining resource indication information with the position consistent with that of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message to obtain the resource indication information corresponding to the STA;

and determining resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the resource indication information corresponding to the STA.

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 multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the STA; the second identification of the STA is used for indicating the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send messages;

a processing unit further to:

determining a second identification of the STA in the multi-user message according to the positions of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message;

and determining resource allocation information corresponding to the second identification of the STA according to the determined second identification of the STA.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the second identifier of the STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

In a fifth aspect, an access point is provided, comprising:

the system comprises a transmitter, a receiver and a controller, wherein the transmitter is used for transmitting a request-to-send message and a multi-user message, and the request-to-send message comprises a first identifier of at least one station STA;

the receiver is used for receiving a clear-to-send message sent by the first STA; wherein the first STA is one of the at least one STA;

the processor is used for generating resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identifications corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message, and generating a multi-user message according to the resource indication information; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, positions of the first identifiers corresponding to the first STAs in all the first identifiers in the request to send message are consistent with positions of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STAs in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the first STA, where the second identifier of the first STA is used to indicate a position of the first identifier of the first STA in all first identifiers of the request to send messages.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the second identifier of the first STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

With reference to any one of the third possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect to the fifth aspect, the processor is further configured to:

setting the resource indication information of the second STA to an invalid value;

the second STA is an STA that does not send a clear-to-send message to the AP.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the second STA;

a processor further configured to:

setting a second identity of the second STA to an invalid value.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a station comprising:

the access point comprises a receiver and a control unit, wherein the receiver is used for receiving a request sending message and a multi-user message sent by an access point AP, the request sending message comprises a first identifier of at least one station STA, the multi-user message comprises resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the STA; receiving data sent by the AP on resources corresponding to the resource allocation information;

and the processor is used for determining the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the first identifiers of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request sending message.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processor is further configured to:

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 multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the STA; the second identification of the STA is used for indicating the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send messages;

a processor further configured to:

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the second identifier of the STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

In the embodiment of the present invention, an AP sends a request-to-send message, where the request-to-send message includes a first identifier of at least one STA, and receives a clear-to-send message sent by a first STA, where the first STA is one of the at least one STA, that is, the first STA is an STA corresponding to the first identifier included in the request-to-send message, and the AP generates resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to positions of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, where the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used to indicate resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA, and the AP generates a multi-user message according to the resource indication information and sends the multi-user message. Because the AP generates the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identifications corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send message, the STA receiving the multi-user message determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the corresponding first identifications in all the first identifications of the request-to-send message, thereby avoiding the mode that the STA in the prior art must determine the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the identification of the STA in the multi-user message, and further ensuring that the header field of the multi-user message does not need to carry longer STA identifications in the prior art, thereby shortening the length of the header field of the multi-user message, reducing the cost required for sending the multi-user message, and improving the data transmission efficiency.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive exercise.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a physical frame of a multi-user message sent by an AP to an STA in the background art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a physical layer structure for data transmission between an AP and an STA according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another station provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly apparent, the present invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system structure to which an embodiment of the present invention is applicable, and as shown in fig. 2, an AP201 and a plurality of STAs 202 jointly form a wireless local area network 200. The wlan 200 is a Basic Service Set (BSS), and the AP201 may transmit data to the STAs 202 through a plurality of sub-channels.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the request sending message sent by the AP is a message of a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer or a physical layer message, preferably a MAC layer message, where the request sending message includes first identifiers of multiple STAs.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a physical layer structure of data transmission performed by an AP and an STA in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, a channel of 80MHz is divided into four Sub-channels, which are a first Sub-channel301 (Sub-channel301), a second Sub-channel302 (Sub-channel302), a third Sub-channel303 (Sub-channel303), and a fourth Sub-channel304 (Sub-channel304), and each Sub-channel is 20 MHz. The AP sends a request sending message to the STA1, the STA2, the STA3 and the STA4 on the whole 80MHz channel, and then enters a stage of sending a clear sending message to the AP by the STA, wherein the stage is used for avoiding interference when the STA1, the STA2, the STA3 and the STA4 receive information of downlink data, and even if the downlink data transmission is protected, the AP sends a preamble comprising resource allocation information of the downlink transmission so that each STA can determine the corresponding resource allocation information. The resource allocation information of the STA in the embodiments of the present invention may be a resource allocated to the STA, and the STA may transmit information and/or data on the allocated resource. Specifically, the AP transmits Data corresponding to each STA to the STA on channel resources corresponding to the STA, for example, Data (STA1 Data)305 of STA1 on 5MHz resource of the first sub-channel301, Data (STA2 Data)306 of STA2 on other 15MHz resource of the first sub-channel301, Data (STA3 Data)307 of STA3 on combined resource of the second sub-channel302 and the third sub-channel303, and Data (STA4 Data)308 of STA4 on the fourth sub-channel 304. The channel resources allocated to each STA are related to the size of data to be transmitted to each STA, and the number of STAs scheduled at one time is uncertain.

