CN109104756B

CN109104756B - Wake-up method, access point and station

Info

Publication number: CN109104756B
Application number: CN201710476499.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨懋; 李波; 郭宇宸
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-06-21
Filing date: 2017-06-21
Publication date: 2021-05-18
Anticipated expiration: 2037-06-21
Also published as: WO2018233646A1; CN109104756A

Abstract

The application provides a wake-up method, an access point and a site. The awakening method comprises the following steps: generating a wake-up frame, wherein the wake-up frame comprises a multicast group identification field, the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group Media Access Control (MAC) address, and the multicast group identification field is used for indicating a multicast group needing to be woken up; the wakeup frame is sent. According to the awakening method provided by the application, the multicast group identification field in the awakening frame is obtained according to the MAC address of the multicast group, and the awakening method can be used for awakening by taking the multicast group as a unit when a station is awakened. The existing multicast mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted to obtain the multicast group identification, a new protocol is not required to be introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. The energy-saving effect can be improved, the signaling overhead is saved, and the awakening efficiency is improved.

Description

Wake-up method, access point and station

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a wake-up method, an access point, and a station in the field of communications.

Background

With the evolution of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 working group is working on the development of 802.11 standards with low power wake up radio LP-WUR as a core technology to reduce wireless fidelity (WiFi) power consumption. The 802.11 standard has established a learning group in IEEE at 5 months in 2016, and is expected to establish a working group at the end of 2016.

In WiFi networks, a considerable part of the energy of the terminal device is wasted in listening without receiving signals (idle listening), and the related solutions in the current conventional 802.11 protocol focus on optimizing the device sleep strategy and using LP-WUR (WUR for short). The core idea of the WUR is that the receiving end device includes a low power consumption wake-up receiver (WUR) part in addition to a conventional 802.11 transceiver (802.11main radio, 802.11 host transceiver module) or WiFi host transceiver module, and when the 802.11 host transceiver module enters deep sleep, the low power consumption WUR wakes up to start working. If other equipment needs to communicate with equipment with the WUR and the 802.11 host transceiver module, other terminal equipment firstly sends a wakeup Packet (WUP Packet or wakeup Packet, WUP) to the WUR, and the WUR wakes Up the 802.11 host transceiver module of the receiving terminal equipment after correctly receiving the WUP sent to the WUR, so that the 802.11 host transceiver module can communicate with the terminal equipment which wakes Up the 802.11 host transceiver module. At present, for a large number of terminal devices to be woken up, a wake-up packet needs to be sent to each terminal device, and signaling overhead and energy consumption are still large.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a wake-up method, an access point and a site. And acquiring a multicast group identification field in the awakening frame according to the MAC address of the multicast group, and awakening the station by taking the multicast group as a unit. The existing multicast mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted to obtain the multicast group identification, a new protocol is not required to be introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. The energy-saving effect can be improved, the signaling overhead is saved, and the awakening efficiency is improved.

In a first aspect, a wake-up method is provided, where the method includes: generating a wake-up frame, wherein the wake-up frame comprises a multicast group identification field, the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group Media Access Control (MAC) address, and the multicast group identification field is used for indicating a multicast group needing to be woken up; the wakeup frame is sent.

The method for waking up provided by the first aspect obtains the multicast group identification field in the wake-up frame according to the multicast group MAC address, that is, by intercepting the existing multicast group MAC address or performing operation on a part of bits in the multicast group MAC address frame, when a station is woken up, the station can be woken up in units of multicast groups. And the existing multicast mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted to obtain the multicast group identification, a new protocol is not required to be introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. The energy-saving effect can be further improved, the signaling overhead is saved, and the awakening efficiency is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the obtaining the multicast group identification field from the multicast group MAC address includes: and intercepting part of bit information in the MAC address of the multicast group as the multicast group identification field.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the obtaining the multicast group identification field from the multicast group MAC address includes: and calculating part of bit information in the MAC address of the multicast group to obtain the multicast group identification field.

In a second aspect, a method for waking up is provided, the method including: receiving a wake-up frame, wherein the wake-up frame comprises a multicast group identification field, the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group Media Access Control (MAC) address, and the multicast group identification field is used for indicating a multicast group needing to be woken up; based on the multicast group identification field, it is determined whether to perform a wakeup.

In the wake-up method provided in the second aspect, the multicast group identification field in the wake-up frame is obtained according to the multicast group MAC address, that is, the existing multicast group MAC address is intercepted or a part of bits in the multicast group MAC address frame is calculated, so that when a station is woup, the station can be woup in units of multicast groups. And the existing multicast mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted to obtain the multicast group identification, a new protocol is not required to be introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. The energy-saving effect can be further improved, the signaling overhead is saved, and the awakening efficiency is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the wake-up frame further includes an intra-group identification field, where the intra-group identification field is used to indicate a station in the multicast group that needs to be woken up.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the wake-up frame further includes an intra-group number field, where the intra-group number field is used to indicate the number of STAs in the multicast group or wake up all STAs in the multicast group.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the wake-up frame further includes a multicast number field, and the group number field is used to indicate the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the wake-up frame further includes a wake-up frame type field, and the wake-up frame type field is used to indicate a type of the wake-up frame.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the within-group identification field includes an within-group identification bitmap field and an within-group identifier list field.

In a third aspect, a method for waking up is provided, where the method includes: generating a wake-up frame, wherein the wake-up frame comprises a multicast group identification field and an in-group indication field, the multicast group identification field is used for indicating a multicast group needing to be woken up, and the in-group indication field is used for indicating a station needing to be woken up in the multicast group; the wakeup frame is sent.

In the wake-up method provided in the third aspect, the wake-up frame generated by the access point includes the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group, so that when a station is woken up, the station can be woken up flexibly by using the multicast group as a unit according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group included in the wake-up frame, and according to the indication field in the group in the wake-up frame, the wake-up of all stations in the multicast group or sub-stations in the multicast group can be realized, the wake-up efficiency is improved, and the signaling overhead is saved.

In a fourth aspect, a wake-up method is provided, where a wake-up frame is received, where the wake-up frame includes a multicast group identifier field and an indication field in a group, the multicast group identifier field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up, and the indication field in the group is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast group; and determining whether to execute awakening or not according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group.

In the wake-up method provided by the fourth aspect, the wake-up frame received by the station includes the multicast group identifier field and the indication field in the group, so that when the station is woup, the station can be woup flexibly in units of multicast groups according to the multicast group identifier field and the indication field in the group included in the wake-up frame, and according to the indication field in the group in the wake-up frame, the wake-up of all stations in the multicast group or sub-stations in the multicast group can be realized, the wake-up efficiency is improved, and the signaling overhead is saved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the determining whether to perform wakeup according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group includes: and when determining that the multicast group identification is the multicast group identification to which the station belongs, and determining to wake up when determining that the station indicated by the indication field in the group is the station.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the intra-group indication field includes an intra-group number field, and the intra-group number field is used to indicate that all stations in the multicast group are woken up or a total number of stations included in the multicast group is reached.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the indication field in the group includes an identification field in the group, and the identification field in the group is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast group.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the within-group identification field includes an within-group identification bitmap or a list of identifiers within a group.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group medium access control MAC address.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the wake-up frame further includes a number-of-multicast-group field, where the number-of-multicast-group field is used to indicate a number of multicast groups that need to be woken up.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the wake-up frame further includes a wake-up frame type field, where the wake-up frame type field is used to indicate a type of the wake-up frame.

In a fifth aspect, an access point is provided, which comprises a processor, a memory and a transceiver, for enabling the access point to perform the corresponding functions of the above method. The processor, the memory and the transceiver are connected through communication, the memory stores instructions, the transceiver is used for executing specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processor, and the processor is used for calling the instructions to implement the wake-up method in the first aspect or the third aspect and various implementation manners thereof.

