CN107872839B

CN107872839B - Data forwarding method, relay equipment and network equipment

Info

Publication number: CN107872839B
Application number: CN201611018841.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杜振国
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-09-24
Filing date: 2016-11-16
Publication date: 2020-09-18
Anticipated expiration: 2036-11-16
Also published as: CN107872839A

Abstract

The invention relates to a data forwarding method, relay equipment and network equipment. The wake-up radio frequency interface of the relay device receives a first wake-up frame sent by a main communication interface of the first device, wherein the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of the second device. And the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment so as to awaken the main communication interface of the second equipment. And the main communication interface of the relay equipment receives the data sent by the main communication interface of the first equipment. The relay device sends data to the primary communication interface of the second device that has been woken up, via its primary communication interface. According to the method, the awakening process of the second equipment and the process that the relay equipment acquires data from the first equipment are synchronously carried out, and the awakening rule parameters of the second equipment and the relay equipment are designed, so that the time delay of the data transmission process is reduced.

Description

Data forwarding method, relay equipment and network equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a data forwarding method, a relay device, and a network device.

Background

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.11 standards organization plans to develop a 2.4G/5GHz band-based Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) IoT (Internet of Things, IoT) standard, which is basically characterized by low power consumption and long distance. For low power consumption, the prior art uses a Low Power (LP) wake-up radio (WUR) on the WiFi IoT device side to reduce WiFi power consumption, where the wake-up radio is also called a wake-up receiver (WUR). As shown in fig. 1, when the WUR receives a wake-up packet (also called a wake-up frame) from an Access Point (AP) in a receiving state, the WUR sends a wake-up signal to the 802.11 master module to wake up the 802.11 master communication module in a sleep state, and then performs data communication with the AP.

At present, in the scenes of a sensor network, an intelligent home, industrial control, wearable equipment, and the like, in order to expand a transmission range or reduce power consumption of terminal equipment, Relay (english: Relay) equipment (such as a mobile phone) is introduced in the prior art, so as to realize Relay transmission between the terminal equipment (such as an intelligent bracelet) and an AP. When the 802.11 main communication module of the AP forwards data to a Station (STA) through a Relay, the 802.11 main communication module of the AP first sends a wake-up frame to the WUR of the Relay to wake up the 802.11 main communication module of the Relay, so that the 802.11 main communication module of the AP and the 802.11 main communication module of the Relay perform data transmission; and then the 802.11 main communication module of the Relay sends a wakeup frame to the WUR of the STA to wake up the 802.11 main communication module of the STA, so that the 802.11 main communication module of the Relay and the 802.11 main communication module of the STA perform data transmission, and the data buffered by the AP is forwarded to the STA. The reason why the host communication module at the transmitting end sends the wakeup frame to the WUR at the receiving end is that the 802.11 host module is usually an OFDM broadband signal, and the WUR wakeup signal is a narrowband signal, and for the sake of reducing cost and simplifying structure, the OFDM broadband transmitter can be used to generate the narrowband WUR wakeup signal. But the reception of the wake-up frame must use WUR and cannot be received using the host communication module.

However, when the AP has data to forward to the STA through the Relay, the AP first wakes up the Relay and then transmits the data; relay then wakes up STA and then transmits data forward. In this method for two-link independent transmission of AP-Relay and Relay-STA, since Relay receives a wakeup frame from the WUR interface, it takes several milliseconds (called wakeup delay) T1 to enter a receiving state of the main communication interface of Relay, and STA receives a wakeup frame from the WUR interface, it also takes several milliseconds T2 to enter a receiving state of the main communication interface of STA, that is, in this case, the above two wakeup processes introduce a large forwarding delay (sum of T1 and T2).

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a data forwarding method, relay equipment and network equipment. According to the method, the awakening process of the second equipment and the process that the relay equipment acquires data from the first equipment are synchronously carried out, and the awakening rule parameters of the second equipment and the relay equipment are designed, so that the time delay of the data transmission process is reduced.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a data forwarding method, which may include: the wake-up radio frequency WUR interface of the relay device receives a first wake-up frame sent by a main communication interface of the first device, where the first wake-up frame includes a target address field (which may be Set in a MAC header or a frame body) for carrying identification information of the second device, where the identification information may be a global MAC address of the second device, or a local address such as an Association Identifier (AID), or other addresses that may be used to identify the second device, such as a Partial Association Identifier (PAID) generated based on the AID and a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), so as to indicate that the first device is to send data information to the second device. And the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment so as to awaken the main communication interface of the second equipment. The relay device receives data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device through the primary communication interface of the relay device. And the relay equipment transmits the data to the main communication interface of the awakened second equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment, so that the data is forwarded. According to the method, the awakening process of the second equipment and the process of acquiring data from the first equipment by the relay equipment are synchronously carried out, and the awakening rule parameters of the second equipment and the relay equipment are designed, so that the time delay of the data transmission process is reduced.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a destination address presence indication, where the destination address presence indication is used to indicate whether the destination address domain exists in the first wake-up frame, so that the main communication module of the relay device determines to send the second wake-up frame to the specified second device according to the destination address domain after being woken up, thereby reducing forwarding delay and improving transmission efficiency.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size field (which may be included in the MAC header or the frame body), where the buffer size field is used to carry attribute information of the data, and the attribute information of the data may be a length of the data or an expected transmission duration for transmitting the data. The relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, so as to wake up the main communication interface of the second device, and the method specifically includes: and the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment and the attribute information of the data.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size presence indication, where the buffer size presence indication is used to indicate whether the first wake-up frame has a buffer size field. And when the cache size existence indication indicates that the first awakening frame has a cache size domain, the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to a WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment and the attribute information of the data.

In an alternative implementation, the target address existence indication and the buffer size existence indication use the same indication identifier to indicate that the first wake-up frame includes both the target address field and the buffer size field, thereby reducing the frame length.

In an optional implementation, before the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data, the method further includes: and the relay equipment determines target sending time according to the attribute information of the data, wherein the target sending time is the earliest time for the relay equipment to transmit the message to the second equipment. The relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data, and specifically includes: and the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment and the attribute information of the data, wherein the second awakening frame comprises target sending time.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address field, and the sending address field is used to carry identification information of the first device. Before the relay device receives the data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device through the primary communication interface of the relay device, the method further includes: and the relay equipment determines the first equipment according to the identification information of the first equipment. And the relay equipment receives the determined data sent by the main communication interface of the first equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment. So as to be able to determine to send a first wake-up acknowledgement message (e.g., a PS-Poll frame) to a specified first device, and receive data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device, thereby reducing transmission delay and improving transmission efficiency.

In an optional implementation, the first Wake-up frame further includes a sending address presence indication (which may be set in a WU-SIG of a Wake-up preamble of the Wake-up frame), where the sending address presence indication is used to indicate whether a sending address field exists in the first Wake-up frame, and when the sending address presence indication is used to indicate that the sending address field exists in the first Wake-up frame, the relay device determines the first device according to the identification information of the first device. And the relay equipment receives the determined data sent by the main communication interface of the first equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a receiving address field, and the receiving address field is used for carrying the identification information of the receiver, such as address information. After the WUR interface of the relay device receives the first wake-up frame sent by the first device, the method further includes: and the relay equipment matches the identification information of the receiver with the identification information of the relay equipment. When the receiver identification information matches the identification information of the relay device, the WUR of the relay device wakes up the main communication interface of the relay device. And the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment through the awakened main communication interface according to the identification information of the second equipment so as to awaken the main communication interface of the second equipment.

In an optional implementation, before the WUR interface of the relay device receives the first wake-up frame sent by the host communication interface of the first device, the method further includes: the method comprises the steps that a relay device presets first offset time, the first offset time is a time interval between the end time of an awakening window of a second device and the end time of the next awakening window of the relay device, the first offset time is larger than awakening time delay of the relay device, and the awakening time delay is time from receiving a first awakening frame from a WUR interface of the relay device to awakening a main communication module of the relay device. The setting of the first offset time may be completed in a process of negotiating the awake window rule between the second device and the Relay or the first device, and the first offset time is greater than the awake delay of the Relay device. The relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, and specifically includes: and the relay equipment determines an awakening window of the second equipment according to the first offset time. The relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device in the determined wake-up window of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, so that the main communication module of the relay device can meet the wake-up window of the second device as soon as possible and send the second wake-up frame as soon as possible after being awakened by the first wake-up frame sent by the first device.

