CN111030793A

CN111030793A - Method and device for transmitting trigger frame in wireless local area network

Info

Publication number: CN111030793A
Application number: CN201911114407.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 于健; 杨讯; 郭宇宸; 林梅露; 张佳胤; 淦明
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-09-02
Filing date: 2015-09-02
Publication date: 2020-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2035-09-02
Also published as: CN106487490B; CN111030793B; CN106487490A; WO2017036257A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for triggering frame transmission in a wireless local area network, which comprises the following steps: generating a trigger frame, wherein the trigger frame comprises trigger frame type identifiers, the trigger frame type identifiers are used for distinguishing different types of trigger frames, and the different types of trigger frames comprise: a trigger frame that does not carry a media access control, MAC, function, a trigger frame that carries a single MAC function, or a trigger frame that carries multiple MAC functions. The invention also provides a corresponding device for transmitting the trigger frame, and by adopting the mode, the unified frame format design is carried out on the trigger frames of different types, so that the structure of the trigger frame is simplified, and the complexity of a receiving station is reduced.

Description

Method and device for transmitting trigger frame in wireless local area network

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting a trigger frame in a wireless local area network.

Background

At present, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Chinese) organization is setting up the standard 802.11ax for the next generation of WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network, Chinese). 802.11ax introduces OFDMA (Orthogonal frequency division Multiple Access) technology, which can support an AP (Access Point, chinese: Access Point) to perform multi-user transmission with Multiple STAs (STA, chinese: Station) at the same time, so that a trigger frame needs to be defined, where the trigger frame is sent by the AP and is used for resource indication of uplink multi-user transmission.

The standard draft has decided to adopt the trigger frame structure shown in fig. 1 a. The trigger Frame belongs to a MAC (media access Control, chinese) Frame, and includes a MAC header (MAC header), a Frame body (Frame body), and a Frame check sequence field, where the Frame body may carry different MAC functions, such as: channel detection, block acknowledgement request BAR, or multi-user request to send MU-RTS. Specifically, the frame body includes a common field containing resource indications to be read by all STAs and a station-by-station field containing resource indications that each STA needs to read.

The prior art has the disadvantages that the common domain of the frame body of the trigger frame contains physical layer function information and MAC layer function information, the physical layer function information and the MAC layer function information are mixed together, the receiving of a station is not facilitated, and in addition, the structure of the prior trigger frame only defines the trigger frame carrying one MAC function, and does not define the trigger frame carrying a plurality of MAC functions.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for transmitting a trigger frame in a wireless local area network, which are used to solve the problem that the physical layer function information and the MAC layer function information of a frame body in the existing trigger frame structure are mixed together, and the problem that only a trigger frame carrying one MAC function is defined, and a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions is not defined.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for triggering frame transmission in a wireless local area network, including:

generating a trigger frame, wherein the trigger frame comprises trigger frame type identifiers, the trigger frame type identifiers are used for distinguishing different types of trigger frames, and the different types of trigger frames comprise: a trigger frame not carrying a Media Access Control (MAC) function, a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function or a trigger frame carrying a plurality of MAC functions;

and sending the trigger frame.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the trigger frame includes a MAC function number identifier, where the MAC function number identifier is used to indicate a MAC function number carried by the trigger frame.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes a trigger information field and one MAC function field;

the trigger information field comprises a trigger information common field and a trigger information independent field, and the MAC function field comprises an MAC function common field and an MAC function independent field;

the common trigger information field is located before the common MAC function field, the separate trigger information field is located before the separate MAC function field, and the common trigger information field is located before the separate trigger information field.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting a data packet, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

the trigger information separate field is used for indicating separate information of each station of one or more stations for transmitting data packets, and comprises at least one of the following parameters: the association identifies the AID or modulation coding set MCS.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the trigger frame type identifier in the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function is further used to determine the MAC function, where the MAC function includes: sounding, Block Acknowledgement Request (BAR) or random access trigger (TF-R),

or, the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function carries an independent frame control field, where the frame control field indicates the MAC function carried by the trigger frame.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the field of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes a form of an element field, where the element field includes three parts of a type, a length, and a value, and the field of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes at least one of the following fields: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a trigger information field and multiple MAC function fields;

the trigger information field comprises a trigger information common field and a trigger information single field, and each MAC function field in the multiple MAC function fields comprises an MAC function common field and an MAC function single field;

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting a data packet, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the trigger frame further includes a trigger frame type sub-identifier, which is used to determine a specific function of each MAC function field, where the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field,

or, each MAC function field carries an independent frame control field, where the frame control field indicates a specific MAC function, and the MAC function includes: sounding, block acknowledgement request BAR, or random access trigger TF-R.