A sixth aspect provides an access point, which includes a processing module, a storage module, and a transceiver module, and is configured to support the access point to perform the functions of the access point in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the functions of the access point in the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software, where the hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

In a seventh aspect, a station is provided, which comprises a processor, a memory and a transceiver, and is configured to support the station to perform corresponding functions in the foregoing method. The processor, the memory and the transceiver are connected through communication, the memory stores instructions, the transceiver is used for executing specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processor, and the processor is used for calling the instructions to implement the wake-up method in the second aspect or the fourth aspect and various implementation manners thereof.

In an eighth aspect, a station is provided, which includes a processing module, a storage module, and a transceiver module, and is configured to support a terminal device to perform a function of the station in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect, or a function of the station in any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software, where the hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

A ninth aspect provides a communication system comprising the access point of the fifth or sixth aspect and the station of the seventh or eighth aspect. The communication system may implement the wake-up methods provided in the first, second, third and fourth aspects.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, and the method of the third aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the third aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of any of the possible implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect described above, and the method of any of the possible implementations of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect described above.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional terminal device continuously listening to a channel.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a sleep mechanism of a conventional terminal device.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a prior art WUR-utilizing technique.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a wake-up method in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a diagram of grouping STAs according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a diagram of a multicast group MAC address frame format.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of intercepting a multicast group MAC address to obtain a multicast group identifier according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of a configuration frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating the format of three types of wake-up frames provided by an embodiment of the present invention,

fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of a wake-up method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a diagram illustrating wake-up of all STAs in a multicast group according to a wake-up frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating a wake-up of an intra-multicast group STA according to a wake-up frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is a diagram illustrating a plurality of multicast group wakeups according to a wake-up frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 15 is a schematic block diagram of an access point of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 16 is a schematic block diagram of an access point of another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a schematic block diagram of a station of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 18 is a schematic block diagram of a station of another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 19 is a schematic block diagram of an access point of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 20 is a schematic block diagram of an access point of another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 21 is a schematic block diagram of a station of one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 22 is a schematic block diagram of a station of another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present invention, a Station (STA), which may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a mobile terminal (mobile terminal), a terminal device, and the like, may communicate with one or more core network devices via a Radio Access Network (RAN), and for example, the station may include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. It may also include subscriber units, cellular phones (cellular phones), smart phones (smart phones), wireless data cards, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) computers, tablet computers, wireless modems (modem), handheld devices (handset), laptop computers (laptop computers), Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminals, Stations (STAs) in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). Which may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, and a next generation communication system, such as a terminal device in a fifth generation communication (5G) Network or a station in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) Network for future evolution, etc. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

It should also be understood that an Access Point (AP) may also be referred to as a network side device, a base station, or an access network device, the network side device may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, the network device may be an evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a gNB or access point in a fifth Generation mobile communication technology (5-Generation, 5G), a base transceiver station, a transceiver Node, or the like, or a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a future 5G network, or a network side device in a future evolved PLMN system. For example, the network side device may be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, or may be a global system for mobile communication (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or a Base Station (BTS) in CDMA. But also evolved node B (eNB or eNodeB) in the LTE system. Alternatively, the network device may also be a node b (node b) of a third Generation (3rd Generation, 3G) system, and in addition, the network device may also be a relay station or an access point, or a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a network device in a future 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, and the like. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. For convenience of description, in all embodiments of the present invention, the above-mentioned apparatuses providing the MS with a wireless communication function are collectively referred to as an access point.

First, briefly introduce a wake-up radio, which is a new low-power wake-up radio part in addition to the conventional 802.11 transceiver end. The function is that when the 802.11main transceiver module enters deep dormancy, the low-power WUR wakes up to start working. When other stations have wireless frames to send to the stations, the stations can send wake-up frames (wake-up packets) to the WUR first, and after receiving the wake-up packets, the WUR can wake up the main transceiver module to perform normal transceiving of the wireless frames.

In WiFi networks, a considerable portion of the energy of the terminal device is wasted in listening (idle listening) without receiving signals, and the related solutions in the current legacy 802.11 protocol are focused on optimizing the device sleep strategy and using WUR. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional terminal device continuously listening to a channel. As shown in fig. 1, D in fig. 1 represents data (data), i.e. data reception is indicated, and a represents acknowledgement (acknowledgement), i.e. data reception is indicated. In fig. 1, when no data is transmitted or received, the terminal device is still in a data listening/receiving state, which results in an increase in power consumption of the terminal device. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional terminal device sleep mechanism, and in fig. 2, a terminal device may enter a sleep state when there is no data transmission and reception, so as to reduce energy consumption of continuous idle listening. However, when the terminal device is in sleep, it cannot communicate with the AP, and only after the terminal device wakes up, the terminal device can transmit between the AP and the terminal device, which may cause a certain delay (latency). In order to avoid the high delay caused by the sleep mechanism, the terminal device usually wakes up to check whether there is data to be received or not at intervals according to a certain sleep strategy, which, however, reduces the sleep efficiency of the terminal device (waking up at intervals but not having useful data to be received or transmitted, consumes more energy than long-time sleep).

In addition to optimizing sleep strategies, another technical approach to reducing idle boosting energy waste for terminal devices is to use WURs. The core idea is that the receiving end device includes a WUR part in addition to the conventional 802.11 transceiver end, as shown in fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a conventional WUR technique, and as shown in fig. 3, when an 802.11 host transceiver module of a receiving end (e.g., STA) enters deep sleep, a low-power WUR wakes up to start operating. If a transmitting terminal (such as an AP) needs to communicate with equipment with a WUR and an 802.11 host transceiver module, the AP firstly sends a WUR awakening frame (awakening packet) to the WUR, after the WUR correctly receives the awakening frame sent to the AP, the 802.11 host transceiver module of the awakening STA is awakened, then the AP goes to sleep, and then the AP communicates with the awakening 802.11 host transceiver module. The wake-up radio is sometimes referred to as a wake-up receiver because the WUR circuit is relatively simple in design and typically includes only a portion of the receiver. When the 802.11 host transceiver module and the AP are communicated, the sleep mode is entered, and meanwhile the WUR wakes up to start to listen whether the WUP sent to the WUP is available or not, so that the 802.11 host transceiver module is awakened. The technology adopts the WUR with low power consumption to replace an 802.11 host transceiver module to monitor a channel when the medium is idle, and can effectively reduce the energy waste of equipment in idle triggering.

In order to achieve low power consumption, the WUR needs to have a simpler circuit structure, a simpler structural design of a wake-up frame (e.g., WUP), and the like. For example, a WUR circuit structure may only include an energy detect (energy detect) and a Radio Frequency (RF) part, and thus cannot demodulate some complex modulation schemes. For this purpose, WUP may employ an on-off keying (OOK) modulation scheme that implements simplicity.

The low power WUR technology proposes adding a low power, low cost receiver to the existing 802.11 product, but without the capability to transmit. The receiver can listen to the signal when the main transceiver module is closed, and exit the power saving mode and open the main transceiver module once receiving the wake-up signaling sent to the receiver. With the increasing diversification of mobile applications and the continuous improvement of transmission speed, the reduction of energy consumption is always one of the important technical targets of the future wireless network. However, how to wake up a node in real time after power saving, for example, how to wake up a node having urgent and real-time service requirements in real time after power saving, becomes a challenge to be solved.

This is more common because WUR may need to support a large number of nodes, especially in the internet of things (IoT) scenario. And the 802.11 host transceiver module of a certain STA can only be woken up by the WUR of the STA, and for a scene that a large number of terminal devices need to be woken up, a wake-up packet needs to be sent to each STA, which wastes a large amount of resources, and has high signaling overhead and low wake-up efficiency. Therefore, in order to improve the wake-up efficiency, the STAs are often grouped (waking) and then wake-up for the group. However, since WUR is a small feature, the 802.11 protocol is complicated if a new STA grouping mechanism is specifically introduced for it. On the other hand, in many cases STAs in a group do not necessarily need to be woken up at the same time, which makes the power saving mechanism much less effective.