In an optional implementation, before the primary communication interface of the relay device sends data to the primary communication interface of the second device that has woken up the primary communication interface, the method further includes: and the main communication interface of the relay equipment receives the awakening confirmation frame sent by the second equipment according to the second awakening frame so as to indicate that the main communication interface of the second equipment is awakened. Or the main communication interface of the relay device sends the trigger control frame to the main communication interface of the second device. And the main communication interface of the relay equipment receives a wakeup confirmation frame sent by the second equipment according to the trigger control frame so as to indicate that the main communication interface of the second equipment is already awakened. The sending, by the primary communication interface of the relay device, the data to the woken-up second device specifically includes: and the relay equipment transmits data to the main communication interface of the awakened second equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment according to the awakening confirmation frame.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a data forwarding method, which may include: the first device sends a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device through the host communication interface, wherein the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of the second device, so that the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device to wake up the host communication interface of the second device. The first device sends data to the main communication interface of the relay device through the main communication interface of the first device, so that the main communication interface of the relay device sends data to the main communication interface which is waken up to the second device.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a target address presence indication, where the target address presence indication indicates whether a target address field is present in the first wake-up frame.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size field, where the buffer size field is used to carry attribute information of the data, so that the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size presence indication, where the buffer size presence indication is used to indicate whether the first wake-up frame has a buffer size field.

In an alternative implementation, the target address presence indication and the cache size presence indication use the same indication identity.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address field, where the sending address field is used to carry identification information of the first device, so that after the relay device determines the first device according to the identification information of the first device, the relay device receives, through a main communication interface of the relay device, data sent by the main communication interface of the first device.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address presence indication, where the sending address presence indication is used to indicate whether a sending address field exists in the first wake-up frame.

In an optional implementation, the first wake-up frame further includes a receiving address field, where the receiving address field is used to carry the identification information of the receiving party, so that the relay device wakes up the main communication interface of the relay device after matching the identification information of the receiving party with the identification information of the relay device.

In an optional implementation, before the host communication interface of the first device sends the first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device, the method further includes: the method comprises the steps that first offset time is preset by first equipment, the first offset time is a time interval between the end time of an awakening window of second equipment and the end time of the next awakening window of the relay equipment, the first offset time is larger than awakening time delay of the relay equipment, and the awakening time delay is time from receiving a first awakening frame from a WUR interface of the relay equipment to awakening a main communication module of the relay equipment. The first device sends a first wake-up frame to a WUR interface of the relay device through a host communication interface of the first device, and the method specifically includes: and the first equipment determines an awakening window of the second equipment according to the first offset time, so that the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment in the determined awakening window of the second equipment.

In a third aspect, a relay device is provided. The relay device includes: and the wake-up radio frequency WUR interface is used for receiving a first wake-up frame sent by a main communication interface of the first equipment, wherein the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of the second equipment. And the main communication interface is used for sending a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device so as to wake up the main communication interface of the second device. And the main communication interface is also used for receiving data sent by the main communication interface of the first device and sending the data to the main communication interface of the woken-up second device. The terminal device may also include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the terminal device.

In a fourth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided for storing computer software instructions for the relay device described above, including a program designed to perform the above aspects.

In a fifth aspect, a network device is provided. The network device includes: a primary communication interface. The main communication interface is used for sending a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device, wherein the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of the second device, so that the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device to wake up the main communication interface of the second device. And the main communication interface is further used for sending data to the main communication interface of the relay equipment so that the main communication interface of the relay equipment sends the data to the main communication interface of the woken second equipment. The network device may also include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the network device.

In a sixth aspect, a computer storage medium is provided for storing computer software instructions for the network device, which comprises a program designed to perform the above aspects.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are 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 creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wake-up RF system in the prior art;

fig. 2 is a WLAN network topology diagram provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a relay communication scenario provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a signaling interaction diagram of a data forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a wakeup frame;

fig. 6A is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint indication of a cache size presence indication and a target address presence indication according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating a joint indication of a cache size presence indication and a target address presence indication according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another WLAN network topology according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a wake-up window for waking up a radio frequency in the prior art;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an awake window offset time according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of an awake window offset time according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of an awake window offset time according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of an awake window offset time according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a communication process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is another relay device provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is another network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail by the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

The communication method provided by the present invention is applied to the communication network in the wireless communication scenario shown in fig. 2, such as a WLAN network. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably herein, but are understood by those skilled in the art. The communication technology described in the present invention can be applied to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or other wireless communication systems using various wireless access technologies, such as cdma, fdma, tdma, ofdma, single carrier fdma, and the like. Furthermore, the method can also be applied to a subsequent evolution system using the LTE system, such as a fifth generation 5G system or a New Radio (NR) system.

In fig. 2, the WLAN network may include a terminal device and a network device (first device), such as an AP. The terminal device according to the present invention may include various handheld devices having a wireless communication function, vehicle-mounted devices, Wearable Devices (WD), computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, and various forms of User Equipment (UE), Mobile Stations (MS), terminals (terminal), terminal devices (terminal), and the like.

Further, the terminal device related to the present invention may be divided into a receiving terminal (second device) and a high-performance terminal (relay device), where the high-performance terminal is a terminal with higher performance than the receiving terminal, such as a repeater, a mobile phone, a notebook, and other user devices with wireless capability, and the receiving terminal may be a sensor, a mobile phone, or a wearable terminal, such as a watch, a bracelet, glasses, a helmet, and the like; . The receiving terminal may also be a high-performance terminal. The receiving terminal and the high-performance terminal may be connected through a short-range communication interface, such as through a wireless communication connection. It is understood that the connection may also include a bluetooth communication connection and a device-to-device (D2D) connection.

As shown in fig. 3, a network device is taken as a first device, a high-performance terminal is taken as a relay device, and a receiving terminal is taken as a second device. The first equipment, the relay equipment and the second equipment are connected through wireless communication respectively.

The first device includes at least a primary communication module (e.g., an 802.11 communication module), which may include a primary communication interface. It will be appreciated that the first device may also configure the WUR interface to allow the relay device to wake up the main communication module of the AP.

The relay device includes at least a host communication module, which may include a host communication interface, and a WUR, which may include a WUR interface.

The second device includes at least a host communication module that may include a host communication interface and a WUR that may include a WUR interface.

The main communication interface is used for receiving and sending data and instructions; the WUR interface is used for receiving a wake-up frame to wake up a main communication module controlled by the WUR interface when in an active state. Wherein, the time spent for waking up the main communication module is the wake-up time delay.

It should be noted that the active state of the WUR may be in this state all the time, or may be in this state intermittently ("awake-sleep" state), that is, there is an awake window (effective time for receiving an awake frame or for waking up the main communication module), and the awake frame is used for waking up the main communication module, which includes the main communication interface, or it may be understood that the awake frame is used for waking up the main communication interface in the main communication module.

When the first device caches the data of the second device, the first device sends a first wake-up frame in a wake-up window of the WUR of the relay device, wherein the first wake-up frame contains identification information of the second device; the relay equipment receives the first awakening frame through the WUR interface, and after awakening the main communication module, the relay equipment determines second equipment according to identification information of the second equipment, sends a second awakening frame to an awakening window of the WUR in the second equipment in the awakening window of the second equipment, and then acquires the data from the main communication interface of the first equipment through the main communication interface; and finally, the relay equipment forwards the data acquired from the first equipment to the second equipment through the main communication interface.

After the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the second device, the second device may take several milliseconds (i.e., wake-up latency) to wake up the primary communication interface, and during the wake-up latency for the second device to wake up its primary communication interface, the relay device is acquiring data from the first device. That is, the present invention makes the wake-up process of the main communication interface of the second device and the process of the relay device acquiring data from the first device proceed simultaneously, that is, the two processes are processed in parallel, thereby reducing the forwarding delay, and the reduced delay is equivalent to the wake-up delay of the second device.

It should be noted that the communication process of the network may be a downlink data transmission process from the first device to the second device through the relay device, and the relay device and the second device need to configure the WUR interface (i.e. the second device considers power saving); or an uplink data transmission process from the second device to the first device through the relay device, in which the first device needs to configure the WUR interface (i.e., the first device considers power saving); it may also be a peer-to-peer technology (peer-to-peer, P2P) transmission process, where the first device has data to be forwarded to the second device through the relay device.