Based on the above, fig. 4 exemplarily illustrates a flow chart of a data transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data transmission method, including:

step 401, an AP sends a request-to-send message, where the request-to-send message includes a first identifier of at least one station STA;

step 402, the AP receives a clear-to-send message sent by a first STA; wherein the first STA is one of the at least one STA;

step 403, the AP generates resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA;

step 404, the AP generates a multi-user message according to the resource indication information;

in step 405, the AP sends a multi-user message.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the STA receiving the multi-user message may determine, according to the positions of the first identifiers of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, resource indication information corresponding to the STA in the multi-user message, determine, according to the resource indication information corresponding to the STA, resource allocation information corresponding to the STA, and receive data sent by the AP on a resource corresponding to the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA. The resource allocation information of the STA in the embodiment of the present invention may be a resource allocated to the STA, and the STA and the AP may transmit information and/or data on the allocated resource.

In a specific implementation, the multi-user message includes a physical header field and a data field. And the STA receives the data which is sent by the AP and is carried in the data domain of the multi-user message on the resource corresponding to the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA. The conventional preamble of the physical header field may be transmitted separately on each 20MHz subchannel, parallel in time, and separately modulated in frequency spectrum. In this way, the STA can determine from the received legacy preamble that the legacy preamble is the beginning of a Wi-Fi frame and know how long this frame will last. The HE portion of the physical header field in 802.11ax may be modulated separately on each 20MHz subchannel, or may be modulated on the entire channel. The data field includes data corresponding to STAs transmitting on different resources. And the AP transmits the data corresponding to each STA on the resource allocated to the STA. When the resource allocation information is a spectrum resource, the spectrum resource corresponding to each STA may be wide or narrow, and is determined according to the amount of data to be transmitted, for example, 5MHz is used for transmission to STA1, 15MHz is used for transmission to STA2, and so on. And the rate used in transmitting data to each STA may also be different depending on how close the STAs are to the AP.

Preferably, the physical header field of the multi-user message includes resource indication information for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the STA. The resource indication information corresponding to the STA may be resource allocation information corresponding to the STA; or the resource indication information may indicate information of resource allocation information corresponding to the STA, for example, a table is preset on both the AP and the STA, and the resource indication information may indicate at which position in the table a resource allocation information group is located. The resource allocation information corresponding to one STA is the resource allocated to the STA by the AP, and the STA receives data carried in the data domain of the multi-user message sent by the AP on the allocated resource.

Specifically, the resource allocation information in the embodiment of the present invention may be OFDMA spectrum resources or MU-MIMO spatial stream resources used when the AP sends the data field in the multi-user message to the STA. When the AP sends the data field in the multi-user message to the STA using the MU-MIMO technique, the AP does not need to assign spectrum resources to the STA since data transmission of the STA is performed over a full channel, but the AP needs to assign spatial stream resources and the like to the STA.

In step 401, the AP establishes a connection with multiple STAs in advance, a wireless local area network is formed between the AP and the multiple STAs establishing the connection, and then the AP determines the STA to be scheduled in the wireless local area network and sends a request sending message to the multiple scheduled STAs, where the request sending message includes first identifiers of the multiple STAs. The AP may broadcast and send the request-to-send message on all sub-channels between the AP and the STA, or may send one request-to-send message on each sub-channel, respectively, where there are various specific sending manners of the request-to-send message, and embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. The sub-channel between the AP and the STA in the embodiment of the present invention may specifically be a working channel of a conventional Wi-Fi device, for example, a Wi-Fi channel of 20 MHz.

The request to send message may be a MU-RTS frame. The STA indicated by the first identifier of the STAs in the request sending message is the STA scheduled by the AP. The first identifier of the STA may be a MAC address of the STA, or since the AP is represented by AID of the STA and partial AID of the STA, the STA may be uniquely identified.

In the step 402, in one implementation manner, if the AP sends the request-to-send message on one sub-channel, the STAs that receive the request-to-send message all send a clear-to-send message to the AP on the one sub-channel. For example, if the AP transmits the request-to-send message on sub-channel 1 having a channel width of 20MHz, that is, the width of the operating channel of the AP has only one sub-channel width, and does not include more sub-channels, and the request-to-send message only includes the first identifiers of STA1, STA2, and STA3, STA1, STA2, and STA3 all transmit the clear-to-send message on sub-channel 1. At this time, the request-to-send message transmitted by the AP may not include an indication message indicating a sub-channel used by each of the M STAs to transmit the clear-to-send message.

Another embodiment is that, if the AP sends the request-to-send message on multiple sub-channels, the request-to-send message further includes an indication message for indicating a sub-channel used by each STA of the M STAs to send the clear-to-send message, and the AP receives the clear-to-send message sent by the STA on the sub-channel corresponding to the STA. The clear to send message may be a CTS frame, and the clear to send message is used to indicate that the STA that sent the clear to send message will occupy the sub-channel used to send the clear to send message.