In view of the above problems, embodiments of the present invention provide a wake-up method, which can perform packet wake-up when a large number of terminal devices need to be woken up, and does not need to send a wake-up packet to each terminal device, so that the energy saving effect can be further improved.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 4, the present invention is mainly applied to a wireless local area network, and a system architecture or a scenario thereof includes a process in which at least one AP and at least one STA perform wireless communication, and may also be extended to a scenario in which wireless communication is performed between a network device and a terminal device. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is only illustrated by taking the application scenario shown in fig. 4 as an example, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, for example, the system may include more APs and STAs, or an AP may perform communication between each STA, and the like.

The wake-up method provided in the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 5, where fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a wake-up method 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the method 100 may be applied to the scenario shown in fig. 4, and of course, may also be applied to other communication scenarios. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 5, the wake-up method 100 includes:

s110, the access point generates a wake-up frame, where the wake-up frame includes a multicast group identifier field, the multicast group identifier field is obtained from a multicast group MAC address, and the multicast group identifier field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up.

S120, the access point sends the wakeup frame to the station. Accordingly, the station receives the wakeup frame.

S130, the station determines whether to perform wakeup based on the multicast group identification field in the wakeup frame.

Specifically, when the system groups STAs before the Access point transmits the wakeup frame, the STA includes an 802.11 host transceiver module and a WUR, and for example, an existing multicast group Media Access Control (multicast group MAC) address in 802.11 (802.3) may be used as an implementation manner for grouping STAs. The grouping of STAs may be as shown in fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of grouping STAs according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, STAs with similar power saving rules may be assigned the same multicast address during association (association), for example, group 1(group1) in fig. 6. STAs with the same traffic are assigned the same multicast group at association, e.g., group 2(group2) in fig. 6. STAs with the same terminal device type are assigned the same multicast group at association, e.g., group 3(group3) in fig. 6.

It should be understood that, when grouping the STAs, the STAs may be grouped according to any other rule or manner, in addition to the existing multicast group MAC address as the implementation manner for grouping the STAs, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

After grouping the STAs, in S110, the AP generates a wakeup frame, where the wakeup frame includes a multicast group identification (group ID) field, where the multicast group identification field is obtained by intercepting a multicast group MAC address frame, and the multicast group identification field is used to indicate a multicast group to be woken, that is, a group address of a terminal device group to be woken, and the multicast group includes multiple STAs. For example, the Group IDs of the three multicast groups in fig. 6 may be considered as Group1, Group2, and Group3, respectively. I.e. three multicast groups are respectively identified as 1, 2, and 3, and each multicast group includes a plurality of STAs, for example, fig. 6 includes three STAs in each multicast group.

In S120, the AP transmits the wakeup frame to the STA. Accordingly, the STA receives the wakeup frame.

In S130, the STA determines whether to perform wakeup based on the multicast group identification field in the wakeup frame.

Specifically, after the STA receives the wakeup frame, the STA includes the 802.11 host and the WUR, and the wakeup frame includes the multicast group identification field, the STA may determine whether to perform wakeup based on the multicast group identification field in the wakeup frame. As the corresponding Group ID is allocated to the STA before, the STA can be matched with the Group ID in the wake-up frame according to the Group ID of the STA, and when the matching is successful and the STA is confirmed to belong to the target wake-up Group, the main transceiver module of the STA is woken up through the WUR included by the STA, so that the STA can communicate with the network equipment.

In the wake-up method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the multicast group identifier field in the wake-up frame is obtained from the existing multicast group MAC address, that is, the multicast group identifier field in the wake-up frame is obtained by intercepting the existing multicast group MAC address or performing operation on a part of bits in the multicast group MAC address frame, so that when a station is woken up, the station can be woken up by using the multicast group as a unit, and the existing multicast mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted to obtain the multicast group identifier, so that a new protocol is not introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. The energy-saving effect can be further improved, the signaling overhead is saved, and the awakening efficiency is improved.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the multicast group identification field is obtained by intercepting part of bit information in the multicast group MAC address.

Specifically, the multicast group MAC address is specified in IEEE 802.3, and the frame format thereof is as shown in fig. 7. In fig. 7, the multicast group MAC address frame is 48 bits (bit), where a single address/group address (I/G) field has 0 to identify the address of a single device (i.e., unicast), and 1 to identify the group address containing no device, more than 1 device, or all devices (i.e., multicast). A global/local address (U/L) field identifies whether a local or global address is present. The I/G domain is 1bit, the U/L domain is 1bit, the rest 46bit multicast group addresses are configured by users, and can be activated (active) multicast addresses or inactivated (inactive) multicast addresses, and the standard does not specify a flow. The multicast group MAC address may be configured by a user, may be allocated through a high-level signaling, or may be allocated in a network card driver.

Since the multicast group MAC address is 48 bits, the length is too long to be directly used for group ID. Therefore, the multicast group identification (group ID) can be obtained by intercepting the multicast group MAC address frame. Or the multicast group identification field can be obtained by operating partial bit information in the multicast group MAC address.

Specifically, one of the schemes for obtaining the multicast group identification is to intercept some bits of the 46-bit address of the multicast group MAC address frame as a group ID. The AP and the STA may map the multicast group MAC address to a group ID according to the same algorithm, that is, generate a group ID according to the multicast group MAC address. Another scheme is to intercept some bits in the 46-bit address of the multicast group MAC address, and then perform a specific and operation on the intercepted bits as a group ID. Similar other schemes may intercept several bits of the multicast group MAC address, and then perform a specific remainder operation on the intercepted several bits to serve as a group ID, etc. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of intercepting a multicast group MAC address to obtain a multicast group identifier according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, some bits of 46 bits in the multicast group MAC address may be intercepted to obtain a group ID field, where the group ID field is K bits, and may include an I/G domain and a U/L domain in a multi-multicast group MAC address, or may not include a U/L domain in the multicast group MAC address. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

It should be understood that fig. 8 is only a specific example of obtaining the group ID by intercepting the multicast group MAC address, and does not limit the embodiment of the present invention at all, for example, the group ID may also be obtained according to the multicast group MAC address by other manners, such as other interception manners or post-interception operation manners. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the multicast group identification field is obtained by intercepting from the last bit of the multicast group MAC address frame.

Specifically, since the group ID is obtained by truncating the multicast group MAC address, part of the bit information of the multicast group MAC address frame may be truncated as the group ID from the last bit of the multicast group MAC address to the front, for example, the length of K bits may be truncated from the rightmost bit, i.e., the last bit of the multicast group MAC address shown in fig. 7 to the left as the group ID field, so that the group ID may be obtained by using the least length of bits, and further signaling overhead may be saved.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, a part of bits of a multicast group MAC address frame may be intercepted as a group ID in a manner of intercepting from bits of a start end of a multicast group MAC address backward, or a part of bits may be obtained as a group ID by intercepting from any bit in a frame format of a multicast group MAC address. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the wake-up frame further includes an intra-group identification field, where the intra-group identification field is used to indicate a station to be woken up in the multicast group.

Specifically, when not all STAs in the multicast Group need to wake up, the wake-up frame further includes an Intra-Group identification (Intra-Group-ID) field indicating a station in the multicast Group that needs to wake up. When the STA is correctly matched with the multicast group indicated by the multicast group identifier, the STA in the multicast group also needs to be matched. Namely, whether the STA indicated by the identification field in the group is determined, and the wakeup operation is executed after the STA indicated by the identification field in the group is determined. For example, assume that Group ID is 2, i.e., it is required to wake up STAs in Group2, and the wake-up frame further includes Intra-Group-ID, which includes A, B and C, i.e., it is required to wake up three STAs with addresses (identities) of A, B and C in Group2, according to the Intra-Group-ID field, to implement the wake-up function of the Intra-Group partial STAs.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the Intra-Group-ID may be an Intra-Group identification Bitmap (Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap), and the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap is a Bitmap corresponding table that is pre-established when the STAs are grouped, that is, the ID of each STA corresponds to one bit. Each bit indicates a kind of information. For example, the IDs of the three STAs are A, B, C, and the corresponding bits are 1, and 0, respectively. It can be predefined that a bit of 1 indicates wake-up and a bit of 0 indicates no wake-up, or that a bit of 0 indicates wake-up and a bit of 1 indicates no wake-up. When the STA is correctly matched with the Group ID, the Intra-Group-ID is continuously matched, namely the bit corresponding to the ID of the STA is determined, and the main transceiver module can be awakened or not awakened according to the information indicated by the bit.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the Intra-Group-ID may be an identifier list in the Group, that is, the Intra-Group-ID may be a name or an identifier of an STA that needs to be woken up in the multicast Group indicated by the multicast Group identification field, that is, different STAs are distinguished by using different names, when an STA is correctly matched with a Group ID, the Intra-Group-ID is continuously matched, and when it is determined that the own identifier or name is included in the identifier list in the Group, the primary transceiver module is woken up.