Next, a specific implementation process of the embodiment of the present invention is described in detail by taking, as an example, a transmission process in which data in a first device needs to be forwarded to a second device through a relay device.

Fig. 4 is a signaling interaction diagram of a data forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, the method may include:

step 410, the first device sends a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device through the host communication interface, where the first wake-up frame may include a target address field for carrying identification information of the second device.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a wake-up frame. As shown in fig. 5, the wakeup frame may include a preamble (english) part and a payload (english) part of the legacy 802.11, and the preamble part may include a legacy short-training field (L-STF), a legacy long-training field (L-LTF), and a legacy signaling field (L-SIG); the payload part may include a wake-up preamble (MAC) part for synchronization, Automatic Gain Control (AGC), channel estimation, and the like; the MAC part may further include a MAC Header (MAC Header), a Frame Body (Frame Body), and a Frame Check Sequence (FCS), and may be simply channel-coded using a repetition code, a spreading code, a manchester code, or the like, to improve reliability, but may not use channel coding. The Wake-up preamble includes a string of specific sequences that the WUR may not receive the preceding Legacy preamble portion, but directly detect to identify the wakeup frame. The Wake-up preamble may further include a Wake-up-Signal (WU-SIG) field for carrying the length of the MAC portion and the modulation and coding scheme used.

In conjunction with the structure of fig. 5, the destination address field may be set in the MAC header or the frame body, and the destination address field may include identification information (e.g., identity information) of the second device, so that the second device is determined according to the identification information after the relay device is awakened.

The identification information of the second device may be a global MAC address of the second device, or a local address such as an Association Identifier (AID), or other addresses that can be used to identify the second device, such as a partial AID generated based on the AID and a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID). In the embodiments of the present invention, the "identifier" and the "address" have the same meaning.

It should be noted that the data buffered by the first device may be for the relay device or for the second device. When the data cached by the first device is for the second device, the first wake-up frame includes a target address field for carrying the identification information of the second device. When the data cached by the first device is for the relay device, the first wake-up frame may not include the destination address field, so as to reduce the length of the first wake-up frame, thereby avoiding resource waste.

In one example of a wearable scenario, the data cached by the AP (first device) may be of a mobile phone (relay device) or of a wearable device (second device), where there may be multiple wearable devices associated with the mobile phone, and when the data is for a wearable device, the first wake-up frame includes a target address field, so that the mobile phone determines to which wearable device to send the second wake-up frame according to the target address field after being woken up by the AP, thereby reducing the forwarding latency.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame may further include a destination address presence (DA present) indication, which is used to indicate whether a destination address field exists in the first wake-up frame, so that the main communication module of the relay device determines to send a second wake-up frame to the specified second device according to the destination address field after being woken up, thereby reducing forwarding delay and improving transmission efficiency.

In conjunction with the structure of fig. 5, the target address presence indication may be set in the WU-SIG field of the Wake-up preamble of the Wake-up frame, or may be set in the MAC header, such as in a frame control Field (FC) in the MAC header.

Alternatively, the target address present indication may occupy 1 bit in the WU-SIG or frame control field, i.e. a value of 1 bit, a value of 1 may indicate the presence of a target address field, a value of 0 may indicate the absence of a target address field, or a value of 0 may indicate the presence of a target address field, a value of 1 may indicate the absence of a target address field.

In one example, the target address existence indication in the first wake-up frame is set to 1, that is, the first wake-up frame includes a target address field; the target address presence indication in the first wake-up frame is set to 0, i.e. the first wake-up frame does not contain a target address field.

It is to be understood that, according to actual design requirements, the target address presence indication may also occupy multiple bits in the WU-SIG or frame control field, and a combination of multiple bits is used to indicate whether the target address field is present in the first wake-up frame, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame may further include a buffer size (buffer size) field.

And the cache size field is used for carrying cache size information of the first equipment. The cache size information may indicate a total amount of data cached by the first device and to be forwarded to the second device through the relay device, that is, attribute information of the data. The buffer size information may be the length of the buffered data or the expected transmission duration for transmitting the buffered data.

Alternatively, the buffer size field may be contained in the MAC header or frame body.

It should be noted that, if the first device caches the data for the relay device instead of the second device, the first wakeup frame does not need to include a cache size field, so that the length of the wakeup frame is reduced, and resource waste is avoided.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame may further include a buffer size presence indication, which is used to indicate whether a buffer size field exists in the first wake-up frame.

In conjunction with the Wake-up frame structure shown in fig. 5, the buffer size presence indication may be set in the WU-SIG of the Wake-up preamble of the Wake-up frame, or may be set in the MAC header, such as in the frame control field FC in the MAC header.

Alternatively, the buffer size present indication may occupy 1 bit in the WU-SIG or frame control field, i.e., a value of 1 bit may indicate that a buffer size field is present, a value of 1 may indicate that a buffer size field is present, a value of 0 may indicate that a buffer size field is not present, or a value of 0 may indicate that a buffer size field is present, and a value of 1 may indicate that a buffer size field is not present.

In one example, the buffer size existence indication in the first wake-up frame is set to 1, that is, the first wake-up frame includes a buffer size field; the buffer size presence indication in the first wake-up frame is set to 0, i.e. the first wake-up frame does not contain a buffer size field.

It is to be understood that, according to actual design requirements, the buffer size presence indication may also occupy multiple bits in the WU-SIG or frame control field, and a combination of multiple bits is used to indicate whether the first wake-up frame has a buffer size field, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, when the indication of the existence of the cache size and the indication of the existence of the target address in the first wake-up frame are the same indication, that is, the first indication, a value of the first indication is 1, which indicates that the first wake-up frame includes the target address field and the cache size field at the same time; the value of the first indicator is 0, which indicates that the first wake-up frame contains neither the target address field nor the buffer size field, as shown in fig. 6A.

It is to be understood that, according to an actual design requirement, the first indication may also occupy multiple bits, and a combination of the multiple bits is used to indicate whether the first wake-up frame has the buffer size field and the buffer size field, which is not limited herein. Alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

when the indication of the existence of the cache size and the indication of the existence of the target address in the first wakeup frame are different indications, that is, the indication of the existence of the cache size is a first indication, and the indication of the existence of the target address is a second indication, the first indication occupies 1 bit of the first wakeup frame, and the second indication occupies 1 bit of the first wakeup frame, and respectively represents whether a cache size field and a cache size field exist by using a value 1 or 0 of the bit, as shown in fig. 6B.

It can be understood that, according to an actual design requirement, the first indication or the second indication may also occupy multiple bits respectively, and a combination of the multiple bits is used to indicate whether the first wake-up frame has the buffer size domain and the buffer size domain, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame may further include a receiving address field for carrying identification information, such as address information, of a device that needs to be woken up by the first wake-up frame.

When the identification information in the receiving address field is matched with the identification information of the relay equipment, the relay equipment awakens the main communication interface of the relay equipment according to the first awakening frame.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 7, when the Relay device Relay associates with at least one second device, the Relay device Relay may be woken up by the first device AP, or may be woken up by the second device STA1, STA2, or STA3, and at this time, the first wake-up frame may further include a transmission address field.

The sending address field is configured to carry identification information of the first device that sends the first wake-up frame, such as a sending address of the first device, so that after the primary communication interface of the relay device is woken up, the first device is determined according to the identification information of the first device, and thus, the first device can be determined to send a first wake-up confirmation message (e.g., a PS-Poll frame) to the specified first device, and data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device is received, so that transmission delay is reduced, and transmission efficiency is improved.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame may further include a transmit address present (TA present) indication for indicating whether a transmit address field exists in the first wake-up frame.

In conjunction with the Wake-up frame structure shown in fig. 5, the transmission address presence indication may be set in the WU-SIG of the Wake-up preamble of the Wake-up frame, or may be set in the MAC header, such as in the frame control field FC in the MAC header.

Alternatively, the transmit address present indication may occupy 1 bit in the WU-SIG or frame control field, i.e. a value of 1 bit may indicate that a transmit address field is present, a value of 1 may indicate that a transmit address field is present, a value of 0 may indicate that a transmit address field is not present, or a value of 0 may indicate that a transmit address field is present, and a value of 1 may indicate that a transmit address field is not present.