Specifically, there are various ways for the indication message indicating the sub-channel used by each STA of the M STAs to send the clear to send message, and several preferred embodiments are introduced below by way of way a1, way a2, and way a 3:

mode a 1: the indication message for indicating the sub-channel used by each of the M STAs to transmit the clear-to-send message is the sub-channel used by the STA to transmit the clear-to-send message.

For example, the request-to-send message includes the following contents: STA1 transmits a clear to send message on subchannel 1, STA2 transmits a clear to send message on subchannel 2, and STA3 transmits a clear to send message on subchannel 3, the AP receives the clear to send message transmitted by STA1 on subchannel 1, the clear to send message transmitted by STA2 on subchannel 2, and the clear to send message transmitted by STA3 on subchannel 3. In a specific implementation, the AP may designate one STA to transmit the clear-to-send message on multiple sub-channels, or may designate multiple STAs to transmit the clear-to-send messages corresponding to the STAs on the same sub-channel. For example, STA1 may send clear-to-send messages on subchannel 1 and subchannel 2, or STA1 and STA2 may both send clear-to-send messages on subchannel 1.

Mode a 2: the indication message for indicating the sub-channel used by each STA of the M STAs to send the clear-to-send message is resource allocation information corresponding to the STA or resource indication information corresponding to the STA.

The STA determines a sub-channel used by the STA for sending the clear-to-send message according to the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA, or the STA determines a sub-channel used by the STA for sending the clear-to-send message according to the resource indication information corresponding to the STA. For example, if the resource allocated to STA1 indicated by the resource indication information or resource allocation information of STA1 is located in sub-channel 1, STA1 will transmit the clear-to-send message corresponding to STA1 via sub-channel 1. Alternatively, if a part of the resources allocated to STA1, indicated by the resource indication information or resource allocation information of STA1, is located in sub-channel 1 and another part is located in sub-channel 2, the STA will transmit the clear-to-send message on sub-channel 1 and sub-channel 2 simultaneously.

Mode a 3: the STA receives a subchannel of a multi-User message using a multi-User multi-input multi-Output (MU-MIMO) technique.

The STA transmits the clear-to-send information on all subchannels using the MU-MIMO technique. For example, if the AP instructs STA1 to receive downlink data on sub-channel 1 and sub-channel 2 using MU-MIMO technology, STA1 will send a clear-to-send message corresponding to STA1 on sub-channel 1 and sub-channel 2. Alternatively, the AP instructs STA1 and STA2 to receive downlink data using MU-MIMO technology on sub-channel 1 and sub-channel 2, then STA1 and STA2 will transmit clear-to-send messages corresponding to STA1 and STA2 on sub-channel 1 and sub-channel 2.

In one embodiment, in order to enable the AP to correctly receive the cts message sent by the STA and enable other APs or STAs to correctly listen to the cts message, the STA may scramble the physical frame with the same scrambling code when sending the cts message, so that multiple cts messages on the same sub-channel can be correctly superimposed instead of interfering with each other.

In practical applications, STAs corresponding to some of the first identifiers included in the request-to-send message may be designated to send a clear-to-send message on the same sub-channel due to resource allocation, and therefore, the clear-to-send message has a special requirement on a physical level, that is, physical signals of the clear-to-send message transmitted by multiple STAs on the same sub-channel are completely consistent, so that signals at the AP can be correctly superimposed instead of interfering with each other, so that the AP can correctly receive the clear-to-send message. At this time, one way is that the AP may not know which STA sent the CTS message on the sub-channel, and therefore, only once the CTS message is received on one sub-channel, the AP may consider that the STA corresponding to the sub-channel all sent the CTS message. Another way is how the AP identifies the STA that sent the clear to send message on this subchannel.

In the foregoing step 402 and step 403, the AP may generate the resource indication information according to the positions of the first identifiers of the STAs corresponding to all the first identifiers in the request-to-send message in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, and place the resource indication information in the multi-user message. Or after receiving the clear-to-send message sent by at least one first STA, generating resource indication information according to the positions of the first identifier corresponding to each first STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, and placing the resource indication information in a multi-user message, thereby generating the multi-user message. The first STA is one of the at least one STA, that is, the first STA is an STA corresponding to the first identifier included in the request to send message. For the two manners, the multi-user message may only include the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA, or the multi-user message includes the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA and the resource indication information corresponding to the second STA, and at this time, the AP sets the resource indication information corresponding to the second STA to an invalid value. The second STA is the second STA in the STAs corresponding to the first identifier included in the request sending message. The method comprises the steps that an AP sends a multi-user message, after an STA receives the multi-user message, the STA determines corresponding resource indication information of the STA in the multi-user message according to the positions of first marks of the STA in all first marks of a request sending message, further the STA determines corresponding resource allocation information of the STA according to the corresponding resource indication information of the STA, and receives data in a data domain in the multi-user message sent by the AP on resources corresponding to the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA.