It should be understood that the Intra-Group-ID may be of other types or forms as long as the function of waking up the Intra-Group partial STAs can be achieved, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited herein.

It should also be appreciated that in addition to obtaining the group ID by intercepting the multicast group MAC address as described above, the AP may also configure the STA with a group ID. Specifically, the AP may configure the group ID and/or Intra-group-ID by operating as follows. In the case of existing Group-IDs, the AP may assign Intra-Group-IDs to STAs, or delete and reassign Group-IDs. The operation mode of the AP configuring the address for the STA may be divided into the following cases:

case 1: the AP modifies the Group-ID already existing. At this time, the Intra-Group-ID field is optional.

Case 2: the AP assigns an Intra-Group-ID to the STA, already having a Group-ID.

Case 3: having the Group-ID, the AP modifies the Group-ID and assigns an Intra-Group-ID to the STA.

Case 4: without the Group-ID, the AP assigns the Group-ID to the STA.

Case 5: without a Group-ID, the AP assigns a Group-ID to the STA and assigns an Intra-Group-ID.

Case 6: the AP deletes the Group-ID.

Case 7: the AP deletes the Intra-Group-ID.

Case 8: the AP deletes the Group-ID and the Intra-Group-ID.

It should be appreciated that the AP may configure the Group-ID and/or Intra-Group-ID for the STA through other operation modes in addition to the several operation modes of the AP described above. The existing Group-ID may be obtained from the multicast Group MAC address. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

It should be further understood that, for the case that the AP configures the Group-ID and/or Intra-Group-ID for the STA, the AP needs to send a configuration (Group configuration) frame to the STA to notify the Group-ID and/or Intra-Group-ID information associated with the STA, so that, when the STA subsequently sends a wake-up frame, the STA may match the Group-ID and/or Intra-Group-ID information configured for itself by the AP with the Group-ID and/or Intra-Group-ID in the wake-up frame, and determine whether to perform the wake-up according to the matching result.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of a configuration frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 9, the configuration frame includes a wakeup Group Type (WU-Group-Type) field, a multicast Group identification (Group-ID) field, and an Intra-Group identification (Intra-Group-ID) field. The WU-Group-Type field is used to indicate the manner in which the AP operates on the Group-ID and/or Intra-Group-ID. For example, the WU-Group-Type field has a setting of 00 indicating that the AP allocates an Intra-Group-ID to the STA, a setting of 01 indicating that the AP allocates a Group-ID and an Intra-Group-ID to the STA, a setting of 11 indicating that the AP deletes the Group-ID and the Intra-Group-ID allocated to the STA, and a setting of 10 indicating that the AP modifies the Intra-Group-ID.

It should be understood that fig. 9 is only a specific example of the configuration frame format according to the embodiment of the present invention, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, for example, the configuration frame may include IDs of STAs, may not include an Intra-Group-ID field, and the like, and the WU-Group-Type field also indicates, by using other numbers, how the AP operates differently on the Group-ID and/or the Intra-Group-ID, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

After the AP sends the configuration frame to the STA, the STA replies confirmation information after correctly receiving the configuration frame, and because the STA is configured with the Group-ID and/or the Intra-Group-ID, the AP can send the wakeup frame, and the STA executes subsequent operation according to the Group-ID and/or the Intra-Group-ID included in the wakeup frame.

The awakening method provided by the embodiment of the invention acquires the multicast group identifier by intercepting part of bit information in the MAC address of the multicast group as the multicast group identifier field, namely, the existing multicast group mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted, a new protocol is not required to be introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. In addition, the wake-up frame also comprises an in-group identification field, so that the wake-up of all STAs in the group or part of STAs in the group can be realized, the energy-saving efficiency is improved, and the signaling overhead is saved.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the wake-up frame further includes an intra-group number field, where the intra-group number field is used to indicate the number of STAs in the multicast group or wake up all STAs in the multicast group.

Specifically, the wakeup frame may further include an Intra-Group-Num field for indicating the number of STAs included in the multicast Group that need to be woken up or for indicating to wake up all STAs in the multicast Group. For example, for the multicast Group2 with Group ID of 2, there are 4 STAs in the Group2, i.e. the Intra-Group2-Num may be 4, or when the Intra-Group2-Num is 0, it means that all STAs in the Group2 are woken up. The STA also needs to determine whether to perform wakeup according to the information indicated by the Intra-Group-Num field.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the wake-up frame further includes a multicast number field, where the group number field is used to indicate the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up.

Specifically, the wake-up frame may further include a Group number (Group-Num) field for indicating the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up. For example, when the Group-Num is 2, it indicates that the number of multicast groups to be woken up is 2. Or when the Group-Num is 4, it indicates that the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up is 4, that is, 4 multicast groups need to be woken up, and each multicast Group corresponds to a different Group address.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the wake-up frame further includes a wake-up type field, where the wake-up type field is used to indicate a type of the wake-up frame.

Specifically, the wakeup frame may further include a wakeup frame Type (WU-Type) field for indicating a Type of the wakeup frame, that is, indicating that the wakeup frame is a multicast Type, and the STAs are grouped and then woken up in units of multicast groups. Rather than waking up in units of each STA.

It should be understood that the wakeup frame Type field may also indicate a broadcast Type wakeup frame or a unicast Type wakeup frame, and when the WU-Type field indicates a broadcast Type wakeup frame, the broadcast Type wakeup frame may include only a wakeup frame Type field, i.e., indicating that all STAs are awake. When the WU-Type field indicates the unicast Type wakeup frame, the unicast Type wakeup frame may include only the wakeup frame Type field and the ID of the target STA, i.e., indicating that a single STA is to be woken up, and when the target STA receives the unicast Type wakeup frame, a wakeup operation is performed.

It is also understood that the WU-Type field may represent different types of wake-up frames with different numbers, for example, a wake-up frame indicating a broadcast Type may be set when the WU-Type field is 0, a wake-up frame indicating a unicast Type may be set when the WU-Type field is 1, and a wake-up frame indicating a multicast Type may be set when the WU-Type field is 2. Or the WU-Type field may be set with other different numbers to indicate different types of wake-up frames.

Fig. 10 is a schematic format diagram of three types of wake-up frames according to an embodiment of the present invention, and in fig. 10, the WU-Type fields are 0, 1, and 2, which correspond to the broadcast, unicast, and multicast types of wake-up frames, respectively. For the multicast type wake-up frame, as shown in fig. 10, a multicast number field, a multicast group identification field, a number-in-group field, and an identification bitmap field in the group may be included. The broadcast type wake-up frame may include only a wake-up frame type field. The unicast type wakeup frame may include only the wakeup frame type field and the ID of the STA, i.e., indicating that a single STA is awake.