In one example, the sending address existence indication in the first wake-up frame is set to 1, that is, the first wake-up frame includes a sending address field; the sending address existence indication in the first wake-up frame is set to 0, that is, the first wake-up frame does not include the sending address field.

It is to be understood that, according to actual design requirements, the transmit address presence indication may occupy multiple bits in the WU-SIG or frame control field, and a combination of multiple bits is used to indicate whether the transmit address field is present in the first wake-up frame, which is not limited herein.

Alternatively, the transmission address field may be included in the MAC header or the frame body.

It is to be understood that the target address presence indication, the buffer size presence indication and the sending address presence indication may occupy at least one bit respectively, or may jointly occupy at least one bit as one indication. The first wake-up frame may include only one or two of the three presence indicators, or may include three presence indicators at the same time, that is, the three presence indicators are independent of each other.

Step 420, the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device through the host communication interface according to the identification information of the second device, so as to wake up the host communication interface of the second device.

After receiving the first wake-up frame and waking up the main communication interface, the relay device does not immediately acquire the cached data from the first device, but determines the second device according to the identification information of the second device in the first wake-up frame, and transmits the second wake-up frame to the second device through the main communication interface of the relay device to wake up the main communication module of the second device, and then acquires the cached data from the first device, so that the time delay of the whole data forwarding process is reduced, and the transmission efficiency is improved.

Optionally, when the first wakeup frame further includes the buffer size field, after the relay device determines the second device, step 421 is executed, and the relay device determines the target sending time according to the attribute information of the data.

Specifically, the relay device identifies the time for acquiring the data from the first device according to the data attribute information in the cache size domain, thereby calculating the target sending time for forwarding the data or sending the instruction to the second device. The target transmission time refers to the earliest transmission time for the primary communication interface of the relay device to transmit the data message or the instruction message to the second device (i.e., the relay device will not transmit the message to the second device before the target transmission time), or the earliest transmission time for the primary communication interface of the second device to transmit the data message or the instruction message to the relay device (i.e., the second device will not transmit the message to the relay device before the target transmission time), that is, the target transmission time is the time when the relay device instructs the primary communication interface of the second device to listen to the channel, that is, the primary communication interface of the second device to receive the data.

Optionally, the primary communication interface of the second device may enter a sleep state prior to the time when the primary communication interface of the second device receives data, thereby reducing power consumption.

For example, the relay device recognizes that it takes about 10ms for the main communication interface of the relay device to acquire data from the main communication interface of the first device according to the attribute information of the data in the first wake-up frame, so that the main communication interface of the second device is instructed to listen to the channel after 10ms in the second wake-up frame. If the wake-up delay of the main communication module of the second device is assumed to be 5ms, the main communication module of the second device does not listen to the channel immediately after being woken up, but starts to listen to the channel after 5ms, so that power consumption required by the main communication interface to continuously detect the channel for 5ms is saved.

Further, in the data forwarding process, the forwarding delay generated after the WUR is introduced is not only caused by the wake-up delay, but also related to the wake-up window rule of the Relay device Relay and the second device.

In the two-link independent transmission method, if the Relay device Relay is awakened and receives data from the first device, and the awake window of the second device just ends, the Relay device Relay needs to wait for a period of time, which is the interval time (e.g., 100ms) between the awake windows of the Relay device Relay, before waiting for the opportunity of sending the awake frame to the second device again (i.e., encountering the next awake window of the second device), which introduces a large delay to the data forwarding process. The time required for the Relay device Relay to acquire data from the first device is uncertain, so that the Relay device Relay can not meet the wake-up window of the second device right after receiving the data of the first device by setting the wake-up window of the second device and the parameters of the wake-up window of the Relay device.

Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention provides a method for two-link cooperative transmission, that is, after being awakened by an AP, a Relay does not go to the AP to acquire data immediately, but first sends a second awakening frame to a second device, and then acquires data from the AP. In this method, the first device or the Relay device may set the awake window rule of the Relay device Relay and the awake window rule of the second device, so that the Relay device Relay can meet the awake window of the second device as soon as possible after being awakened by the first device, thereby sending the second awake frame as soon as possible.

Optionally, for the above reasons, before the Relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the second device through the WUR interface, the first device or the Relay device may set the wake-up window rule of the Relay device Relay and the wake-up window rule of the second device by presetting the first offset time. The setting of the first offset time may be completed in a process in which the second device negotiates a wake-up window rule with the Relay or the first device.

The first offset time is the time between the end time of the awake window of the relay device and the end time of the next awake window of the second device, and the first offset time is greater than the awake delay of the relay device, so that the main communication module of the relay device can meet the awake window of the second device as early as possible and send out the second awake frame as soon as possible after being awakened by the first awake frame sent by the first device. Wherein the wake-up delay is a time taken from receiving the first wake-up frame by the relay device to the relay device being awakened,

under the condition that both the relay device and the second device are awakened periodically, the first device knows the awakening window rule of the relay device, the relay device knows the awakening window rule of the second device, the awakening window rule refers to the period and the length of an awakening window, and the period of the awakening window refers to the time interval between the starting time and the ending time of two adjacent awakening windows. As shown in FIG. 8, the wake-up window has a period T1 and a length T2.

Optionally, the awake periods of the relay device and the second device may be the same or different, and the awake window lengths may be the same or different.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an awake window offset time according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 9, the relay device and the second device have awake periods, and the awake window lengths may be the same or different. The wake-up delay of the relay device is denoted as T_Relay,delayThe wake-up window length of the second device is denoted as T_STA,winThe first offset time T exists between the awakening windows of the relay equipment and the second equipment_offset，T_offsetThe time interval from the end time of the awake window of the relay device to the end time of the next awake window of the second device.

In order to make the relay device receive the first wake-up frame and wake up the main communication interface (i.e. the wake-up time delay of the relay device in fig. 9 is from time T1 to time T2), the relay device can meet the next wake-up window of the second device as soon as possible to send the second wake-up frame, i.e. the first offset time T is achieved_offsetGreater than the wake-up delay T of the relay device_Relay,delayAt least the following modes are included:

mode one, T of first device configuration_offsetIt should satisfy: t is_offset>T_Relay,delay。

In one example, the first offset time T_offsetWakeup delay T with a relay device_Relay,delayAre equal. As shown in fig. 10, when the relay device receives the first awake frame at the last time of the awake window, T_offset＝T_Relay,delayIt means that the main communication interface of the relay device is woken up at the last time of the wake-up window of the second device,since the WUR interface of the second device is still active at this time, the relay device may send a second wake-up frame to the second device. From this, T is_offset＝T_Relay,delayIs a critical condition.

Therefore, when T is_offset>T_Relay,delayIn time, the time for awakening the main communication interface of the relay equipment can be ensured not to be later than the end time of the next awakening window of the second equipment, so that the second equipment can be awakened at the fastest speed, and the waiting time delay is reduced.

In the second mode, after the main communication interface of the relay device is awakened, the transmission opportunity of the second awakening frame needs to be obtained through a contention channel, so that the awakening delay end time of the relay device is preferably not later than the awakening window start time of the second device, namely the T configured by the first device_offsetIt should satisfy: t is_offset≥T_Relay,delay+T_STA,win。

In one example, the first offset time T_offsetWakeup delay T with a relay device_Relay,delayAre equal. As shown in fig. 11, when the relay device receives the first awake frame at the last time of the awake window, T_offset＝T_Relay,delay+T_STA,winThe first wake-up frame is a frame that is transmitted by the relay device and is received by the first device, and the second wake-up frame is a frame that is transmitted by the relay device and is received by the second device. From this, the first offset time T_offsetWake-up delay T for relay device_Relay,delayAnd wake-up window length T of the second device_STA,winIs a critical condition.

Therefore, when T is_offset≥T_Relay,delay+T_STA,winIn time, the time for awakening the main communication interface of the relay equipment can be ensured not to be later than the starting time of the next awakening window of the second equipment, so that the second equipment can be awakened at the fastest speed, and the waiting time delay is reduced.