In step 403, the AP may generate resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message; and the STA determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message, and receives the data sent by the AP on the resource corresponding to the resource allocation information.

In step 404, the AP puts the resource indication information into the multi-user message, and then generates a multi-user message. The content included in the multi-user message has various forms, and several preferred forms are described in the embodiment of the present invention by the following form b1 and form b 2:

mode b1, the multi-user message includes at least the second identity of the first STA and the resource indication information.

The second identifier of the first STA is used for indicating the position of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifiers requesting to send the message.

A preferred embodiment is that, for any one STA of the first STA and the second STA, the second identifier of the STA and the resource indication information are in a one-to-one correspondence relationship, so that the STA may determine the resource indication information corresponding to the second identifier of the STA according to the second identifier of the STA, and then determine the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the resource indication information corresponding to the STA. Another preferred embodiment is that one resource indication information indicates the positions of the resource allocation information corresponding to all or a plurality of STAs, and then the STA determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA from the positions of the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information according to the positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers in the request to send message.

For example, the multi-user message includes second identifiers of five STAs, and the multi-user message may include five resource indication information, where the second identifiers and the resource indication information are in a one-to-one correspondence relationship. Or, for example, a table is preset on both the AP and the STA, and the resource indication information may indicate that a resource allocation information group is located in the fifth row of the table, and then, the STA determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA from the preset table according to the resource indication information and the positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message. For convenience of description, the following embodiments of the present invention take the one-to-one correspondence between the second identifier and the resource indicator as an example.

The position of the first identifier corresponding to the STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message in the embodiment of the present invention specifically means that the first identifier corresponding to the STA is located in the fourth of all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message; similarly, the location of the resource indication information corresponding to the STA in all resource indication information of the multi-user message specifically means that the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is located in the second of all resource indication information of the multi-user message. Preferably, the location of the second identifier of one STA in all the second identifiers is consistent with the location of the resource indication information corresponding to the STA in all the resource indication information, or the location of the second identifier of one STA in all the second identifiers is consistent with the location of the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information corresponding to the STA in all the resource allocation information indicated by all the resource indication information.

For example, in the preamble of the multi-user message, the five second identifiers are included, and the positions of the first identifiers of the first STA in all the first identifiers in the request to send message are first, then the second identifiers of the first STA are first in the five second identifiers, and the positions of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA in the resource indication information corresponding to the five second identifiers are first, or the positions of the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA in the resource allocation information corresponding to the five second identifiers are first.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the AP sends the request sending message, the request sending message includes the first identifiers of the multiple STAs, and the STA corresponding to the resource indication information in the multi-user message subsequently sent by the AP is necessarily within the range of the STA corresponding to the first identifier in the request sending message, so that the second identifier of the STA in the multi-user message is only required to be unique in the STA corresponding to the multiple first identifiers included in the request sending message. Since the number of STAs to which the first identifier in the request-to-send message corresponds is a very limited value, the second identifier of the STA can be made unique by using only a few bits.

For example, the AP transmits a request transmission message, the request transmission message collectively includes first identities of four STAs, the first identity is an AID, and the first identities of the STAs are arranged in order of STA1 AID, STA2 AID, STA3 AID, and STA4 AID in the request transmission message. As can be seen, the position of the AID of the first identifier STA1 corresponding to the STA1 in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message is the first bit; the position of the first identifier STA2 AID corresponding to the STA2 in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message is the second bit; the position of the first identifier STA3 AID corresponding to the STA3 in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message is a third bit; the position of the first identity STA4 AID corresponding to the STA4 in all first identities of the request to send message is the fourth bit. Or the position of the STA1 AID in all first identifiers of the request-to-send message is a zero bit; the position of the STA2 AID in all first identifications of the request-to-send message is a first bit; the STA3 AID is located at the second bit in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message; the STA4 AID is located in the third bit in all first identities of the request to send message. That is, the first identifier of each STA may start with the first bit or the zero-th bit when requesting to send the position of all the first identifiers of the message. Or some special value may be set, for example, starting with the first bit, and the zero bit representing all STAs in the request-to-send message.

For any one of the first STA and the second STA, the second identification of the STA is used for indicating the position of the first identification corresponding to the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send messages. The second identity may be represented by two bits, and thus, the second identity of STA1 is 00, the second identity of STA2 is 01, the second identity of STA3 is 10, and the second identity of STA4 is 11. It can be seen that, if the resource allocation information in the multi-user message corresponds to 4 STAs, the second identifier only uses two bits, and if the resource allocation information in the multi-user message corresponds to 5-8 STAs, the second identifier only uses three bits. The bit number occupied by the second identifier may be determined according to the number of the first identifier included in the request transmission message, or may be determined according to the maximum number of STAs that can be scheduled by the AP at one time, for example, if the AP schedules at most 9 STAs at a time when the full channel is 20MHz, the bit number occupied by the second identifier is set to be fixed 4 bits, or if the AP schedules at most 18 STAs at a time when the full channel is 40MHz, the bit number occupied by the second identifier is set to be fixed 5 bits.