With reference to the eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the field of the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions includes a form of an element field, where the element field includes three parts of a type, a length, and a value, and the field of the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function includes at least one of the following fields: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a common information field and a site-by-site field, the common information field is located before the site-by-site field, the common information field includes a trigger information common field and multiple MAC function common fields, and the site-by-site field includes a trigger information separate field and a MAC function separate field.

With reference to the tenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eleventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the trigger information separate field and the MAC function separate field in the site-by-site field are divided for each site, or,

the first part of the site-by-site field is a trigger information independent field, and the second part of the site-by-site field is an MAC function independent field.

With reference to the eleventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting a data packet, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

With reference to the twelfth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a thirteenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the trigger frame further includes a trigger frame type sub-identifier, which is used to determine a specific function of each MAC function field, and the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for triggering frame transmission in a wireless local area network, including:

a baseband circuit, configured to generate a trigger frame, where the trigger frame includes a trigger frame type identifier, and the trigger frame type identifier is used to distinguish different types of trigger frames, where the different types of trigger frames include: a trigger frame not carrying a Media Access Control (MAC) function, a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function or a trigger frame carrying a plurality of MAC functions;

and the radio frequency circuit is used for sending the trigger frame.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the trigger frame generated by the baseband chip includes a MAC function number identifier, where the MAC function number identifier is used to indicate a MAC function number carried by the trigger frame.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function includes a trigger information field and a MAC function field;

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting a data packet, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the trigger frame type identifier in the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function is further used to determine the MAC function, where the MAC function includes: sounding, Block Acknowledgement Request (BAR) or random access trigger (TF-R),

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the field of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes a form of an element field, where the element field includes three parts of a type, a length, and a value, and the field of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes at least one of the following fields: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a trigger information field and multiple MAC function fields;

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting a data packet, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the trigger frame further includes a trigger frame type sub-identifier, which is used to determine a specific function of each MAC function field, where the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field,

With reference to the eighth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the field of the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions includes a form of an element field, where the element field includes three parts, a type, a length, and a value, and the field of the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function includes at least one of the following fields: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a common information field and a site-by-site field, the common information field is located before the site-by-site field, the common information field includes a common field of trigger information and multiple common fields of MAC functions, and the site-by-site field includes a single field of trigger information and a single field of MAC functions.

With reference to the tenth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in an eleventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the trigger information separate field and the MAC function separate field in the site-by-site field are divided according to each site, or,

With reference to the eleventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting a data packet, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

With reference to the twelfth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a thirteenth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the trigger frame further includes a trigger frame type sub-identifier, which is used to determine a specific function of each MAC function field, and the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field.

In the process of transmitting the trigger frame in the wireless local area network, the trigger frame includes a trigger frame type identifier, the trigger frame type identifier is used for distinguishing different types of trigger frames, and the different types of trigger frames include: the method has the advantages that the triggering frame without the media access control MAC function, the triggering frame with the single MAC function or the triggering frame with the multiple MAC functions are designed in a unified frame format for the triggering frames with different types, the structure of the triggering frame is simplified, and the complexity of a receiving station is reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1a is a frame structure diagram of a trigger frame in the prior art.

FIG. 1b is a diagram of an application scenario of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of example 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a structural diagram of a Frame control field in a trigger Frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of fig. 1 carrying a single MAC function trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of fig. 2 carrying a single MAC function trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a trigger frame carrying Sounding function in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a trigger frame carrying BAR function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a trigger frame carrying TF-R capabilities according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of fig. 3 carrying a single MAC function trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an element field according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions according to an embodiment of the present invention 1.

Fig. 12 is a diagram of a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram of a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 3.

Fig. 14 is a diagram of a trigger frame structure carrying multiple MAC functions according to an embodiment of the present invention 4.

Fig. 15 is a diagram of a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 16 is a simplified MU-RTS trigger frame structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a diagram illustrating resource block allocation in a common region in units of 20 MHz.

Fig. 18 is a diagram of a unified resource block allocation indication for unicast/multicast trigger frames.