Mode three, when the wake-up period of the second device is short (e.g., 2ms), this will cause the relay device toThe probability of competing to obtain the channel is reduced, in order to further ensure that the next awake window of the second device is met after the main communication interface of the Relay device is awakened, the first device or the Relay device can ensure that the next awake window of the second device is met after the main communication module of the Relay device is awakened and the interval of a short time delta T is short after the first device or the Relay device is awakened. T of the first device configuration at this time_offsetIt should satisfy: t is_Relay,delay+T_STA,win≤T_offset≤T_Relay,delay+T_STA,win+ Δ T, where Δ T may be 0.

Based on the critical condition of the second mode, it can be known that the wake-up delay T of the relay device of the third mode_Relay,delayThe distance between the start time of the awake window of the second device and the time is Δ T, as shown in fig. 12, this way can make the relay device have more time to contend for the channel, so as to transmit the second awake frame at the start time of the awake window of the second device.

Note that, because of T_STA,winAnd Δ T are both system-determinable parameters that generally do not need to be modified after configuration, and T_Relay,delayIt is also a certain parameter for the relay device that is determined by the hardware characteristics, so T above_offsetThe value of (a) can be preset according to actual needs, and the value is irrelevant to the data volume to be forwarded. That is to say, no matter how much data needs to be forwarded, the three ways ensure that the main communication interface of the Relay can meet the wakeup window of the second device as soon as possible after being awakened, so that the second wakeup frame is sent out as soon as possible, and the time delay of the whole forwarding process is further reduced.

In the two-link independent transmission method, after a main communication interface of the Relay device is awakened, data is acquired from the first device first, and then an awakening frame is sent to the second device. For example, assuming that the wake-up period of the second device is 100ms, the Relay device Relay needs to wait for 50ms on average to encounter the next wake-up window of the second device, and if the wake-up delay of the second device is 5ms, the whole forwarding process needs at least 55ms communication time.

Compared with the communication time, in the embodiment of the present invention, after the main communication interface of the relay device is woken up, the second wake-up frame is first sent to the second device, and then the data is acquired from the first device, so that the wake-up process of the main communication interface of the second device and the process of the relay device acquiring the data from the first device are performed simultaneously, that is, the forwarding delay is reduced through a parallel operation process. For example, if the wake-up period of the second device is 100ms and the wake-up delay is 5ms, the scheme of the present invention can reduce the forwarding delay by 55ms on average.

Returning to step 420, after determining the second device according to the identification information of the second device in the target address field, the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device through the main communication interface of the relay device, where the second wake-up frame may include a target sending time, so that the main communication interface of the second device does not need to monitor a channel before the time, thereby saving power.

Alternatively, after step 420 is executed, if the host communication interface configured by the first device is capable of parsing the wakeup frame in the WUR format, the first device may recognize that the relay device has sent a second wakeup frame to the second device, that is, recognize that the relay device has been woken up, and then may transmit data. At this time, the relay device may not transmit the first wakeup confirm frame to the first device, so that signaling overhead is reduced. On the contrary, if the host communication interface configured by the first device cannot resolve the wakeup frame in the WUR format, step 422 is executed, and the host communication interface of the relay device may send a first wakeup confirm frame to the first device to indicate that the relay device has been woken up.

It should be noted that, a process of the main communication interface of the relay device sending the first wakeup confirm frame to the first device may be sequentially interchanged with a process of the main communication interface of the relay device sending the second wakeup frame to the WUR interface of the second device.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 7, for any one of the second devices, only one relay device may wake up each second device, and therefore, the second wake-up frame sent by the main communication interface of the relay device to the main communication interface of each second device may not include the sending address existence indication and the sending address field, so that the length of the second wake-up frame is reduced, and the transmission efficiency is improved. It will be appreciated that the transmit address presence indication and the transmit address field are independent of whether the scenario is a relay communication scenario.

It should be noted that, when there are multiple relay devices associated with the second device according to actual design requirements or there are multiple relay devices associated with the second device, the second wake-up frame may include a sending address presence indication and a sending address field, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

Step 430, the primary communication interface of the first device sends data to the primary communication interface of the relay device.

And the first equipment sends the data to be forwarded to the main communication interface of the relay equipment through the main communication interface.

Optionally, after receiving the data, the primary communication interface of the relay device sends a reception confirmation message to the primary communication interface of the first device to indicate that the data is received.

Step 440, the primary communication interface of the relay device sends the data to the primary communication interface of the second device.

Before the relay device sends the data to the second device, the relay device needs to receive a second wake-up acknowledgement frame (e.g., a PS-Poll frame) sent by the second device to determine that the primary communication module of the second device is already woken up.

Thereafter, the relay device transmits the data acquired from the first device to the second device through the primary communication interface after the target transmission time.

Optionally, before the relay device sends the data to the second device, after the target sending time, the relay device may further send a trigger message to the second device through the main communication interface, so that the second device feeds back a second wake-up confirmation frame to indicate that the second device has been woken up.

Thereafter, the relay device transmits the data acquired from the first device to the second device through the primary communication interface.

The target sending time carried in the second wakeup frame may be absolute time or relative time.

The absolute time is a number of bytes lower than a Timing Synchronization Function (TSF) corresponding to a time expected to be transmitted. The TSF is the system clock of the relay device.

Relative time, refers to the time interval from the end of the second wakeup frame to the time when the data is expected to be transmitted.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a communication process according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 13, the communication process may be divided into 5 stages.

In the first stage, the main communication interface of the first device sends a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device to wake up the main communication interface of the relay device.

And in the second stage, the main communication interface of the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device to wake up the main communication interface of the second device, and/or the main communication interface of the relay device sends a first wake-up confirmation frame to the main communication interface of the first device.

And in the third stage, the main communication interface of the first equipment sends the data to be forwarded to the main communication interface of the relay equipment.

And in the fourth stage, the main communication interface of the second equipment sends a second awakening confirmation frame to the main communication interface of the relay equipment.

And in the fifth stage, the main communication interface of the relay equipment sends the data to be forwarded to the main communication interface of the second equipment.

Wherein, the third phase should also include the main communication interface of the relay device sending an acknowledgement frame to the main communication interface of the first device to indicate that the relay device has received the data, which is omitted from the figure and not shown; similarly, the fifth stage is to further include the primary communication interface of the second device sending an acknowledgement frame to the primary communication interface of the relay device to indicate that the second device has received the data, which is omitted from the figure and not shown.

In addition, the first wakeup confirm frame and the second wakeup confirm frame may be PS-Poll, and are responses to the first wakeup frame and the second wakeup frame, respectively, to indicate that the other party has successfully wakened up and can send data to the other party. In the second stage, the front and back sequences of the first awakening confirmation frame and the second awakening frame can be interchanged; if the first device can analyze the wakeup frame in the WUR format, only the second wakeup frame can be sent without sending the first wakeup confirm frame, after the first device sends the first wakeup frame to the relay device, the first device receives the wakeup frame sent to the second device by the relay device, the second device is considered to be successfully awakened, and then data transmission can be started, namely the second wakeup frame implicitly confirms the first wakeup frame, so that the transmission overhead can be reduced, and the resource utilization rate can be improved.

In the method of the above embodiment of the present invention, a first wake-up frame sent by a first device is received through a wake-up radio frequency WUR interface of a relay device, where the first wake-up frame includes a target address field, and then the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to a second device through its own main communication interface according to the target address field to wake up the second device, and during a period of waking up a main communication module of the second device, the main communication interface of the relay device receives data sent by the first device, and then the main communication interface of the relay device sends the data to the main communication interface of the woken-up second device, thereby implementing a forwarding process of the data. According to the method, the awakening process of the second equipment and the process of acquiring data from the first equipment by the relay equipment are synchronously carried out, and the awakening rule parameters of the second equipment and the relay equipment are designed, so that the time delay of the data transmission process is reduced.

It can be understood that, in the above method, the network device may be a first device, the high-performance terminal may be a second device, and the receiving terminal may be a third device.

Corresponding to the method, the embodiment of the invention provides a relay device.

Fig. 14 is a relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 14, the relay device may include: the receiving interface 1401 and the main communication interface 1402 are woken up,

a wake up radio interface 1401, configured to receive a first wake up frame sent by a main communication interface of a first device (e.g., an AP), where the first wake up frame includes a target address field for carrying identification information of a second device (e.g., an STA).

The main communication interface 1402 is configured to send a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, so as to wake up the main communication interface of the second device, receive data sent by the main communication interface of the first device, and then send data to the woken-up main communication interface of the second device.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a target address existence indication, where the target address existence indication is used to indicate whether a target address field exists in the first wake-up frame.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size field, and the buffer size field is used for carrying attribute information of the data.

The host communication interface 1402 is specifically configured to send a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size existence indication, where the buffer size existence indication is used to indicate whether the buffer size field exists in the first wake-up frame. When the buffer size presence indication indicates that the first wake-up frame has the buffer size field, the main communication interface 1402 sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

Optionally, the target address presence indication and the cache size presence indication use the same indication identity.

Optionally, the relay device further comprises a processing unit 1403. Before the host communication interface 1402 sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data, the processing unit 1403 is configured to determine a target sending time according to the attribute information of the data, where the target sending time is the earliest time for the host communication interface 1402 to transmit a message to the second device.

The host communication interface 1402 is specifically configured to send the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data, where the second wake-up frame includes the target sending time.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address field, where the sending address field is used to carry identification information of the first device.

Before the primary communication interface 1402 receives data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device, the processing unit 1403 is further configured to determine the first device according to the identification information of the first device, and receive the determined data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address existence indication, where the sending address existence indication is used to indicate whether the first wake-up frame has a sending address field. When the sending address existence indication is used to indicate that the first wake-up frame exists in the sending address field, the processing unit 1403 is further configured to determine the first device according to the identification information of the first device.

The primary communication interface 1402 is further configured to receive data sent by the determined primary communication interface of the first device.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a receiving address field, and the receiving address field is used for carrying the identification information of the receiver. After the WUR interface 1401 receives the first wake-up frame sent by the first device,

the processing unit 1403 is further configured to match the identification information of the receiver with the identification information of the relay device, and when the identification information of the receiver matches with the identification information of the relay device, the WUR interface 1401 is further configured to wake up the host communication interface 1402.

The host communication interface 1402 is further configured to send a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, so as to wake up the host communication interface of the second device.

Optionally, before the WUR interface 1401 receives a first wake-up frame sent by the host communication interface of the first device, the processing unit 1403 is further configured to preset a first offset time, where the first offset time is a time interval between a wake-up window end time of the second device and a next wake-up window end time of the WUR interface, the first offset time is greater than a wake-up delay of the WUR interface 1401, and the wake-up delay is a time taken from the WUR interface 1401 receiving the first wake-up frame to the time when the host communication interface 1402 is woken up.

The processing unit 1403 is further configured to determine a wake-up window of the second device according to the first offset time.

The host communication interface 1402 is further configured to send a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device in the determined wake-up window of the second device according to the identification information of the second device.

Optionally, before the main communication interface 1402 sends data to the main communication interface of the woken-up second device, the main communication unit is further configured to receive a wakening confirmation frame sent by the second device according to the second wakening frame, so as to indicate that the main communication unit of the second device has been woken up. Or, the main communication interface 1402 is further configured to send a trigger control frame to the main communication interface of the second device, and receive a wakeup confirmation frame sent by the second device according to the trigger control frame to indicate that the main communication interface of the second device has been waken up, and send data to the main communication interface of the wakened up second device according to the wakeup confirmation frame.

The functions of the functional modules of the relay device in the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by the method steps provided in fig. 4, and therefore, detailed working processes and beneficial effects of the relay device provided in the present invention are not described herein again.

Corresponding to the method, the embodiment of the invention provides network equipment.

Fig. 15 is a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 15, the network device, for example, an access point AP, may include: a primary communication interface 1501.

The main communication interface 1510 is configured to send a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device, where the first wake-up frame includes a target address field and is used to carry identification information of the second device, so that the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device to wake up the main communication interface of the second device.

The primary communication interface 1510 is further configured to send data to the primary communication interface of the relay device, so that the primary communication interface of the relay device sends data to the primary communication interface of the woken-up second device.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a target address existence indication, where the target address existence indication is used to indicate whether the target address field exists in the first wake-up frame.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size field, where the buffer size field is used to carry attribute information of the data, so that the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size existence indication, where the buffer size existence indication is used to indicate whether the buffer size field exists in the first wake-up frame.

Alternatively, the same indication flag is used for the target address presence indication and the cache size presence indication.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address field, where the sending address field is used to carry identification information of the first device, so that the relay device receives data sent by the main communication interface through the main communication interface of the relay device after determining the first device according to the identification information of the first device.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address existence indication, where the sending address existence indication is used to indicate whether the first wake-up frame has a sending address field.

Optionally, the first wake-up frame further includes a receiving address field, where the receiving address field is used to carry the identification information of the receiving party, so that the relay device wakes up the main communication interface of the relay device after matching the identification information of the receiving party with the identification information of the relay device.

Optionally, the network device further comprises a processing unit 1502. Before the host communication interface 1501 sends the first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device, the processing unit 1502 is configured to preset a first offset time, where the first offset time is a time interval between an end time of a wake-up window of the second device and an end time of a next wake-up window of the relay device, the first offset time is greater than a wake-up delay of the relay device, and the wake-up delay is a time taken for the host communication interface of the relay device to be woken up after the first wake-up frame is received from the WUR interface of the relay device.

The host communication interface 1501 is specifically configured to determine an awake window of the second device according to the first offset time, so that the relay device sends a second awake frame to the WUR interface of the second device through the host communication interface of the relay device in the determined awake window of the second device.

The functions of the functional modules of the network device in the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by the method steps provided in fig. 4, and therefore, detailed working processes and beneficial effects of the network device provided by the present invention are not described herein again.

Fig. 16 shows another relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 16, the relay device at least includes a wake-up receiver 1610, a processor 1620, a primary communicator 1630 (e.g., an 802.11 primary transceiver module), a memory 1640, and a transceiver antenna 1650.

The master communicator 1630 retrieves the instruction message or data message received by the master communicator 1630 from the memory 1640 and processes it to obtain the instruction or data. The wake-up receiver 1610 receives a wake-up frame transmitted by another device through the transceiving antenna 1650, and when the wake-up receiver 1610 receives the wake-up frame addressed to itself, sends a trigger signal to the processor 1620, so that the processor 1620 triggers the main communicator 1630 to wake up the main communicator 1630. The main communicator 1630 needs to modulate the content of the message to be transmitted into an electrical signal for transmitting from the transceiving antenna 1650 in the form of electromagnetic waves, and the main communicator 1630 needs to receive the electromagnetic wave signal through the transceiving antenna 1650 and analyze the information transmitted to itself by other devices.

The processor 1620 stores the instruction message and the data message to be sent through the main communicator 1630 in the memory 1640, after the processor 1620 prepares the instruction or the data to be sent, the processor 1620 sends a notification to the main communicator 1630 to indicate that the data to be sent is ready, and finally, the main communicator 1630 obtains the instruction or the data to be sent from the memory 1640 and sends the instruction or the data to be sent through the transceiving antenna 1650. The main communicator 1630 needs to modulate the content of the message to be transmitted into an electrical signal for transmitting from the transceiving antenna 1650 in the form of electromagnetic waves, and the main communicator 1630 needs to receive the electromagnetic wave signal through the transceiving antenna 1650 and analyze the information transmitted to itself by other devices.

Processor 1620 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or a combination of a CPU and a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

Memory 1640 may include volatile memory (volatile memory), such as random-access memory (RAM); the memory 1640 may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or a solid-state drive (SSD). The memory 1530 may also include a combination of memories of the sort described above.

The primary communicator 1630 may include a primary communication interface 1631 and the wake-up receiver 1610 may include a wake-up receiver interface 1611, among other things.

Further, in conjunction with the method shown in fig. 4, the working process of each functional device of the relay device may include:

the wake up rf interface 1611 is configured to receive a first wake up frame sent by a main communication interface of a network device, where the first wake up frame includes a target address field for carrying identification information of a receiving device (STA).

The host communication interface 1631 is configured to send a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the receiving device according to the identification information of the second device, so as to wake up the host communication interface of the receiving device, and receive data sent by the host communication interface of the network device. And transmitting data to the primary communication interface of the receiving device that has been awakened.

It should be noted that, the main communicator 1630 (including the main communication interface 1631) and the wake-up receiver 1610 (including the wake-up receiver 1611) can operate in the same frequency band, and the transceiver antenna 1650 includes one antenna, so as to reduce the structural complexity and hardware cost of the relay device. The main communicator 1630 (including the main communication interface 1631) and the wake-up receiver 1610 (including the wake-up receiver 1611) may also operate in different frequency bands, and the transceiver antenna 1650 may include multiple antennas suitable for different frequency bands, and the antennas used by the wireless transceiver 1630 and the wake-up receiver 1610 may not be the same. For example, both operate in the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band, respectively. In practical products, the relay device may be implemented by a system on a chip (SoC) or an integrated circuit.

As the embodiment and the advantageous effects of each component of the relay device in the foregoing embodiments can refer to the method embodiment and the advantageous effects shown in fig. 4, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted here.

Fig. 17 is another network device provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 17, the network device, for example, an access point, may include a main communicator 1710 (e.g., an 802.11 main transceiver module), a processor 1720, a memory 1730, and a transceiver antenna 1740, where the main communicator 1710 has functions of a receiver and a transmitter. Transceiver antenna 1740 may also be considered part of the main communicator 1710, in which case the transceiver antenna 1740 may not be shown in FIG. 17.

The processor 1720 stores the instruction message and the data message to be sent through the main communicator 1710 in the memory 1730, the processor 1720 sends a notification to the main communicator 1710 after preparing the instruction or the data to be sent so as to indicate that the data to be sent is prepared, and finally the main communicator 1710 obtains the instruction or the data to be sent from the memory 1730 and sends the instruction or the data to be sent out through the transceiving antenna 1740. The main communicator 1710 needs to modulate the content of the message to be transmitted into an electrical signal to be transmitted from the transceiving antenna 1740 and transmit the electrical signal in the form of electromagnetic waves, and the main communicator 1710 needs to receive the electromagnetic wave signal through the transceiving antenna 1740 and analyze the electromagnetic wave signal to obtain a message which is transmitted to the main communicator by other equipment.

Processor 1720 may be a central processing unit CPU or a combination of a CPU and a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application specific integrated circuit ASIC, a programmable logic device PLD, or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable logic device CPLD, a field programmable gate array FPGA, a generic array logic GAL, or any combination thereof.

Memory 1730 may include volatile memory such as random access memory, RAM; the memory 1730 may also include a nonvolatile memory such as a read only memory ROM, a flash memory, a hard disk HDD, or a solid state disk SSD. Memory 1730 may also include combinations of the above types of memory.

The master communicator 1710 can include, among other things, a master communication interface 1711.

Further, in conjunction with the method shown in fig. 4, the working process of each functional device of the network device may include:

the host communication interface 1711 is configured to send a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device, where the first wake-up frame includes a target address field and is used to carry identification information of the receiving device, so that the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the receiving device according to the identification information of the receiving device, and wakes up the host communication interface of the receiving device.

The main communication interface 1711 is further configured to send data to the main communication interface of the relay device, so that the main communication interface of the relay device sends the data to the main communication interface of the receiving device that has been woken up.

Optionally, the network device may also include a transmitter WUR 1750 (not shown in FIG. 17) dedicated to transmitting WUPs. The WUR 1750 is triggered to transmit WUPs by the wireless transceiver 1710 or the processor 1720 when there is data to transmit. The WUP is transmitted by a transceiver antenna 1740. The host communicator 1710 and the WUR 1750 can operate in the same frequency band, and the transceiving antenna 1740 can comprise the same antenna, so that the structural complexity and hardware cost of the network device are reduced. The wireless transceiver 1710 and the WUR 1750 can also operate in different frequency bands, and the transceiving antenna 1740 includes multiple antennas suitable for different frequency bands, that is, the antennas used by the wireless transceiver 1710 and the WUR 1750 are different.

It should be noted that, in the above embodiment, as for the implementation and the beneficial effects of each component of the network device for solving the problem, reference may be made to the implementation and the beneficial effects of the method shown in fig. 4, and therefore details are not repeated herein.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention also provide embodiments as described below under reference numerals 21-40, which are numbered for convenience only and do not necessarily represent a particular relationship to the numerals of the previously provided embodiments, beginning with numeral 21, and embodiments 21-40 are specifically as follows:

21. a relay device, characterized in that the relay device comprises:

the device comprises a wakeup radio frequency WUR interface, a first communication interface and a second communication interface, wherein the wakeup radio frequency WUR interface is used for receiving a first wakeup frame sent by the main communication interface of first equipment, and the first wakeup frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of second equipment;

the main communication interface is used for sending a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment so as to awaken the main communication interface of the second equipment;

the main communication interface is further configured to receive data sent by the main communication interface of the first device;

the primary communication interface is further configured to send the data to the primary communication interface of the second device that has been woken up.

22. The relay device according to embodiment 21, wherein the first wake-up frame further includes a destination address presence indication, and the destination address presence indication indicates whether the destination address field is present in the first wake-up frame.

23. The relay device according to any of embodiments 21-22, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a buffer size field, and the buffer size field is used for carrying attribute information of the data;

the host communication interface is specifically configured to send the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

24. The relay device according to embodiment 23, wherein the first wakeup frame further includes a buffer size existence indication, and the buffer size existence indication is used to indicate whether the buffer size field exists in the first wakeup frame;

and when the cache size existence indication indicates that the first wake-up frame exists in the cache size domain, the main communication interface sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

25. The relay device according to embodiment 23, wherein the destination address presence indication and the buffer size presence indication use the same indication flag.

26. The relay device according to embodiment 23 or 24, characterized in that the relay device further comprises a processing unit,

before the host communication interface sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data,

the processing unit is configured to determine a target sending time according to the attribute information of the data, where the target sending time is the earliest time for the primary communication interface to transmit a message to the second device;

the host communication interface is specifically configured to send the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data, where the second wake-up frame includes the target sending time.

27. The relay device according to embodiment 21, wherein the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address field, and the sending address field is used to carry identification information of the first device;

before the primary communication interface receives the data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device,

the processing unit is further configured to determine the first device according to the identification information of the first device;

and the main communication interface is further configured to receive the determined data sent by the main communication interface of the first device.

28. The relay device according to embodiment 27, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a transmission address presence indication indicating whether the transmission address field is present in the first wake-up frame,

when the transmit address present indication indicates that the first wake-up frame is present in the transmit address field,

29. The relay device according to embodiment 21, wherein the first wakeup frame further includes a receiving address field, and the receiving address field is used for carrying identification information of a receiver;

after the WUR interface receives the first wake-up frame sent by the first device,

the processing unit is further configured to match the receiver identification information with identification information of the relay device;

when the identification information of the receiver is matched with the identification information of the relay equipment, the WUR interface is also used for awakening the main communication interface;

the main communication interface is further configured to send a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, so as to wake up the main communication interface of the second device.

30. The relay device according to embodiment 1, wherein the WUR interface receives a first wake-up frame transmitted by the host communication interface of the first device,

the processing unit is further configured to preset a first offset time, where the first offset time is a time interval between an end time of a wakeup window of the second device and an end time of a next wakeup window of the WUR interface, the first offset time is greater than a wakeup delay of the WUR interface, and the wakeup delay is a time taken from when the WUR interface receives a first wakeup frame to when the host communication interface is woken up;

determining an awake window of the second device according to the first offset time;

the main communication interface is further configured to send the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device in the determined wake-up window of the second device according to the identification information of the second device.

31. The relay device according to embodiment 21, wherein the primary communication interface, before sending the data to the primary communication interface of the second device that has woken up,

the main communication unit is further configured to receive a wakeup confirm frame sent by the second device according to the second wakeup frame, so as to indicate that the main communication unit of the second device is already woken up;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the main communication interface is further configured to send a trigger control frame to the main communication interface of the second device;

the main communication interface is further configured to receive a wakeup confirm frame sent by the second device according to the trigger control frame, so as to indicate that the main communication interface of the second device is already woken up;

and sending the data to the main communication interface of the awakened second equipment according to the awakening confirmation frame.

32. A network device, characterized in that the network device comprises:

the device comprises a main communication interface, a WUR interface and a relay device, wherein the main communication interface is used for sending a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device, the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of second equipment, so that the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment to wake up the main communication interface of the second equipment;

the main communication interface is further configured to send data to the main communication interface of the relay device, so that the main communication interface of the relay device sends the data to the main communication interface of the second device that has been woken up.

33. The network device of embodiment 32, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a target address presence indication indicating whether the target address realm exists in the first wake-up frame.

34. The network device according to any one of embodiments 32-33, wherein the first wake-up frame further includes a buffer size field, and the buffer size field is configured to carry attribute information of the data, so that the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

35. The network device of embodiment 34, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a buffer size existence indication, and wherein the buffer size existence indication is used to indicate whether the buffer size field exists in the first wake-up frame.

36. The network device of embodiment 34, wherein the target address present indication and the cache size present indication use the same indicator flag.

37. The network device according to embodiment 32, wherein the first wakeup frame further includes a sending address field, and the sending address field is configured to carry identification information of the first device, so that the relay device receives, according to the identification information of the first device, data sent by the main communication interface through the main communication interface of the relay device after determining the first device.

38. The network device of embodiment 37, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a sending address presence indication, and wherein the sending address presence indication is used for indicating whether the sending address field is present in the first wake-up frame.

39. The network device of embodiment 32, wherein the first wake-up frame further includes a receiving address field, and the receiving address field is configured to carry receiver identification information, so that the relay device wakes up a main communication interface of the relay device after matching the receiver identification information with the identification information of the relay device.

40. The network device of embodiment 32, further comprising, a processing unit,

before the host communication interface sends a first wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the relay device,

the processing unit is configured to preset a first offset time, where the first offset time is a time interval between an end time of an awake window of the second device and an end time of a next awake window of the relay device, the first offset time is greater than an awake delay of the relay device, and the awake delay is a time taken from receiving a first awake frame by a WUR interface of the relay device to waking up a host communication interface of the relay device;

the main communication interface is specifically configured to determine an awake window of the second device according to the first offset time, so that the relay device sends a second awake frame to the WUR interface of the second device through the main communication interface of the relay device in the determined awake window of the second device.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in hardware, a software module executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in ram, flash memory, ROM, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, hard disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in user equipment. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in user equipment.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described in this invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.

The above-mentioned embodiments, objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention are further described in detail, it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements and the like made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for forwarding data, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a relay device presets a first offset time, wherein the first offset time is a time interval between an awakening window end time of a second device and a next awakening window end time of the relay device, the first offset time is larger than an awakening time delay of the relay device, and the awakening time delay is used for a host communication module of the relay device to be awakened after a first awakening frame is received from a WUR interface of the relay device;

a wake-up radio frequency WUR interface of the relay device receives a first wake-up frame sent by a main communication interface of first equipment, wherein the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of second equipment;

the relay equipment determines an awakening window of the second equipment according to the first offset time;

the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to a WUR interface of the second equipment in the determined awakening window of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment so as to awaken a main communication interface of the second equipment;

the relay equipment receives data sent by the main communication interface of the first equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment;

and the relay equipment transmits the data to the main communication interface of the awakened second equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a target address presence indication indicating whether the target address realm is present in the first wake-up frame.

3. The method according to any of claims 1-2, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a buffer size field for carrying attribute information of the data;

the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, so as to wake up the main communication interface of the second device, and specifically includes:

and the relay equipment sends the second awakening frame to a WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment and the attribute information of the data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a buffer size presence indication indicating whether the buffer size field is present in the first wake-up frame;

and when the cache size existence indication indicates that the first wake-up frame exists in the cache size domain, the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to a WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the target address present indication and the cache size present indication use the same indicator flag.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein before the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data, the method further comprises:

the relay equipment determines target sending time according to the attribute information of the data, wherein the target sending time is the earliest time for the relay equipment to transmit the message to the second equipment;

the sending, by the relay device, the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data specifically includes:

and the relay equipment sends the second awakening frame to a WUR interface of the second equipment according to the identification information of the second equipment and the attribute information of the data, wherein the second awakening frame comprises the target sending time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a sending address field, and wherein the sending address field is used for carrying identification information of the first device;

before the relay device receives, through the primary communication interface of the relay device, data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device, the method further includes:

the relay equipment determines the first equipment according to the identification information of the first equipment;

and the relay equipment receives the determined data sent by the main communication interface of the first equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a transmit address present indication indicating whether the transmit address field is present in the first wake-up frame,

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a receiving address field for carrying receiver identification information;

after the WUR interface of the relay device receives the first wake-up frame sent by the first device, the method further includes:

the relay equipment matches the identification information of the receiver with the identification information of the relay equipment;

when the identification information of the receiver is matched with the identification information of the relay equipment, the WUR of the relay equipment wakes up a main communication interface of the relay equipment;

and the relay equipment sends a second awakening frame to the WUR interface of the second equipment through the awakened main communication interface according to the identification information of the second equipment so as to awaken the main communication interface of the second equipment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein before the primary communication interface of the relay device sends the data to the primary communication interface of the second device that has woken up the primary communication interface, the method further comprises:

the main communication interface of the relay device receives a wakeup confirmation frame sent by the second device according to the second wakeup frame to indicate that the main communication interface of the second device is already woken up;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the main communication interface of the relay equipment sends a trigger control frame to the main communication interface of the second equipment;

the main communication interface of the relay device receives a wakeup confirmation frame sent by the second device according to the trigger control frame to indicate that the main communication interface of the second device is wakened;

the sending, by the primary communication interface of the relay device, the data to the woken-up second device specifically includes:

and the relay equipment sends the data to the awakened main communication interface of the second equipment through the main communication interface of the relay equipment according to the awakening confirmation frame.

11. A method for forwarding data, the method comprising:

presetting a first offset time by first equipment, wherein the first offset time is a time interval between the end time of an awakening window of second equipment and the end time of the next awakening window of relay equipment, the first offset time is greater than the awakening time delay of the relay equipment, and the awakening time delay is the time from the time when a WUR interface of the relay equipment receives a first awakening frame to the time when a main communication module of the relay equipment is awakened;

the first device sends a first wake-up frame to a WUR interface of the relay device through a main communication interface, wherein the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field used for bearing identification information of a second device, and the first device determines a wake-up window of the second device according to the first offset time, so that the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device through the main communication interface of the relay device in the determined wake-up window of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, and wakes up the main communication interface of the second device;

and the first equipment sends data to the main communication interface of the relay equipment through the main communication interface of the first equipment, so that the main communication interface of the relay equipment sends the data to the main communication interface of the woken second equipment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a target address presence indication indicating whether the target address realm is present in the first wake-up frame.

13. The method according to any one of claims 11-12, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a buffer size field, and the buffer size field is used for carrying attribute information of the data, so that the relay device sends the second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device according to the identification information of the second device and the attribute information of the data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a buffer size presence indication indicating whether the buffer size field is present in the first wake-up frame.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the target address present indication and the cache size present indication use the same indicator flag.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein the first wake-up frame further includes a sending address field, and the sending address field is configured to carry identification information of the first device, so that the relay device receives, through a primary communication interface of the relay device, data sent by the primary communication interface of the first device after determining the first device according to the identification information of the first device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a transmit address present indication indicating whether the transmit address field is present in the first wake-up frame.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the first wake-up frame further comprises a receiving address field, and wherein the receiving address field is configured to carry receiver identification information, so that the relay device wakes up a primary communication interface of the relay device after matching the receiver identification information with the identification information of the relay device.

19. A relay device, characterized in that the relay device comprises:

a processing unit, configured to preset a first offset time, where the first offset time is a time interval between an end time of an awake window of a second device and an end time of a next awake window of a relay device, and the first offset time is greater than an awake delay of the relay device, where the awake delay is a time taken from receiving a first awake frame by a WUR interface of the relay device to a time when a host communication module of the relay device is awake;

the processing unit is further configured to determine an awake window of the second device according to the first offset time;

the main communication interface is used for sending a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device in the determined wake-up window of the second device according to the identification information of the second device so as to wake up the main communication interface of the second device;

20. A network device, characterized in that the network device comprises:

the main communication interface is used for sending a first wake-up frame to a WUR interface of the relay device, wherein the first wake-up frame comprises a target address field and is used for bearing identification information of a second device, and a wake-up window of the second device is determined according to the first offset time, so that the relay device sends a second wake-up frame to the WUR interface of the second device through the main communication interface of the relay device in the determined wake-up window of the second device according to the identification information of the second device, and wakes up the main communication interface of the second device;