The AP and the STA may determine, according to a rule negotiated in advance and according to the number of STAs corresponding to the first identifier included in the request transmission message, a second identifier corresponding to the STA included in the request transmission message. The second identification of the STA is used in the multi-user transmission message to uniquely indicate the STA, which greatly shortens the length of the header field in the multi-user transmission message.

The specific implementation manner of the mode b1 includes various modes, and several preferred embodiments are introduced in the following modes by a mode c1, a mode c2 and a mode c 3:

manner c1, only the second identity and the resource indication information of the first STA are included in the multi-user message. And, the number of the first identities included in the request-to-send message is equal to the number of STAs which sent the clear-to-send message.

For example, the request transmission message sent by the AP includes first identifiers of STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4, and then the AP receives clear transmission information sent by STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4, respectively, so that the multi-user message sent by the AP includes second identifiers corresponding to STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA 4.

In the mode c2, the multi-user message includes the second identifier and the resource indication information of the first STA, and the second identifier and the resource indication information of the second STA, and the AP sets the second identifier and/or the resource indication information of the second STA to an invalid value. Or the multi-user message includes the second identifier and the resource indication information of the first STA and the second identifier of the second STA, the AP sets the second identifier of the second STA to an invalid value. Or the multi-user message includes the second identifier and the resource indication information of the first STA and the resource indication information of the second STA. The AP sets the resource indication information of the second STA to an invalid value.

For example, STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 may be included in the request-to-send message sent by the AP, possibly because STA2 and STA4 fail to successfully receive the request-to-send message, so that the AP receives only the clear-to-send messages sent by STA1 and STA 3. The multi-user message sent by the AP includes resource indication information corresponding to STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4, and second identifiers corresponding to STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA 4. However, since the AP receives only the clear-to-send messages sent by STA1 and STA3, the second identifier and resource indication information corresponding to only STA1 and STA3 in the multi-user message are valid values, and the second identifier and/or resource indication information corresponding to STA2 and STA4 are invalid values.

Manner c3, only the second identity and the resource indication information of the first STA are included in the multi-user message. The number of the first identities included in the request-to-send message and the number of STAs which sent the clear-to-send message are not equal.

For example, STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4 are included in the request-to-send message sent by the AP, but the AP receives only the clear-to-send messages sent by STA1 and STA 3. At this time, the multi-user message sent by the AP may only include the second identifier and the resource indication information corresponding to STA1 and STA3, and the freed resources may be reallocated to other STAs. In the mode b2, for any STA of the first STA and the second STA, the multi-user message only includes the resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and does not include the second identifier of the STA.

In the mode b2, since the RA field of the multiuser message no longer includes the second identity of the STA, the header field of the multiuser message is shorter.

When the multi-user message only includes the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA, it is necessary that the positions of the first identifier of any first STA in all the first identifiers in the request-to-send message are consistent with the positions of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message. Therefore, the first STA receiving the multi-user message determines the position of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in the first identifier of the request-to-send message, the first STA determines the resource indication information with the position consistent with the position of the first identifier of the first STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message, and obtains the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA, and the first STA determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA according to the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA.

For example, the request-to-transmit message includes the first identities of four STAs in total, the first identity is AID, and the first identities of the STAs are arranged in order of STA1 AID, STA2 AID, STA3 AID, and STA4 AID in the request-to-transmit message. Then, in the multi-user message, resource indication information corresponding to each STA is arranged in sequence as follows: resource indication information for STA1, resource indication information for STA2, resource indication information for STA3, and resource indication information for STA 4. The STA3 that receives the multi-user message determines that the position of the first identifier in the request to send message is the third position, and therefore, the STA3 determines the resource indication information of the third position in the multi-user message, that is, the resource indication information corresponding to the STA 3.

The above mode b2 includes various implementation modes, and several preferred implementation modes are introduced below by a mode d1, a mode d2 and a mode d 3:

in the manner d1, the multi-user message includes the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA, and the number of the first identifiers included in the request-to-send message is equal to the number of STAs corresponding to the resource indication information included in the multi-user message.

For example, the request transmission message sent by the AP includes first identifiers of STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4, and then the AP receives clear transmission information sent by STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4, respectively, so that the multi-user message sent by the AP includes resource indication information corresponding to STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA 4.

In the manner d2, the multi-user message includes the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA and the resource indication information corresponding to the second STA, and the number of the first identifiers included in the request-to-send message is not equal to the number of the STAs corresponding to the resource indication information included in the multi-user message.

At this time, the AP sets the resource indication information corresponding to the second STA in the multi-user message or the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information corresponding to the second STA to an invalid value.