Fig. 19 is a diagram of a unicast/multicast trigger frame unified resource block allocation indication.

Fig. 20 is a block diagram of a physical device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention are described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the embodiments described below are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of them. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention can be applied to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN for short), and the standard adopted by the WLAN at present is IEEE (Institute of Electrical and electronics Engineers, Chinese) 802.11 series. The WLAN may include a plurality of Basic Service Sets (BSS), where a network node in a BSS is a Station (STA), and the Station includes an Access Point (AP) and a Non-Access Point (Non-AP STA). Each basic service set may include one AP and a plurality of Non-AP STAs associated with the AP.

And the access point type station is also called as a wireless access point or a hot spot, and the like. The AP is an access point for a mobile subscriber to enter a wired network, and is mainly deployed in a home, a building, and a campus, and typically has a coverage radius of several tens of meters to hundreds of meters, and may be deployed outdoors. The AP acts as a bridge connecting the network and the wireless network, and mainly functions to connect the wireless network clients together and then to access the wireless network to the ethernet. Specifically, the AP may be a terminal device or a network device with a WiFi (Wireless Fidelity, chinese) chip. Optionally, the AP may be a device supporting 802.11ax standard, and further optionally, the AP may be a device supporting multiple WLAN standards such as 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11 a.

A Non-Access Point (Non-AP STA) may be a wireless communication chip, a wireless sensor, or a wireless communication terminal. For example: the mobile phone supporting the WiFi communication function, the tablet computer supporting the WiFi communication function, the set top box supporting the WiFi communication function, the smart television supporting the WiFi communication function, the smart wearable device supporting the WiFi communication function, the vehicle-mounted communication device supporting the WiFi communication function and the computer supporting the WiFi communication function. Optionally, the station may support an 802.11ax system, and further optionally, the station supports multiple WLAN systems such as 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11 a.

FIG. 1b is a system diagram of a typical WLAN deployment scenario, including an AP and 3 STAs, the AP communicating with STA1, STA2, and STA3, respectively.

In the WLAN system 802.11ax introduced after the OFDMA technique, the AP may perform uplink and downlink transmission with different STAs on different time-frequency resources. The AP may use different modes for uplink and downlink transmission, such as an OFDMA Single-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (SU-MIMO) mode, or an OFDMA Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO).

The AP may send a Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) to a plurality of stations or a plurality of station groups at the same time. Here, the plurality of stations may refer to stations in SU-MIMO mode, and the plurality of station groups may refer to station groups in MU-MIMO mode.

Specifically, the PPDU sent by the AP includes a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Header field (Header) and a data field, where the PLCP Header includes a conventional Preamble (L-Preamble) and a High-efficiency Preamble, and the High-efficiency Preamble includes a High-efficiency signaling a (HE-SIGA) portion and a High-efficiency signaling B (HE-SIGB) portion. The PPDU may further include a Media Access Control (MAC) part.

Example 1

Embodiment 1 of the present invention provides a method for transmitting a trigger frame in a wireless local area network, where the method may be applied to a station, for example: AP and STA1-STA3 in fig. 1b, the station may support next generation WLAN standards such as: 802.11ax format. Fig. 2 is a flowchart of the identifier transmission method, which includes the following specific steps:

step 110: generating a trigger frame, wherein the trigger frame comprises trigger frame type identifiers, the trigger frame type identifiers are used for distinguishing different types of trigger frames, and the different types of trigger frames comprise: a trigger frame that does not carry a media access control, MAC, function, a trigger frame that carries a single MAC function, or a trigger frame that carries multiple MAC functions.

Step 120: and sending the trigger frame.

It should be noted that the trigger frame is sent by the AP, and if the trigger frame is a trigger frame that does not carry a media access control MAC function, the STA receives the trigger frame and waits for a period of time to send a frame carrying uplink data. By way of example, the latency may include: SIFS (Short Interframe Space, Chinese), DIFS (Distributed Interframe Space, Chinese).

And if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function, the STA receives the trigger frame and then waits for a period of time to send the MAC frame of the corresponding type.

And if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying a plurality of MAC functions, the corresponding STA receives the trigger frame and then sends the MAC frame of the corresponding type after waiting for a period of time according to the MAC function type of the corresponding STA. For all STAs, multiple types of MAC frames are transmitted.

It should be noted that the trigger frame may include only two types: a trigger frame not carrying a MAC function and a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function, which is not limited in the present invention.