It should be understood that fig. 10 is only an example of the frame format of the wake-up frame provided by the embodiment of the present invention, and should not impose any limitation on the frame format of the wake-up frame provided by the embodiment of the present invention. For example, for the multicast type wake-up frame in fig. 10, the number of multicasts field and/or the number within group field may not be included. The WU-Type field may also indicate the Type-unused wakeup frame by other numbers. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

The awakening method provided by the embodiment of the invention intercepts the existing multicast group MAC address in the 802.11 protocol to obtain the multicast group identifier, does not need to introduce a new protocol, and has small protocol increment and low cost. The awakening frame also comprises an in-group identification field, and according to the information indicated by different fields of the awakening frame, awakening of all sites in the multicast group and/or sub-sites in the multicast group can be realized, so that the energy-saving effect can be further improved, the awakening efficiency is improved, and the signaling overhead is saved.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a method 200 for waking up, where the method 200 may be applied to the scenario shown in fig. 4, and of course, may also be applied to other communication scenarios. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 11, the method 200 includes:

s210, the access point generates a wake-up frame, the wake-up frame includes a multicast group identification field and an indication field in the group, the multicast group identification field is used for indicating a multicast group which needs to be woken up, and the indication field in the group is used for indicating a station which needs to be woken up in the multicast group.

S220, the access point sends the wakeup frame. Accordingly, the station receives the wakeup frame.

S230, the station determines whether to execute the awakening according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group.

Specifically, before the access point sends the wakeup frame, the system groups STAs, which include an 802.11 host transceiver module and a WUR, and the grouping manner of the STAs may be as shown in fig. 6. For example. STAs with similar power saving rules may be assigned the same multicast group address at the time of association (association), such as group 1(group1) in fig. 6. STAs with the same traffic are assigned the same multicast group at association, such as group 2(group2) in fig. 6. STAs with the same terminal device type are assigned the same multicast group at association, such as group 3(group3) in fig. 6.

It should be understood that, when grouping the STAs, the existing multicast group MAC address in 802.11 (continuing to use 802.3) may be used as an implementation manner for grouping the STAs, or the STAs may be grouped according to any other rule or manner, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

After grouping the STAs, in S210, the AP generates a wake-up frame, where the wake-up frame includes a multicast Group identification (Group ID) field and an indication field in a Group, the multicast Group identification field is used to indicate a multicast Group that needs to be woken up, and the indication field in the Group is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast Group. For example, the Group IDs of the three STA groups in fig. 6 may be considered as Group1, Group2, and Group3, respectively. That is, the group addresses of the three multicast groups are 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and each multicast group includes a plurality of STAs, for example, each multicast group includes three STAs in fig. 6. For three STAs included in the multicast Group identified as Group1, it is assumed that IDs of the three STAs are a, b, and c, respectively, and the in-Group indication field is used to indicate the IDs of the three STAs. That is, it indicates that three STAs with IDs a, b, and c in the multicast Group that need to wake up Group1 are required.

At S220, the AP transmits the wakeup frame. Accordingly, the STA receives the wakeup frame.

And S230, the STA determines whether to wake up according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group.

Specifically, after receiving the wakeup frame, the STA includes an 802.11 host transceiver module and a WUR, the wakeup frame includes a Group ID field and an indication field in the Group, because the STA has been allocated with a corresponding Group ID before, the STA can match the Group ID in the wakeup frame according to its Group ID, after matching successfully, it is determined that it is the STA belonging to the target wakeup Group, and then continue to match the indication field in the Group, and when it is determined that it is the STA indicated by the indication field in the Group, the STA can wake up the host transceiver module of the STA through the WUR included in the STA, so that the STA can communicate with the network device.

According to the awakening method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group of the station are obtained by grouping the stations, so that when the station is awakened, the awakening can be flexibly performed by taking the multicast group as a unit according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group included by the awakening frame, and the awakening of all stations in the multicast group or the sub-stations in the multicast group can be realized according to the indication field in the group in the awakening frame, thereby improving the awakening efficiency and saving the signaling overhead.

Optionally, as an embodiment, determining whether to perform wakeup according to the multicast group identifier field and the indication field in the group includes:

and when determining that the multicast group identification is the multicast group identification to which the station belongs, and determining to wake up when determining that the station indicated by the indication field in the group is the station.

Specifically, the multicast group identification field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up, and the in-group indication field is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast group identified by the multicast group identification field. After receiving the wake-up frame, the STA includes an 802.11 host transceiver module and a WUR, and first, the STA may match the Group ID in the wake-up frame according to the Group ID of the STA, and when the matching is successful, that is, when it is determined that the multicast Group identifier is the multicast Group identifier to which the STA belongs, it is determined that the STA belongs to the target wake-up Group. And then continuing to match the indication field in the group, and when the STA indicated by the indication field in the group is confirmed to be the STA, namely the STA is confirmed to be the target awakening STA, awakening the host transceiver module through the WUR included in the STA, so that the STA can communicate with the network equipment.

When the STA determines that the multicast group identification is different from the multicast group identification to which the STA belongs, the indication field in the group is not matched continuously, and the STA continues to sleep. Or, when the STA determines that the multicast group identifier is the same as the multicast group identifier to which the STA belongs, the STA continues to match the indication field in the group, and determines that the STA is not the STA indicated by the indication field in the group, the STA may also continue to sleep.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the indication field in the group includes an identification field in the group, and the identification field in the group is used to indicate a station in the multicast group that needs to be woken up.

Specifically, the Intra-Group indication field includes an Intra-Group identification (Intra-Group-ID) field for indicating a station within the multicast Group that needs to be woken up. When the STA is correctly matched with the multicast group indicated by the multicast group identifier, the STA in the multicast group also needs to be matched. Namely, whether the STA indicated by the identification field in the group is determined, and the wakeup operation is executed after the STA indicated by the identification field in the group is determined. For example, assume that Group ID is 2, i.e., it is required to wake up STAs in Group2, and the wake-up frame further includes Intra-Group-ID, which includes A, B and C, i.e., it is required to wake up three STAs in Group2 with addresses (identification) of A, B and C, so as to implement the wake-up function of the Intra-Group partial STAs.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the Intra-Group-ID may be an identifier list in the Group, that is, the Intra-Group-ID may be a name or an identifier of an STA that needs to be woken up in the multicast Group indicated by the multicast Group identification field, that is, different STAs are distinguished by using different names, when an STA is correctly matched with a Group ID, the Intra-Group-ID continues to be matched, and when it is determined that its own identifier or name is included in the identifier list in the Group, the primary transceiver module is woken up.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the intra-group indication field includes a number-in-group field, and the number-in-group field is used to indicate that all the stations in the multicast group are woken up or the total number of stations included in the multicast group is total.

Specifically, the Intra-Group indication field may further include an Intra-Group-Num (Intra-Group-Num) field for indicating the number of STAs included in the multicast Group that need to be woken up or for indicating that all STAs in the multicast Group are woken up. For example, for the multicast Group2 with Group ID of 2, there are 4 STAs in the Group2, i.e. the Intra-Group2-Num may be 4, or when the Intra-Group2-Num is 0, it means that all STAs in the Group2 are woken up. The STA may determine whether to perform a wakeup according to information indicated by the Intra-Group-Num field.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the wake-up frame further includes a number-of-multicast-group field, where the number-of-multicast-group field is used to indicate the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up.

Specifically, the wake-up frame may further include a Group-Num (multicast Group number) field for indicating the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up. For example, when the Group-Num is 2, it indicates that the number of multicast groups to be woken up is 2. Or when the Group-Num is 4, it indicates that the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up is 4, that is, 4 multicast groups need to be woken up, and each multicast Group corresponds to a different Group address.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the wake-up frame further includes a wake-up frame type field, where the wake-up frame type field is used to indicate a type of the wake-up frame.

Specifically, the wakeup frame may further include a wakeup frame Type (WU-Type) field for indicating a Type of the wakeup frame, that is, indicating that the wakeup frame is a multicast Type, that is, grouping the STAs and then waking up in units of groups. Rather than waking up in units of each STA.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group medium access control MAC address.

Specifically, IEEE 802.3 specifies a multicast group MAC address, which is 48 bits long and unsuitable for direct use in group ID. Therefore, a multicast group identification (group ID) may be obtained by intercepting a multicast group MAC address frame. Or the multicast group identification field can be obtained by operating partial bit information in the multicast group MAC address. The specific interception process is similar to that of the method 100, and therefore, for brevity, will not be described again.

It should be appreciated that in addition to obtaining the group ID through multicast group MAC address interception as described above, the AP may also configure the STA with the group ID. The specific processes are similar to those of the method 100 and will not be described herein for brevity.

It should also be understood that the multicast group identification field may be obtained by truncation starting from the last bit of the multicast group MAC address frame. The specific processes are similar to those of the method 100 and will not be described herein for brevity.

It should also be understood that, in the embodiments of the present invention, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and the inherent logic, and should not impose any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating that all STAs in a multicast Group are woken up according to a wake-up frame according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the wake-up frame includes a wake-up frame Type (WU-Type) field, a multicast Group number (Group-Num) field, a multicast Group identification (Group ID) field, and an Intra-Group number (Intra-Group-Num) field, where the WU-Type field is 2 to indicate a wake-up frame of a multicast Type, the Group-Num field is 1 to indicate that only one multicast Group needs to be woken up, the Group ID is 2 to indicate that an address of a multicast Group to be woken up is 2, and the Intra-Group-Num field is 0 to indicate that the Group ID is 2 to indicate that all STAs in the multicast Group need to be woken up. For example, after receiving the wakeup frame, three STAs receive the wakeup frame, and after receiving the wakeup frame, the STA1 matches the Group ID of the STA with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, and finds that the Group ID of the STA is different from the Group ID in the wakeup frame, that is, the matching is unsuccessful, then the STA1 continues to sleep. After receiving the wakeup frame, STA2 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, finds that its Group ID is the same as the Group ID in the wakeup frame, and if the Intra-Group-Num field is 0, then STA2 executes the wakeup operation. After receiving the wakeup frame, STA3 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, finds that its Group ID is the same as the Group ID in the wakeup frame, and if the Intra-Group-Num field is 0, then STA3 also performs the wakeup operation.

It should be understood that fig. 12 is only an example of the wake-up of all STAs in the multicast Group according to the embodiment of the present invention, and should not impose any limitation on the embodiment of the present invention, for example, the wake-up frame may not include the WU-Type field and/or the Group-Num field, and more STAs may receive the wake-up frame. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

The method for waking up provided by the embodiment of the present invention can wake up in units of multicast groups by grouping the STAs, that is, when the STAs in the same multicast group need to be woken up, a wake-up frame may include only a group address field of the multicast group, that is, a multicast group identification field, and the STA wakes up in units of multicast groups according to the multicast group identification field, so that energy consumption can be further saved, wake-up efficiency can be improved, and signaling overhead can be saved.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating that a part of STAs in a multicast Group are woken up according to a wake-up frame according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the wake-up frame includes a wake-up frame Type (WU-Type) field, a multicast Group number (Group-Num) field, a multicast Group identification (Group ID) field, an Intra-Group number (Intra-Group-Num) field, and an Intra-Group identification Bitmap (Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap) field, where the WU-Type field is 2 to indicate a wake-up frame of a multicast Type, the Group-Num field is 1 to indicate that only one STA Group needs to be woken up, the Group ID is 2 to indicate that an address of the multicast Group to be woken up is 2, and the Intra-Group-Num field is 4 to indicate that the Group ID is 2 to indicate that the multicast Group includes 4 multicast STAs with the Group ID of 2. The Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field is 0111, and indicates the Bitmap correspondence of 4 STAs in the multicast Group with Group ID of 2. Suppose 1 indicates awake, 0 indicates not awake, and according to the predefined bitmap correspondence table, it is assumed that IDs of four STAs in the Group2 Group are a, b, c, and d, respectively, and according to the bitmap correspondence table, bits corresponding to the four STAs with IDs a, b, c, and d are 0, 1, and 1, respectively. Assuming that three STAs receive the wakeup frame, after receiving the wakeup frame, the STA1 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, and finds that its Group ID is different from the Group ID in the wakeup frame, i.e., the matching is unsuccessful, then the STA1 continues to sleep. After receiving the wakeup frame, STA2 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, finds that its Group ID is the same as the Group ID in the wakeup frame, and continues to match the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field with its bit, assuming that the ID of STA2 is a, and if the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field with its bit 0 indicates that it is not awake, then STA2 continues to sleep. After receiving the wakeup frame, STA3 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, finds that its Group ID is the same as the Group ID in the wakeup frame, and continues to match the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field with its bit, assuming that the ID of STA3 is b, finds that the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field with its

bit

1, and 1 indicates wakeup, then STA3 performs wakeup operation.

It should be understood that fig. 13 is only an example of the intra-multicast Group part STA wakeup according to the embodiment of the present invention, and should not impose any limitation on the embodiment of the present invention, for example, the wakeup frame may not include the WU-Type field and/or the Group-Num field, and the like, and more STAs may receive the wakeup frame. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating that multiple multicast groups are woken according to a wake-up frame according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 14, the wake-up frame includes a wake-up frame Type (WU-Type) field, a multicast Group number (Group-Num) field, a multicast Group identification (Group ID) field, an Intra-Group number (Intra-Group-Num) field, and an Intra-Group identification Bitmap (Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap) field. The WU-Type field is 2 to indicate a multicast Type wake-up frame, the Group-Num field is 2 to indicate that 2 multicast groups need to be woken up, the Group ID is 1 to indicate the address of a first multicast Group needing to be woken up, the Intra-Group-Num field is 4 to indicate that 4 STAs are included in the multicast Group with the Group ID of 1, and the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field is 0111 to indicate the Bitmap corresponding relation of the 4 STAs in the multicast Group with the Group ID of 1. According to the predefined bitmap correspondence table, it is assumed that IDs of four STAs in the Group1 Group are a, b, c, and d, respectively, and according to the bitmap correspondence table, corresponding bits of the four STAs with IDs a, b, c, and d are 0, 1, and 1, respectively. A Group ID of 2 indicates the address of the second multicast Group to be woken up, and an Intra-Group-Num field of 0 indicates that all STAs in the multicast Group with a Group ID of 2 need to be woken up. According to the predefined Bitmap correspondence table, it is assumed that 1 in the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field indicates wake-up and 0 indicates no wake-up. Assuming that 4 STAs receive the wakeup frame, after receiving the wakeup frame, the STA1 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, and finds that its Group ID is different from the two Group IDs in the wakeup frame, i.e., the matching is unsuccessful, then the STA1 continues to sleep. After receiving the wakeup frame, the STA2 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, finds that its Group ID is the same as the multicast Group whose Group ID in the wakeup frame is 2, and if the Intra-Group-Num field is 0, the STA2 executes the wakeup operation. After receiving the wakeup frame, STA3 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, finds that its Group ID is the same as the multicast Group whose Group ID in the wakeup frame is 1, and continues to match the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field with its bit, assuming that the ID of STA3 is a and that the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field with its bit is 0, STA3 continues to sleep. After receiving the wakeup frame, STA4 matches its Group ID with the Group ID in the wakeup frame, finds that its Group ID is the same as the multicast Group whose Group ID in the wakeup frame is 1, continues to match the Intra-Group-ID-Bitmap field with its bit, and assumes that ID of STA4 is b and finds that its bit is 1, STA4 executes the wakeup operation.

It should be understood that fig. 14 is only an example of the multiple multicast Group wake-up according to the embodiment of the present invention, and should not impose any limitation on the embodiment of the present invention, for example, the Group-Num field may be 4 or other numbers, that is, more multicast groups need to be woken, and the multicast Group with Group ID of 2 may also be an intra-Group wake-up. The wakeup frame may not include a WU-Type field, etc., and more STAs may receive the wakeup frame. The embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

According to the awakening method provided by the embodiment of the invention, according to different formats of the awakening frame, awakening of all sites in the multicast group and/or sub-sites in the multicast group can be realized, so that the energy-saving effect can be further improved, the awakening efficiency is improved, and the signaling overhead is saved.

The wake-up method according to the embodiment of the present invention is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 14, and the access point and the station according to the embodiment of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to fig. 15 to 22.

Fig. 15 is a schematic block diagram of an access point of one embodiment of the present invention. It is to be understood that the access point embodiments correspond to the method embodiments and similar descriptions may refer to the method embodiments and that the access point 300 shown in fig. 15 may be used to perform steps corresponding to those performed by the access point in fig. 5. The access point 300 includes: the device comprises a processor 310, a memory 320 and a transceiver 330, wherein the processor 310, the memory 320 and the transceiver 330 are connected in a communication mode, the memory 320 stores instructions, the processor 310 is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory 320, and the transceiver 330 is used for executing specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processor 310.

The processor 310 is configured to generate a wakeup frame, where the wakeup frame includes a multicast group identification field, where the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group MAC address, and the multicast group identification field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up.

The transceiver 330 is configured to transmit the wakeup frame.

The access point provided by the embodiment of the invention generates the wake-up frame including the multicast group identification field, wherein the wake-up frame includes the multicast group identification field obtained from the existing multicast group MAC address, that is, the multicast group identification field in the wake-up frame is obtained by intercepting the existing multicast group MAC address or performing operation on part of bits in the multicast group MAC address frame, so that when the station is woken up, the station can be woken up by taking the multicast group as a unit. And the existing multicast mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted to obtain the multicast group identification, a new protocol is not required to be introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. The energy-saving effect can be further improved, the signaling overhead is saved, and the awakening efficiency is improved.

The various components of the access point 300 communicate control and/or data signals with each other via the communication links, i.e., the processor 310, the memory 320, and the transceiver 330, via the internal connection paths. The above method embodiments of the present application may be applied to a processor, or the processor may implement the steps of the above method embodiments. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), or a combination of a CPU and an NP, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware component. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in this application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in this application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the processor 310 is further configured to: and intercepting part of bit information in the MAC address of the multicast group as the multicast group identification field.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the processor is further configured to: and calculating part of bit information in the MAC address of the multicast group to obtain the multicast group identification field.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the wake-up frame further includes an intra-group identification field, where the intra-group identification field is used to indicate a station to be woken up in the multicast group.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the wakeup frame further includes an intra-group number field, where the intra-group number field is used to indicate the number of STAs in the multicast group or to wake up all STAs in the multicast group.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the wake-up frame further includes a multicast number field, where the group number field is used to indicate the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the wake-up frame further includes a wake-up frame type field, and the wake-up frame type field is used to indicate the type of the wake-up frame.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the within-group identification field includes an within-group identification bitmap field and an within-group identifier list field.

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 310 may be implemented by a processing module, the memory 320 may be implemented by a storage module, and the transceiver 330 may be implemented by a transceiver module, as shown in fig. 16, and the access point 400 may include a processing module 410, a storage module 420, and a transceiver module 430.

The access point 300 shown in fig. 15 or the access point 400 shown in fig. 16 can implement the aforementioned steps performed by the access point in fig. 5, and are not described herein again to avoid repetition.

Fig. 17 shows a schematic block diagram of a station 500 according to an embodiment of the invention. It should be understood that the station embodiment corresponds to the method embodiment, and similar descriptions may be made with reference to the method embodiment, as shown in fig. 17, the station 500 including: a processor 510, a memory 520 and a transceiver 530, the processor 510, the memory 520 and the transceiver 530 are connected by communication, the memory 520 stores instructions, the processor 510 is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory 520, and the transceiver 530 is used for executing specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processor 510.

The transceiver 530 is configured to receive a wakeup frame, where the wakeup frame includes a multicast group identifier field, the multicast group identifier field is obtained from a multicast group MAC address, and the multicast group identifier field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up;

the processor 510 is configured to determine whether to perform a wake-up based on the multicast group identification field.

The station provided by the embodiment of the invention wakes up according to the multicast group identification field in the wake-up frame, and wakes up by taking the multicast group as a unit, wherein the multicast group identification field is obtained from the existing multicast group MAC address, the existing multicast mechanism in the 802.11 protocol is adopted to obtain the multicast group identification, a new protocol is not required to be introduced, the protocol increment is small, and the cost is low. The energy-saving effect can be further improved, the signaling overhead is saved, and the awakening efficiency is improved.

The various components in station 500 communicate control and/or data signals with each other via the communication links, i.e., via internal connection paths between processor 510, memory 520, and transceiver 530. It should be noted that the above method embodiments of the present application may be applied to a processor, or the steps of the above method embodiments may be implemented by a processor. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a central processing unit CPU, NP or a combination of CPU and NP, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in this application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in this application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

It should be noted that in the inventive embodiment, the processor 510 may be implemented by a processing module, the memory 520 may be implemented by a storage module, and the transceiver 530 may be implemented by a transceiver module, as shown in fig. 18, and the station 600 may include the processing module 610, the storage module 620, and the transceiver module 630.

The station 500 shown in fig. 17 or the station 600 shown in fig. 18 can implement the aforementioned steps performed by the station in fig. 5, and are not described herein again to avoid repetition.

Fig. 19 is a schematic block diagram of an access point of one embodiment of the present invention. It is to be understood that the access point embodiments correspond to the method embodiments and similar descriptions may refer to the method embodiments and that the access point 700 shown in fig. 19 may be used to perform steps corresponding to those performed by the access point in fig. 11. The access point 700 includes: processor 710, memory 720 and transceiver 730, processor 710, memory 720 and transceiver 730 are connected through communication, memory 720 stores instructions, processor 710 is used for executing the instructions stored in memory 720, and transceiver 730 is used for carrying out specific signal transceiving under the drive of processor 710.

The processor 710 is configured to generate a wake-up frame, where the wake-up frame includes a multicast group identification field and an indication field in a group, the multicast group identification field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up, and the indication field in the group is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast group.

The transceiver 730 is configured to transmit the wakeup frame.

According to the access point provided by the embodiment of the invention, the generated wake-up frame comprises the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group, so that when the station is awakened, the wake-up frame can be used for flexibly awakening by taking the multicast group as a unit according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group which are included in the wake-up frame, and the awakening of all stations in the multicast group or sub-stations in the multicast group can be realized according to the indication field in the group in the wake-up frame, thereby improving the wake-up efficiency and saving the signaling overhead.

The various components in access point 700 communicate control and/or data signals with each other via the communication links, i.e., the processor 710, memory 720, and transceiver 730, via the internal connection paths. The above method embodiments of the present application may be applied to a processor, or the processor may implement the steps of the above method embodiments. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a CPU, NP, or a combination of CPU and NP, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in this application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in this application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the intra-group indication field includes an intra-group number field, and the intra-group number field is used to indicate that all the stations in the multicast group are woken up or that the total number of stations included in the multicast group is total.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the indication field in the group includes an identification field in the group, and the identification field in the group is used to indicate a station in the multicast group that needs to be woken up.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the within-group identification field includes an within-group identification bitmap or a list of within-group identifiers.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group medium access control MAC address.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the wake-up frame further includes a number of multicast groups field, where the number of multicast groups field is used to indicate the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up.

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 710 may be implemented by a processing module, the memory 720 may be implemented by a storage module, and the transceiver 730 may be implemented by a transceiver module, as shown in fig. 20, and the access point 800 may include a processing module 810, a storage module 820, and a transceiver module 830.

The access point 700 shown in fig. 19 or the access point 800 shown in fig. 20 can implement the aforementioned steps performed by the access point in fig. 11, and are not described here again to avoid repetition.

Fig. 21 shows a schematic block diagram of a station 900 according to an embodiment of the invention. It should be understood that the site embodiment corresponds to the method embodiment, and similar descriptions may refer to the method embodiment, as shown in fig. 21, the site 900 including: the processor 910, the memory 920 and the transceiver 930 are connected in communication, the memory 920 stores instructions, the processor 910 is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory 920, and the transceiver 930 is used for executing specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processor 910.

The transceiver 930 is configured to receive a wake-up frame, where the wake-up frame includes a multicast group identification field and an indication field in a group, the multicast group identification field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up, and the indication field in the group is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast group.

The processor 910 is configured to determine whether to perform wakeup according to the multicast group identifier field and the indication field in the group.

According to the station provided by the embodiment of the invention, the received wake-up frame comprises the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group, so that when the station is awakened, the station can be awakened flexibly by taking the multicast group as a unit according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group which are included by the wake-up frame, and according to the indication field in the group in the wake-up frame, the awakening of all stations in the multicast group or sub-stations in the multicast group can be realized, the awakening efficiency is improved, and the signaling overhead is saved.

The various components in station 900 communicate control and/or data signals with each other via the communication links, i.e., via internal connection paths between processor 90, memory 920, and transceiver 930. The above method embodiments of the present application may be applied to a processor, or the processor may implement the steps of the above method embodiments. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor may be a CPU, NP, or a combination of CPU and NP, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in this application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in this application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present invention, the processor 911 is specifically configured to: and when determining that the multicast group identification is the multicast group identification to which the station belongs, and determining to wake up when determining that the station indicated by the indication field in the group is the station.

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 910 may be implemented by a processing module, the memory 920 may be implemented by a storage module, and the transceiver 930 may be implemented by a transceiver module, as shown in fig. 22, and the station 1100 may include the processing module 1110, the storage module 1120, and the transceiver module 1130.

The station 900 shown in fig. 21 or the station 1100 shown in fig. 22 can implement the aforementioned steps performed by the station in fig. 11, and are not described herein again to avoid repetition.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer readable medium for storing a computer program code, where the computer program includes instructions for executing the wake-up method implemented by the present invention in fig. 5 and fig. 11. The readable medium may be a read-only memory (ROM) or a Random Access Memory (RAM), which is not limited in this respect.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the access point device provided in the embodiment of the present invention and the station provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and the communication system may complete any one of the wake-up methods provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" and "at least one of a or B" herein is merely one type of association that describes an associated object, meaning that three types of relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

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

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

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

This functionality, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of waking up, comprising:

an Access Point (AP) generates a wake-up frame, wherein the wake-up frame comprises a multicast group identification field and an in-group indication field, the multicast group identification field is used for indicating a multicast group needing to be woken up, the in-group indication field is used for indicating a station needing to be woken up in the multicast group, the wake-up frame further comprises a multicast group number field, and the multicast group number field is used for indicating the number of the multicast group needing to be woken up;

and the AP sends the wake-up frame to a station, wherein the wake-up frame is used for a low-power wake-up radio module of the station to determine whether to wake up a main transceiver module of the station.

2. Wake-up method according to claim 1, wherein the indication-in-group field comprises a number-in-group field indicating whether all stations within the multicast group or the total number of stations comprised by the multicast group are to be woken up.

3. The wake-up method according to claim 1, wherein the intra-group indication field comprises an intra-group identification field, and the intra-group identification field is used for indicating a station to be woken up in the multicast group.

4. Wake-up method according to claim 1, characterized in that the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group media Access control, MAC, address.

5. Wake-up method according to any of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the wake-up frame further comprises a wake-up frame type field indicating the type of the wake-up frame.

6. A wake-up method is applied to a station, wherein the station comprises a main transceiver module and a low-power wake-up radio module, and the method comprises the following steps:

the low-power consumption wake-up radio module receives a wake-up frame generated by an Access Point (AP), wherein the wake-up frame comprises a multicast group identification field and an in-group indication field, the multicast group identification field is used for indicating a multicast group needing to be woken up, the in-group indication field is used for indicating a station needing to be woken up in the multicast group, the wake-up frame further comprises a multicast group number field, and the multicast group number field is used for indicating the number of the multicast group needing to be woken up;

and the low-power wake-up radio module determines whether to wake up the main transceiver module according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group.

7. The wake-up method according to claim 6, wherein the determining, by the low-power wake-up radio module, whether to perform wake-up according to the multicast group id field and the indication field in the group comprises:

and when the low-power wake-up radio module determines that the multicast group identifier is the multicast group identifier to which the station belongs, and determines that the station indicated by the indication field in the group is the station, the low-power wake-up radio module determines to execute wake-up.

8. Wake-up method according to claim 6, wherein the indication-in-group field comprises a number-in-group field indicating whether all stations within the multicast group or the total number of stations comprised by the multicast group are to be woken up.

9. The wake-up method according to claim 6, wherein the intra-group indication field comprises an intra-group identification field, and the intra-group identification field is used for indicating a station to be woken up in the multicast group.

10. The wake-up method according to claim 9, wherein the intra-group identification field comprises an intra-group identification bitmap or a list of intra-group identifiers.

11. Wake-up method according to claim 6, wherein the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group media Access control, MAC, address.

12. Wake-up method according to any of the claims 6 to 11, wherein the wake-up frame further comprises a wake-up frame type field indicating the type of the wake-up frame.

13. An access point comprising a processor, a transceiver, and a memory, the memory storing instructions, the processor being configured to execute the instructions stored by the memory to control the transceiver to receive or transmit signals;

the processor is configured to generate a wake-up frame, where the wake-up frame includes a multicast group identifier field and an indication field in a group, the multicast group identifier field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up, the indication field in the group is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast group, the wake-up frame further includes a number of multicast groups field, and the number of multicast groups field is used to indicate the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up;

the transceiver is configured to send the wake-up frame to a station, where the wake-up frame is used for a low-power wake-up radio module of the station to determine whether to wake up a main transceiver module of the station.

14. The access point of claim 13, wherein the indication field comprises a number-in-group field, and wherein the number-in-group field is configured to indicate whether all stations in the multicast group are awake or a total number of stations included in the multicast group.

15. The access point of claim 13, wherein the indication field comprises an identification field, and wherein the identification field is used to indicate stations in the multicast group that need to wake up.

16. The access point of claim 13, wherein the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group Media Access Control (MAC) address.

17. The access point of any of claims 13 to 16, wherein the wake-up frame further comprises a wake-up frame type field, and wherein the wake-up frame type field is used to indicate the type of the wake-up frame.

18. A station comprising a processor, a transceiver, and a memory, the memory storing instructions, the processor executing the instructions stored by the memory to control the transceiver to receive or transmit signals, the transceiver comprising a master transceiver and a low power wake-up transceiver;

the low-power wake-up transceiver is configured to receive a wake-up frame generated by an access point AP, where the wake-up frame includes a multicast group identifier field and an indication field in a group, the multicast group identifier field is used to indicate a multicast group that needs to be woken up, the indication field in the group is used to indicate a station that needs to be woken up in the multicast group, the wake-up frame further includes a number of multicast groups field, and the number of multicast groups field is used to indicate the number of multicast groups that need to be woken up;

and the processor is used for controlling the low-power wake-up transceiver to determine whether to wake up the main transceiver according to the multicast group identification field and the indication field in the group.

19. The station of claim 18, wherein the processor is specifically configured to control the low-power wake-up transceiver to: and when determining that the multicast group identification is the multicast group identification to which the station belongs, and when determining that the station indicated by the indication field in the group is the station, determining to wake up the master transceiver.

20. The station of claim 18, wherein the intra-group indication field comprises an intra-group number field, and wherein the intra-group number field is used to indicate whether all stations in the multicast group are woken up or a total number of stations included in the multicast group.

21. The station of claim 18, wherein the indication field comprises an identification field in the group, and wherein the identification field in the group is used to indicate the station in the multicast group that needs to wake up.

22. The station of claim 21,

the within-group identification field includes an within-group identification bitmap or a list of identifiers within a group.

23. The station of claim 18, wherein the multicast group identification field is obtained from a multicast group Media Access Control (MAC) address.

24. The station according to any of claims 18 to 23, wherein the wake-up frame further comprises a wake-up frame type field, the wake-up frame type field indicating a type of the wake-up frame.

25. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program for executing the instructions of the wake-up method according to any of the claims 1 to 12.