For example, the AP sends the request-to-send message including STA1, STA2, STA3 and STA4, and the AP receives only the clear-to-send messages sent by STA1 and STA 3. The multi-user message sent by the AP includes resource indication information corresponding to STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA 4. However, since the AP receives only the clear-to-send messages sent by STA1 and STA3, the resource indication information corresponding to only STA1 and STA3 in the multi-user message is a valid value, and the resource indication information corresponding to STA2 and STA4 or the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information is an invalid value.

In the manner d3, the multi-user message includes the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA and the resource indication information corresponding to the second STA, and the number of the first identifiers included in the request-to-send message is not equal to the number of the STAs corresponding to the resource indication information included in the multi-user message.

At this time, for the special STA at the last position in the first STA, the resource indication information corresponding to the second STA arranged before the special STA or the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is an invalid value, and all STAs arranged after the special STA are all the second STAs, so the multi-user message may not include the resource indication information corresponding to all STAs arranged after the special STA.

For example, the AP sends the request-to-send message including STA1, STA2, STA3 and STA4, and the AP receives only the clear-to-send messages sent by STA1 and STA 3. The special STA at the end of the first STA is STA3, and therefore, the resource indication information corresponding to STA2 before STA3 or the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information is invalid. The multi-user message does not include the resource indication information corresponding to the STA4 after the STA3, and in the method d3, the multi-user message only includes the resource indication information corresponding to the STA1, the STA2, and the STA3, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA2 or the resource allocation information indicated by the resource indication information is invalid.

From the above, it can be seen that: in the embodiment of the invention, an AP sends a request sending message, wherein the request sending message comprises first identifications of a plurality of Stations (STA); after receiving a clear-to-send message sent by at least one STA, the AP generates a multi-user message including resource allocation information corresponding to each STA according to the position of a first identifier corresponding to each STA sending the clear-to-send message in all first identifiers of a request-to-send message, and sends the multi-user message to the first STA. Therefore, the STA can determine the corresponding resource allocation information of the STA in the multi-user message according to the positions of the corresponding first identifiers in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, so that the header field of the multi-user message does not need to carry the longer STA identifier in the prior art, the length of the multi-user information header field is shortened, the overhead required for sending the multi-user message is reduced, and the data transmission efficiency is improved.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Based on the same concept, as shown in fig. 5, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data transmission method, including:

step 501, an STA receives a request sending message sent by an access point AP, where the request sending message includes a first identifier of at least one STA;

step 502, the STA sends a clear-to-send message to the AP;

step 503, the STA receives a multi-user message sent by the AP; the multi-user message comprises resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the STA;

in step 504, the STA determines resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, and receives data sent by the AP on the resource corresponding to the resource allocation information.

In the step 502, in one implementation, if the AP sends the request-to-send message on one sub-channel, the STAs receiving the request-to-send message all send a clear-to-send message to the AP on the one sub-channel. Another embodiment is that, if the AP sends the request-to-send message on multiple sub-channels, the request-to-send message further includes an indication message for indicating a sub-channel used by each STA of the M STAs to send the clear-to-send message, and the AP receives the clear-to-send message sent by the STA on the sub-channel corresponding to the STA. The clear to send message may be a CTS frame, and the clear to send message is used to indicate that the STA that sent the clear to send message will occupy the sub-channel used to send the clear to send message.

Specifically, there are various ways for indicating the sub-channel used by each STA of the M STAs to send the clear to send message, and the foregoing describes several preferred embodiments through the way a1, the way a2, and the way a3, and details are not described herein again.

The AP places the resource indication information in a multi-user message, which in turn generates a multi-user message. The content included in the multi-user message has various forms, and several preferred forms are introduced by the above-mentioned form b1 and form b2 in the embodiment of the present invention, which are not described herein again.

After the STA receives the multi-user message, preferably, the STA determines resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message, including:

Preferably, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the STA; the second identification of the STA is used for indicating the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send messages;

Preferably, the second identity of the STA is determined from any one of the following information:

In the embodiment of the invention, an AP sends a request sending message, wherein the request sending message comprises a first identifier of at least one station STA, and receives a clear sending message sent by a first STA, the first STA is one of the at least one STA, the AP generates resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifiers of the request sending message, the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA, and the AP generates a multi-user message according to the resource indication information and sends the multi-user message. Because the AP generates the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to the positions of the first identifications corresponding to the first STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send message, the STA receiving the multi-user message determines the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the corresponding first identifications in all the first identifications of the request-to-send message, thereby avoiding the mode that the STA in the prior art must determine the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the identification of the STA in the multi-user message, and further ensuring that the header field of the multi-user message does not need to carry longer STA identifications in the prior art, thereby shortening the length of the header field of the multi-user message, reducing the cost required for sending the multi-user message, and improving the data transmission efficiency.

Fig. 6 illustrates an architectural view of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Based on the same concept, as shown in fig. 6, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point, including:

a transmitter 606, configured to send, under control of the processor 604, a request-to-send message and a multi-user message, where the request-to-send message includes a first identifier of at least one station STA;

a receiver 601, configured to receive a clear-to-send message sent by a first STA under the control of a processor 604; wherein the first STA is one of the at least one STA;

a processor 604, configured to generate resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to positions of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all first identifiers of the request-to-send message, and generate a multi-user message according to the resource indication information; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA;

a memory 605 for storing information and data.