It should be noted that the trigger frame may only include a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function, and the type identifier of the trigger frame is used to determine the specific MAC function, which is not limited in the present invention.

It should be noted that the Frame control field composition of one possible MAC Frame header is shown in fig. 3.

It should be noted that the trigger frame type identifier may be located in the MAC frame header. The trigger Frame type identifier may be located in a Frame Control field in the MAC Frame header. The MAC Frame is uniquely determined to be a trigger Frame through the type and the subtype in the Frame control field. Different types of trigger frames are defined by a 4-bit trigger frame extension field. For example, if trigger frames of 8 different MAC functions are defined, "0000" represents that the trigger frame is a trigger frame not carrying a MAC function of media access control, "0001-" 1000 "represents 8 trigger frames carrying a single MAC function," 1001 "represents a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, and the rest bits are reserved. In addition, the location of the trigger Frame extension field is not limited to the Frame control field, and may be located in other parts of the MAC Frame header, for example, a separate field, which is juxtaposed to the Frame control field. Furthermore, it can also be located in the common info common area in the Frame body in fig. 1 a.

It should be noted that the trigger frame type identifier may be located in the MAC frame header. The trigger Frame type identifier may be located in a Frame Control field in the MAC Frame header. The trigger Frame is set as "11" reserved in the type field of the Frame control field. Different types of trigger frames are defined by 4-bit subtypes. For example, if trigger frames of 8 different MAC functions are defined, "0000" represents that the trigger frame is a trigger frame not carrying a MAC function of media access control, "0001-" 1000 "represents 8 trigger frames carrying a single MAC function," 1001 "represents a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, and the rest bits are reserved.

It should be noted that the trigger frame type identifier can also be implemented by a Bitmap (english). For example, the following steps are carried out: defining trigger frames of 8 different MAC functions, the trigger frames are implemented by 8-bit bitmap, each bit of the bitmap defines whether the MAC function is used, the "00000000" represents that the trigger frame is a trigger frame not carrying a media access control MAC function, the "00010000" represents a trigger frame carrying a 4 th MAC function, and the "00010011" represents a trigger frame carrying 4 th, 7 th and 8 th MAC functions. The trigger Frame type identifier in the bitmap form may be located in the Frame control field, or may be located in another part of the MAC Frame header, for example, a separate field, which is juxtaposed to the Frame control field. Furthermore, it can also be located in the common info common area in the Frame body in fig. 1 a.

Optionally, the trigger frame type identifier may also be implemented by an MAC function number identifier, where the MAC function number identifier is used to indicate the number of MAC functions carried by the trigger frame. Or, on the basis of other trigger frame type indications, additionally indicating the number of MAC functions to indicate the number of MAC functions of the multifunctional MAC trigger frame.

Specifically, if the number of MAC functions defined by the trigger frame is M, the number of bits identified by the number of MAC functions is M

For example, the following steps are carried out: if the number of MAC functions defined by the trigger frame is 8, 4 bits are needed to define the MAC function number identifier, "0000" defines the MAC function number as 0, "0001" defines the MAC function number as 1, "0010-1000 "defines the number of MAC functions as 3-8," 1001- > 1111 "these bits are reserved. The MAC function number identifier may be located in the MAC Frame header, or may be located in other parts of the MAC Frame header, for example, a separate field, which is juxtaposed to the Frame control field, or may be located in a common info common area in the Frame body in fig. 1 a.

It should be noted that the trigger frame carrying no MAC function and the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function may not include the MAC function number identifier.

The following will discuss the trigger frame being divided into a trigger frame carrying no MAC function, a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function and a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions.

Specifically, the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function includes a trigger information field and a MAC function field, as shown in fig. 3;

It should be noted that, in fig. 4, the ordering of the components of the trigger information field and the MAC function field is as follows: a trigger information common field, a trigger information individual field, a MAC function common field, and a MAC function individual field. Furthermore, the ordering of the components of the trigger information field and the MAC function field may also adopt the arrangement of fig. 5: a trigger information common field, a MAC function common field, a trigger information individual field, and a MAC function individual field.

Specifically, in the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting data packets, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

Optionally, the trigger frame type identifier in the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function is further configured to determine the MAC function, where the MAC function includes: detecting sounding, block acknowledgement request BAR or random access trigger TF-R, or the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function carries an independent frame control field indicating the MAC function carried by the trigger frame.

Specifically, the Sounding frame for channel Sounding is shown in fig. 6, the multi-user block acknowledgement request frame MU-BAR is shown in fig. 7, and the trigger frame TFR for random access is shown in fig. 8.

It should be noted that the trigger Frame carrying a single MAC function may also carry an independent Frame control field, as shown in fig. 9, where the independent Frame control field is located in the MAC function common field.

Optionally, the field of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes a form of an element field, where the element field includes three parts, a type, a length, and a value, and the field of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes at least one of the following fields: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

It should be noted that the form of the element field is as shown in fig. 10, where the element identifier is used to indicate the type of the element, and what the role of the subsequent information is to be known through the element identifier. Information indicating the back side such as "00" is trigger information on a site-by-site basis; "01" indicates that the following information is the MAC function field used to complete the MU-BAR. The length is used for indicating the byte length of the element, the element identifier is extended into an optional field, the element identifier extension is enabled when the element identifier cannot meet the requirement of indicating the number of the elements, and the length of the information field is variable and contains the value of the element.

It should be noted that only the trigger information single field in the trigger frame may be in an element field form, only the MAC function field in the trigger frame may be in an element form, and both the trigger information single field and the MAC function field in the trigger frame may be in an element form, which is not limited in the present invention.

It should be noted that the MAC function field may be located before the trigger information field, in this case, the AID may be located only in the MAC function information field before the trigger information field, or may exist in both the trigger information field and the MAC function field.

Furthermore, for certain specific types of trigger frames, the length of each field may be 0, i.e. there is no field, and the above description applies to the following embodiments.

Specifically, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a trigger information field and multiple MAC function fields;

It should be noted that the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions is shown in fig. 11.

Optionally, in the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting a data packet, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

It should be noted that the MAC function field may be located before the trigger information field, in this case, the AID may be located only in the MAC function information field before the trigger information field, or may exist in both the trigger information field and the MAC function field. Furthermore, for some specific types of trigger frames, each field may be 0 in length, i.e., there is no field.

Optionally, the trigger frame further includes a trigger frame type sub-identifier for determining a specific function of each MAC function field, the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field,

Specifically, if the trigger frame type identifier determines that the trigger frame belongs to a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, each MAC function field carries a trigger frame type sub-identifier, for example: and the trigger frame type sub-identifier with 4 bits is used, wherein 0001 represents a sounding function, 0010 represents a BAR function, and 0011 represents a TF-R function. The trigger frame type sub-id may also be in the form of Bitmap (english: Bitmap), and if 4 MAC functions are defined, the trigger frame type sub-id is represented by a 4-bit Bitmap, for example: "0001" represents sounding function, "0010" represents BAR function, and "0100" represents TF-R function.

It should be noted that each MAC function field carries a separate frame control field as shown in fig. 12.

Optionally, the field of the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions includes a form of an element field, where the element field includes three parts, a type, a length, and a value, and the field of the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function includes at least one of the following fields: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

It should be noted that fig. 13 shows a structure of an element field frame carrying multiple MAC functions. The format of the element field has been explained in detail in the foregoing, only the trigger information single field in the trigger frame may be in the form of the element field, only the MAC function field in the trigger frame may be in the form of the element, and both the trigger information single field and the MAC function field in the trigger frame may be in the form of the element, which is not limited in the present invention.

Specifically, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a common information field and a site-by-site field, the common information field is located before the site-by-site field, the common information field includes a common field of trigger information and multiple common fields of MAC functions, and the site-by-site field includes an individual field of trigger information and an individual field of MAC functions.

Alternatively, the trigger information individual field and the MAC function individual field in the site-by-site field are divided per site, or,

It should be noted that, a case where the trigger information individual field and the MAC function individual field in the site-by-site field are divided for each site is shown in fig. 14.

All of the first part in the site-by-site field is a trigger information individual field, and all of the second part in the site-by-site field is a MAC function individual field, and the division of the site-by-site field is shown in fig. 15.

Optionally, the trigger frame further includes a trigger frame type sub-identifier, configured to determine a specific function of each MAC function field, where the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field.

Specifically, for a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function or carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger information field may be simplified based on MAC function characteristics. Illustratively, such as an MU-RTS (Multiple User Request to Send) trigger frame for triggering Multiple STAs to reply with CTS (Clear to Send, chinese: allowed to Send) at the same time. The frame structure of the MU-RTS is shown in fig. 16.

In the prior art, the interaction between RTS and CTS is mainly used to set NAV (Network allocation vector, chinese) to ensure that the non-transmitting and receiving AP or STA does not transmit data and reduce interference. The CTS is often transmitted in units of 20MHz, the minimum channel bandwidth. And multiple 20MHz duplicate transmissions are typically made in a conventional physical layer packet structure. In addition, for the CTS, there is a Simultaneous CTS (Simultaneous CTS), that is, multiple STAs reply to the CTS on the same time-frequency resource, and the same packet structure is adopted, so that resource block/channel allocation may not be performed. In addition, when the MU-RTS performs multi-user CTS transmission, there are two modes, one is to perform bandwidth negotiation, that is, the AP tells the STA which 20MHz in the whole bandwidth to reply; another is that no bandwidth negotiation takes place and all STAs reply at all 20 MHz. Two layers are included, namely, for resource block scheduling of the CTS, resource block allocation can be simplified, and 20MHz is taken as a unit, and allocation is not required to be performed by combining all possible resource blocks; the other layer may not be directly allocated with resource blocks.

In addition, since all STAs need to use the same packet structure within a certain 20MHz, the trigger information indications of each station field, such as MCS (Modulation Coding Set, chinese), NSTS (Number of Space-Time Streams, chinese), LDPC (Low Density Parity Code, chinese), STBC (Space-Time Block Code, chinese, Space-Time Block Coding), BF (beam forming, chinese), must be the same, and thus, for these parameters, the trigger information of each station field can be extracted into the trigger information common field, or directly without indication, and default parameters are used. Because the CTS occupies the same time-frequency resource, and therefore needs relatively robust transmission, the STA may be allowed to default to adopt the lowest MCS, the lowest stream number, and so on for transmission, and therefore trigger information indication of site fields one by one, such as MCS, NSTS, LDPC, STBC, BF, and so on, may not be performed.

Since the trigger frame type determines the format of the trigger information field, the trigger frame type needs to be located before the trigger information field or before the entire trigger information field. Because all STAs need to transmit the same MCS, NSTS, LDPC, BF, and other station-by-station information parameters, such parameters may be extracted to the common field of trigger information, or directly adopt a default mode without transmission. In addition, the trigger information common field may carry a bandwidth negotiation indication, which indicates whether the site-by-site trigger information field contains a bandwidth negotiation indication. The bandwidth negotiation indication may also simply use a bitmap to indicate which 20MHz of the entire bandwidth the transmission is performed on, without performing all combined resource block allocation indications as in the prior art. For the case of resource block allocation indication in the common area, indication of positive resource block allocation in the common area can also be saved, because the whole bandwidth is allocated as 20MHz resource blocks of bandwidth/20 MHz by default.

In addition, for MU-RTS, because the effect of requiring a plurality of STAs to reply the synchronous CTS in the same time-frequency resource is to carry out NAV setting on the traditional STA, the default CTS is a physical layer structure adopting a traditional format, and UL GI indication can be omitted; because the length of the CTS frame is fixed, the length of the PPDU can be saved; the uplink bandwidth indication may also be omitted because by default the CTS transmission is over the same bandwidth as the downlink or over the negotiated bandwidth.

It should be noted that, for other types of trigger frames, the simplified design can be performed according to the type of the trigger frame.

Optionally, as another embodiment, in the downlink resource block allocation indication in the prior art, the indication may be presented in a table index manner in units of 20 MHz. If a certain resource block is a resource block exceeding 20MHz, 1 Table Index (english: Table Index) or a repeated Table Index may be used for indication, where the Table Index is to store all possible resource block combinations in one Table, and each combination has one Index, and in the resource block allocation indication, the Index number of the combination is indicated by bit information, so as to achieve the effect of resource block indication. Here, the table index indicates an example, and the resource block allocation may be indicated by other means, and here, the resource indication per 20MHz is mainly emphasized. Figure 17 gives an example of an 80MHz resource block allocation indication.

Alternatively, the idea can also be adopted to design the resource block allocation indication of the trigger frame, as shown in fig. 18. In addition, the trigger frame with the unicast trigger frame and the multicast trigger frame can be designed uniformly.

Unicast/multicast trigger frame indication and resource block allocation number/sequence indication are carried in a common area of the MAC frame header or the trigger information. If the indication is a multicast trigger frame, the resource block distribution number/sequence indication is used for indicating the number of the subsequent sub-public areas, and each sub-public area sequentially indicates resource blocks of 20MHz or more than 20MHz one by one; if the indication is a unicast trigger frame, the resource block allocation number/sequence indication is used to indicate that the resource block allocation is from the 20 th MHz. Because for the unicast trigger frame, the data of the triggered single STA is only on one resource block which is less than or equal to 20MHz inside a certain 20MHz or a certain single resource block which is greater than 20 MHz.

Fig. 19 is a unified resource block allocation indication for unicast/multicast trigger frames. Illustratively, for one downlink frame, both a multicast trigger frame and a unicast trigger frame are included. The multicast trigger frame is responsible for the allocation of the whole 80MHz resource block, and firstly indicates that the number of table indexes is 3, namely the number of the common fields of the subsequent resource block allocation sub-groups is 3. Then respectively indicating subsequent resource indications starting from the 1 st, the 2 nd and the 3 rd 20 MHz; and a certain STA is in the 2 nd 20MHz, and the unicast trigger frame sent to the STA is only responsible for the resource block allocation of the 20MHz, and firstly indicates that the subsequent 1 table index indicates the resource block allocation starting from the 2 nd 20 MHz. The resource block allocation on this 20MHz is then indicated by the 1 resource block allocation sub-common field.

Example 2

Fig. 20 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for transmitting a trigger frame in a wireless local area network according to embodiment 2 of the present invention. The data transmission means are for example stations or dedicated circuits or chips implementing the relevant functions. The station 1000 includes a processor 1010, memory 1020, baseband circuitry 1030, radio frequency circuitry 1040, and antennas 1050. The means for transmitting the trigger frame may be the AP or STA1-STA3 shown in fig. 1 b.

In particular, processor 1010 controls the operation of station 1000. Memory 1020 may include read-only memory and random-access memory and provides instructions and data to processor 1010, which may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or other programmable logic device. A portion of the memory 1020 may also include non-volatile row random access memory (NVRAM). The baseband circuit 1030 is used to synthesize a baseband signal to be transmitted or decode a received baseband signal. The radio frequency circuit 1040 is used to modulate a low frequency baseband signal to a high frequency carrier signal that is transmitted via the antenna 1050. The radio frequency circuitry is also used to demodulate the high frequency signals received by the antenna 1050 into a low frequency carrier signal. The various components of station 1000 are coupled together by a bus 1060, where bus system 1060 includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus, in addition to a data bus. For clarity of illustration, however, the various buses are designated as the bus system 1060 in the figure. It should be noted that the above description of the station structure can be applied to the following embodiments.

The baseband circuit 1030 is configured to generate a trigger frame, where the trigger frame includes a trigger frame type identifier, and the trigger frame type identifier is configured to distinguish different types of trigger frames, where the different types of trigger frames include: a trigger frame not carrying a Media Access Control (MAC) function, a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function or a trigger frame carrying a plurality of MAC functions;

and a radio frequency circuit 1040, configured to send the trigger frame.

It should be noted that the trigger frame may only include a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function, which is not limited in the present invention.

Optionally, the trigger frame generated by the baseband chip includes an MAC function number identifier, where the MAC function number identifier is used to indicate the MAC function number carried by the trigger frame.

Specifically, the trigger frame type identifier may also be implemented by a MAC function number identifier, and a specific implementation manner is described in detail in embodiment 1.

It should be noted that the trigger frame type identifier and the MAC function number identifier have been explained in detail in embodiment 1, and are not described again.

Specifically, the trigger frames generated by the baseband circuit at least include three types, namely a trigger frame not carrying a MAC function, a trigger frame carrying a single MAC function, and a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions.

Optionally, as an implementation manner, the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function includes a trigger information field and a MAC function field;

It should be noted that the present invention does not limit the sequencing of each field in the trigger frame carrying a single MAC function, which has been described in detail in embodiment 1 and is not described again.

Further, in the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function, the trigger information common field is used to indicate common information of one or more stations for transmitting data packets, and the trigger information common field includes at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

Optionally, the trigger frame type identifier in the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function is further configured to determine the MAC function, where the MAC function includes: sounding, Block Acknowledgement Request (BAR) or random access trigger (TF-R),

It should be noted that the trigger frame carrying the probing function, the trigger frame carrying the block ack request function, and the trigger frame carrying the random access trigger are explained in embodiment 1, and are not described again.

Optionally, as another embodiment, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a trigger information field and multiple MAC function fields;

It should be noted that the present invention does not limit the sequencing of each field in the trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, which has been described in detail in embodiment 1 and is not described again.

It should be noted that how to define the trigger frame type sub-identifier has been elaborated in embodiment 1, and is not described again.

Optionally, as another embodiment, if the trigger frame is a trigger frame carrying multiple MAC functions, the trigger frame includes a common information field and a site-by-site field, where the common information field is located before the site-by-site field, the common information field includes a common trigger information field and multiple common MAC function fields, and the site-by-site field includes a single trigger information field and a single MAC function field.

Specifically, the trigger information individual field and the MAC function individual field in the site-by-site field are divided per site, or,

It should be added that each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit. Specifically, the implementation may be implemented by software plus necessary general hardware, where the general hardware includes a general-purpose integrated circuit, a general-purpose CPU, a general-purpose Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a general-purpose memory, general-purpose components, and the like, and the implementation may also be implemented by dedicated hardware including an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a special-purpose CPU, a special-purpose memory, dedicated components, and the like.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention essentially or partially contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including 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: a U disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other media capable of storing program codes.

Software or instructions may also be transmitted over a transmission medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of transmission medium.

Claims

1. A method for triggering frame transmission in a wireless local area network, comprising:

generating a trigger frame, wherein the trigger frame comprises a trigger frame type identifier, the trigger frame type identifier is used for indicating that the trigger frame belongs to a trigger frame carrying a plurality of MAC functions, the trigger frame comprises a plurality of MAC function fields, and one MAC function field indicates a specific MAC function;

and sending the trigger frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger frame comprises a trigger frame type sub-identification indicating a specific function for each MAC function field, wherein the functions comprise: sounding function, block acknowledgement request BAR function, or random access trigger TF-R function.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a trigger information field;

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the trigger information common field is used for indicating common information of one or more stations for transmitting data packets, and the trigger information common field comprises at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the fields of the trigger frame comprise a form of an element field, wherein the element field contains three parts of a type, a length and a value, and wherein the fields of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function comprise at least one of the following fields: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the trigger frame comprises a common information field and a site-by-site field, the common information field preceding the site-by-site field, the common information field comprising a trigger information common field and the plurality of MAC function common fields, the site-by-site field comprising a trigger information individual field and a MAC function individual field.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the trigger information separate field and the MAC function separate field of the site-by-site field are divided per site, or,

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein in the trigger frame, the trigger information common field is used for indicating common information of one or more stations for transmitting data packets, and the trigger information common field comprises at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

10. An apparatus for triggering frame transmission in a wireless local area network, comprising:

the baseband circuit generates a trigger frame, wherein the trigger frame comprises a trigger frame type identifier, the trigger frame type identifier is used for indicating that the trigger frame belongs to a trigger frame carrying a plurality of MAC functions, the trigger frame comprises a plurality of MAC function fields, and one MAC function field indicates a specific MAC function;

and the radio frequency circuit is used for sending the trigger frame.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the trigger frame comprises a trigger frame type sub-identification indicating a specific function for each MAC function field, the functions comprising: sounding function, block acknowledgement request BAR function, or random access trigger TF-R function.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the trigger type sub-identifier is located in a trigger frame header, a MAC function common field, or a trigger information common field.

13. The apparatus according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the trigger frame further comprises a trigger information field;

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the trigger information common field is used for indicating common information of one or more stations for transmitting data packets, and the trigger information common field comprises at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the fields of the trigger frame comprise a form of an element field, wherein the element field contains three parts of a type, a length and a value, and wherein the fields of the trigger frame carrying the single MAC function comprise at least one of: the trigger information separate field or the MAC function field.

16. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the trigger frame comprises a common information field and a site-by-site field, the common information field preceding the site-by-site field, the common information field comprising a trigger information common field and the plurality of MAC function common fields, the site-by-site field comprising a trigger information individual field and a MAC function individual field.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the trigger information separate field and the MAC function separate field of the site-by-site field are divided per site, or,

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the trigger information common field in the trigger frame is used for indicating common information of one or more stations for transmitting data packets, and the trigger information common field comprises at least one of the following parameters: length of data packet, guard interval GI, bandwidth BW or high efficiency long training sequence HE-LTF parameter;