Preferably, the positions of the first identifiers corresponding to the first STAs in all the first identifiers in the request to send message are consistent with the positions of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STAs in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message.

Preferably, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the first STA, and the second identifier of the first STA is used to indicate a position of the first identifier of the first STA in all the first identifiers of the request to send messages.

Preferably, the second identity of the first STA is determined from any one of the following information:

Preferably, the multi-user message further includes resource indication information corresponding to the second STA; the second STA is an STA which does not send a clear-to-send message in STAs corresponding to the first identifier included in the request-to-send message;

processor 604, further configured to:

Preferably, the multi-user message further includes a second identifier of the second STA;

processor 604, further configured to:

setting a second identity of the second STA to an invalid value.

In fig. 6, a bus architecture (represented by bus 600), bus 600 may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and bus 600 links together various circuits including one or more processors, represented by processor 604, and memory, represented by memory 605. The bus 600 may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. A bus interface 603 provides an interface between the bus 600 and the receiver 601 and transmitter 606. The receiver 601 and the transmitter 606 may be one element or may be multiple elements, such as multiple receivers and transmitters, providing a means for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. Data processed by processor 604 is transmitted over a wireless medium via antenna 602, and further, antenna 602 receives data and transmits data to processor 604.

Processor 604 is responsible for managing bus 600 and general processing, and may also provide various functions including timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, power management, and other control functions. And memory 605 may be used for storing data used by processor 604 in performing operations.

Alternatively, the processor 604 may be a CPU (central processing unit), an ASIC (Application specific integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a CP L D (Complex Programmable L organic Device).

Fig. 7 illustrates a structural view of a site according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Based on the same concept, as shown in fig. 7, an embodiment of the present invention provides a station, including:

a receiver 702, configured to receive, under the control of the processor 701, a request to send message and a multi-user message sent by an AP, where the request to send message includes a first identifier of at least one STA, the multi-user message includes resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used to indicate resource allocation information corresponding to the STA; receiving data sent by the AP on resources corresponding to the resource allocation information;

a transmitter 706 for transmitting a clear-to-send message to the AP under the control of the processor 701;

the processor 701 is configured to determine resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request-to-send message.

Preferably, the processor 701 is further configured to:

a processor 701, further configured to:

In FIG. 7, a bus architecture (represented by bus 700), bus 700 may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, bus 700 linking together various circuits including one or more processors, represented by general purpose processor 701, and memory, represented by memory 704. The bus 700 may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. A bus interface 703 provides an interface between the bus 700 and the transceiver 702. The transceiver 702 may be one element or multiple elements, such as multiple receivers and transmitters, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. For example: the transceiver 702 receives external data from other devices. The transceiver 702 is configured to transmit data processed by the processor 701 to other devices. Depending on the nature of the computing system, a user interface 705, such as a keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick, may also be provided.

The processor 701 is responsible for managing the bus 700 and general processing, such as running a general-purpose operating system as described above. And memory 704 may be used to store data used by processor 701 in performing operations.

Alternatively, the processor 701 may be a CPU, ASIC, FPGA or CP L D.

Fig. 8 illustrates an architectural view of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Based on the same concept, as shown in fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point, which includes a sending unit 801, a receiving unit 802, and a processing unit 803:

a sending unit 801, configured to send a request-to-send message and a multi-user message, where the request-to-send message includes a first identifier of at least one station STA;

a receiving unit 802, configured to receive a clear-to-send message sent by a first STA; wherein the first STA is one of the at least one STA;

a processing unit 803, configured to generate resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to positions of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all first identifiers of the request-to-send message, and generate a multi-user message according to the resource indication information; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA.

a processing unit 803, further configured to:

the second STA is an STA that does not send a clear-to-send message to the AP.

a processing unit 803, further configured to:

setting a second identity of the second STA to an invalid value.

Fig. 9 illustrates a structural diagram of a site according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Based on the same concept, as shown in fig. 9, an embodiment of the present invention provides a station, including a receiving unit 901, a sending unit 902, and a processing unit 903:

a receiving unit 901, configured to receive a request to send message and a multi-user message sent by an AP, where the request to send message includes a first identifier of at least one STA, the multi-user message includes resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used to indicate resource allocation information corresponding to the STA; receiving data sent by the AP on resources corresponding to the resource allocation information;

a sending unit 902, configured to send a clear-to-send message to the AP;

the processing unit 903 is configured to determine resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request to send messages.

Preferably, the processing unit 903 is further configured to:

a processing unit 903, further configured to:

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

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

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 changes and modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations 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 include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method of data transmission, comprising:

the AP sends the multi-user message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all first identifiers in the request to send message is consistent with the location of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA in all resource indication information in the multi-user message.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a second identity of the first STA in the multi-user message, the second identity of the first STA indicating a location of the first identity of the first STA among all first identities of the request to send message.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the number of bits occupied by the second identity of the first STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

the number of first identities and the maximum number of STAs schedulable at one time by the AP included in the request to send message.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

the second STA is an STA that does not send a clear-to-send message to the AP.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising a second identification of the second STA in the multi-user message;

the method further comprises the following steps:

and the AP sets the second identification of the second STA to an invalid value.

7. A method of data transmission, comprising:

a station STA receives a request sending message sent by an access point AP, wherein the request sending message comprises a first identifier of at least one STA;

the STA sends a clear-to-send message to the AP;

the STA receives a multi-user message sent by the AP; the multi-user message comprises resource indication information corresponding to the STA, wherein the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the STA;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining, by the STA, the resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request to send message comprises:

the STA determines the position of the first identifier corresponding to the STA in all first identifiers of the request sending message;

the STA determines resource indication information with the position consistent with the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message from all the resource indication information of the multi-user message to obtain the resource indication information corresponding to the STA;

9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein a second identification of the STA is also included in the multi-user message; the second identification of the STA is used for representing the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send message;

the determining, by the STA, resource allocation information corresponding to the STA according to the positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request to send message includes:

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the number of bits occupied by the second identity of the STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

11. An access point for data transmission, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to generate resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to positions of first identifiers corresponding to the first STA in all first identifiers of the request-to-send message, and generate the multi-user message according to the resource indication information; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA.

12. The access point of claim 11, wherein the location of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all first identifiers in the request to send message coincides with the location of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA in all resource indication information in the multi-user message.

13. The access point of claim 11, wherein the multi-user message further includes a second identification of the first STA, the second identification of the first STA indicating a location of the first identification of the first STA among all first identifications of the request to send message.

14. The access point of claim 13, wherein the number of bits occupied by the second identity of the first STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

the number of first identities and the maximum number of STAs that the AP can schedule at one time are included in the request-to-send message.

15. The access point of any of claims 11 to 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

the second STA is an STA that does not send a clear-to-send message to the AP.

16. The access point of claim 15, wherein a second identification of the second STA is also included in the multi-user message;

the processing unit is further configured to:

and setting the second identification of the second STA as an invalid value.

17. A station for data transmission, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a clear-to-send message to the AP;

18. The station of claim 17, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

determining the positions of the first identifications corresponding to the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message;

determining resource indication information with the position consistent with the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request sending message in all the resource indication information of the multi-user message to obtain the resource indication information corresponding to the STA;

19. The station of claim 17 or 18, wherein a second identification of the STA is further included in the multi-user message; the second identification of the STA is used for representing the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send message;

the processing unit is further configured to:

determining a second identifier of the STA in the multi-user message according to the positions of the first identifier of the STA in all the first identifiers of the request sending message;

20. The station of claim 19, wherein the number of bits occupied by the second identity of the STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

21. An access point for data transmission, comprising:

a transmitter, configured to send a request-to-send message and a multi-user message, where the request-to-send message includes a first identifier of at least one station STA;

a processor, configured to generate resource indication information corresponding to the first STA according to positions of first identifiers corresponding to the first STA in all first identifiers of the request-to-send message, and generate the multi-user message according to the resource indication information; the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA is used for indicating resource allocation information corresponding to the first STA.

22. The access point of claim 21, wherein the location of the first identifier corresponding to the first STA in all first identifiers in the request to send message coincides with the location of the resource indication information corresponding to the first STA in all resource indication information in the multi-user message.

23. The access point of claim 21, wherein the multi-user message further includes a second identification of the first STA, the second identification of the first STA indicating a location of the first identification of the first STA among all first identifications of the request to send message.

24. The access point of claim 23, wherein the number of bits occupied by the second identity of the first STA is determined according to any one of the following information:

25. The access point of any of claims 21 to 24, wherein the processor is further configured to:

the second STA is an STA that does not send a clear-to-send message to the AP.

26. The access point of claim 25, wherein a second identification of the second STA is further included in the multi-user message;

the processor is further configured to:

and setting the second identification of the second STA as an invalid value.

27. A station for data transmission, comprising:

a receiver, configured to receive a request to send message and a multi-user message sent by an access point AP, where the request to send message includes a first identifier of at least one station STA, the multi-user message includes resource indication information corresponding to the STA, and the resource indication information corresponding to the STA is used to indicate resource allocation information corresponding to the STA; receiving data sent by the AP on resources corresponding to the resource allocation information;

a transmitter for transmitting a clear-to-send message to the AP;

28. The station of claim 27, wherein the processor is further configured to:

29. The station of claim 27 or 28, wherein a second identification of the STA is further included in the multi-user message; the second identification of the STA is used for representing the position of the first identification of the STA in all the first identifications of the request-to-send message;

the processor is further configured to:

30. The station of claim 29, wherein the number of bits occupied by the second identity of the STA is determined according to any one of the following information: