CN113452416A

CN113452416A - Method, device and storage medium for associating access point equipment

Info

Publication number: CN113452416A
Application number: CN202010215260.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 闫中江; 杨懋; 狐梦实; 于健
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-24
Filing date: 2020-03-24
Publication date: 2021-09-28
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-24
Also published as: WO2021190492A1; CN113452416B

Abstract

The application discloses a method, a device and a storage medium for associating access point equipment, and belongs to the technical field of communication. In this application, the station device may transmit an association request frame to the access point device after receiving a beacon frame broadcast by the access point device through the plurality of antenna panels, and the access point device may transmit an association response frame to the station device to associate with the station device. The association request frame carries preference panel information for indicating an antenna panel that is expected to be used when the access point device serves the station device, and the association response frame indicates an antenna panel that is actually used when the access point device serves the station device. Therefore, in the association process, the station equipment can provide a suggestion to the access point equipment, and the access point equipment can respond to the suggestion, so that the access point equipment can use a proper antenna panel to serve the station equipment after association, the capacity of the multi-antenna panel is fully utilized, efficient data transmission is realized, and the throughput is improved.

Description

Method, device and storage medium for associating access point equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a storage medium for associating an access point device.

Background

Currently, the 802.11 standard is being discussed for the next generation of very high throughput (EHT) at 802.11ax, considering introducing more spatial streams. That is, throughput is improved by increasing spatial streams. However, in order to support more spatial streams, the access point device needs to install more antennas, however, the installation of more antennas on the existing access point device is difficult to implement due to the product specification and size scale of the access point device.

In the related art, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology based on multiple antenna panels is proposed, by which a plurality of antenna panels, each of which is equipped with a plurality of antennas, can be mounted on one access point device, thereby forming one access point device having multiple antenna panels. However, after the access point device with the multiple antenna panels is introduced, how to associate the access point device with the multiple antenna panels to fully utilize the capabilities of the multiple antenna panels, so as to achieve efficient data transmission, and improve throughput is an important problem that needs to be solved at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method, a device and a storage medium for associating access point equipment, which can associate the access point equipment with a multi-antenna panel and fully utilize the capacity of the multi-antenna panel to improve the throughput. The technical scheme is as follows:

in a first aspect, a method of associating access point devices is provided, a first access point device including a plurality of antenna panels, each of the plurality of antenna panels having a plurality of antennas disposed thereon, the method comprising: the first access point device broadcasting a beacon frame through the plurality of antenna panels; the method comprises the steps that first access point equipment receives an association request frame sent by station equipment, wherein the association request frame carries preference panel information, the preference panel information is used for indicating one or more first antenna panels, the first antenna panels are antenna panels used when the first access point equipment is expected to serve the station equipment, and the preference panel information is determined by the station equipment according to a beacon frame; the first access point device sends an association response frame to the station device to associate the station device with the first access point device, wherein the association response frame is used for indicating one or more second antenna panels, the second antenna panel refers to an antenna panel actually used by the first access point device when serving the station device, and the one or more second antenna panels are determined by the first access point device according to the preference panel information.

In the present application, the first access point device may broadcast the beacon frame through a plurality of antenna panels, and may broadcast periodically or may broadcast at regular time. After the first access point device broadcasts the beacon frame, a nearby station device may receive the beacon frame, and then the station device may transmit an association request frame to the first access point device to request association with the first access point device and make an antenna panel recommendation to the first access point device during association, and then the first access point device may reply to the recommendation through an association reply frame and complete association between the station device and the first access point device.

Since there may be a station device that does not support multi-antenna panel MIMO (MP MIMO) in an application scenario, in order to be compatible with the station device that does not support MP MIMO and the station device that supports MP MIMO, in this embodiment of the present application, the first station device may be compatible with both station devices through a broadcasted beacon frame.

Optionally, the first access point device broadcasts the beacon frame through a plurality of antenna panels, including: the first access point device broadcasts a first beacon frame through one or more third antenna panels at a first time, and broadcasts a second beacon frame through one or more fourth antenna panels at a second time, wherein the first beacon frame is a beacon frame which does not support MP MIMO, the second beacon frame is a beacon frame which supports MP MIMO, the first time is the same as or different from the second time, the third antenna panel is one of the antenna panels, and the one or more fourth antenna panels are the antenna panels except the one or more third antenna panels; wherein the first beacon frame carries a first Basic Service Set Identity (BSSID), the first BSS is created by the one or more third antenna panels, the second beacon frame carries an identity of a second BSS, the identity of the second BSS is different from the identity of the first BSS, and the second BSS is created by the one or more fourth antenna panels.

That is, in order to solve the compatibility problem, two beacon frames are designed in the present application, a first beacon frame may be a legacy beacon frame (legacy beacon) for being compatible with a station device that does not support MP MIMO, a second beacon frame is a newly defined beacon frame for being compatible with a station device that supports MP MIMO, and a frame format of the second beacon frame may be different from a frame format of the first beacon frame. In addition, the antenna panels broadcasting the two beacon frames are different, and the broadcasting time can be simultaneously broadcast or broadcast in a time division mode.

In this application, after the first access point device broadcasts the beacon frame through the multiple antenna panels, the station device may determine preference panel information according to the received beacon frame, carry the preference panel information in the association request frame, and send the association request frame to the first access point device, so as to propose, to the first access point device, an antenna panel that the first access point device is expected to use when serving the station device. Since the station device may receive beacon frames broadcast by all antenna panels, or may receive beacon frames broadcast by only a part of the antenna panels, and the relevant information of the antenna panels carried in the beacon frames broadcast by the respective antenna panels may be different. Based on this, there are various implementations in which the station device determines the preference panel information from the beacon frame, and two implementations thereof are described next.

In a first implementation manner, when a first access point device broadcasts a beacon frame through multiple antenna panels, the beacon frame broadcast by one antenna panel carries relevant information of the corresponding antenna panel, such as an identifier of the antenna panel, and information on whether to serve other station devices currently. After receiving the beacon frame broadcast by the antenna panel, the station device can acquire the relevant information of the antenna panel. However, since the transmission angles, the transmission powers, and the like of the antenna panels may be different, the station device may only receive the beacon frames broadcast by some of the antenna panels, and even if the station device receives the beacon frames broadcast by all of the antenna panels, the station device cannot determine whether the beacon frames broadcast by all of the antenna panels of the first access point device are received, and cannot determine whether all of the antenna panels can serve the station device. Based on this, the station device can determine preference panel information only from the information of the corresponding antenna panel carried in each received beacon frame.

In this embodiment, the station device may evaluate corresponding antenna panels according to the received signal energy, signal angle, and the like of each beacon frame, and select one or more first antenna panels from the antenna panels corresponding to the beacon frames as preference panels. The first antenna panel is one of the antenna panels corresponding to the beacon frames, and the first antenna panel is an antenna panel used when the first access point device is expected to serve the station device.

Optionally, the preference panel information includes an identification of the one or more first antenna panels. That is, the association request frame carries only the selected preference panels.

Optionally, the preference panel information includes a fourth bit sequence and an identifier of an antenna panel corresponding to each beacon frame received by the station device, where the fourth bit sequence includes a plurality of fourth bits, the plurality of fourth bits correspond to the antenna panels corresponding to each beacon frame received by the station device in a one-to-one manner, and a bit value on each fourth bit is used to indicate whether the corresponding antenna panel is the first antenna panel. That is, the association request frame carries the antenna panels corresponding to all received beacon frames, and different bit values are used to indicate whether each antenna panel is a preference panel.

Optionally, the association request frame further carries signal energy indication information, where the signal energy indication information is used to indicate that the station device receives the signal energy of the beacon frame through each of the one or more first antenna panels.

In a second implementation manner, when the first access point device broadcasts the beacon frame through the multiple antenna panels, the beacon frame broadcast by one antenna panel carries the relevant information of all the antenna panels, for example, the identifier of each antenna panel in the multiple antenna panels, and information on whether each antenna panel currently serves other station devices. After receiving a beacon frame broadcast by one antenna panel, the station device may obtain relevant information of all antenna panels, and may also determine whether each antenna panel can serve for it. Based on this, the station device can determine the preference panel information only from the information on the plurality of antenna panels carried in the received beacon frame.

Optionally, the preference panel information includes a first bit sequence, the first bit sequence includes a plurality of first bits, the plurality of first bits are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of antenna panels, and a bit value on each first bit is used to indicate whether a corresponding antenna panel is a first antenna panel. That is, the association request frame carries the identities of the multiple antenna panels on the first access point device and indicates with different bit values whether each antenna panel is a preference panel.

Optionally, in a second implementation manner, the association request frame may further carry signal energy indication information. The signal energy indication information may include signal energy of a beacon frame received by the station device through each of the plurality of antenna panels, and the carrying manner of the signal energy indication information may refer to the first implementation manner.

In this application, after receiving the association request frame carrying the preference panel information, the first access point device may determine the one or more second antenna panels after evaluating the one or more first antenna panels indicated by the preference panel information. That is, before the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the method further includes: the first access point device determining service panel information from the preference panel information, the service panel information indicating one or more second antenna panels; the association reply frame carries service panel information in the event that the one or more first antenna panels are different from the one or more second antenna panels.

Optionally, the service panel information comprises an identification of the one or more second antenna panels; or, the service panel information includes a second bit sequence, the second bit sequence includes a plurality of second bits, the plurality of second bits correspond to the plurality of antenna panels one to one, and a bit value on each second bit is used to indicate whether the corresponding antenna panel is a second antenna panel.

Optionally, the association response frame further carries antenna number indication information, where the antenna number indication information is used to indicate the number of antennas on each of the one or more second antenna panels. That is, the first access point device may further carry the number of antennas on each first antenna panel in the association response frame to notify the station device, so that the station device can more accurately obtain detailed information of each first antenna panel according to the number of antennas to evaluate the transmission capability of each first antenna panel, and then may propose a preference suggestion to the first access point device according to the evaluation result, or may request to control the antenna panel on the first access point device to turn on or turn off, etc.

Optionally, in a case that the service panel information includes the second bit sequence, the first access point device may further carry the number of antennas on each antenna panel included in itself in the association response frame.

In this application, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the first access point device and the station device complete association. After that, the first access point device may serve the station device, that is, the station device may perform data transmission with other devices through the first access point device. The first access point device may forward the data frame to the station device, or receive the data frame sent by the station device and forward the data frame to other devices. Because the first access point device includes multiple antenna panels, the data frame transmission mode of the multiple antenna panels may be a multi-panel joint transmission mode or a single-panel transmission mode, the first access point device may notify the station device of the data frame transmission mode to the station device, and the station device may accurately know which antenna panels on the first access point device transmit the currently received data frame, and may further evaluate the antenna panels according to the signal power of the received data frame.

That is, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the method further includes: the first access point device sends a data frame to the station device, where the data frame carries transmission mode indication information, and the transmission mode indication information is used to indicate whether a transmission mode of the data frame is a multi-panel joint transmission mode or a single-panel transmission mode, and to indicate an antenna panel used to transmit the data frame.

To further take advantage of the capabilities of multiple antenna panels, a method of declaring multi-panel switch states on a device is also provided herein to inform other devices of the current own panel switch states, to facilitate panel evaluation, channel measurement, etc. For example, the first access point device may declare the switch state of each antenna panel included in the access point device, and may also broadcast the declaration, or when the first access point device is a master access point device in the access point cooperation group, the master access point device may also declare the switch state of each antenna panel included in the access point device to the slave access point device, and the slave access point device may also declare the switch state of each antenna panel included in the access point device to the master access point device. If the station device also includes multiple antenna panels, the station device may also assert its own switch state of the included antenna panels to the first access point device. Next, a method for declaring a multi-panel switch state on a device provided in an embodiment of the present application is described by taking an example that a first access point device declares switch states of its own included antenna panels to a station device.

Alternatively, the type of declaration information for the device declaring the panel switch state may be various, and the declaration information type may be a panel switch state declaration, a multilink panel state declaration, a duration-based panel power saving declaration, a mode-based panel power saving declaration, or the like.

It should be noted that, in the method for declaring the multi-panel switch state on the device provided by the present application, it is assumed that the transceiving dual-transmission has a dynamic addition-subtraction support (das) capability. The station device and the first access point device may interact whether the station device and the first access point device have the das capability in the association stage, that is, the station device may carry indication information of whether the station device has the das capability in the association request frame, and the first access point device may carry indication information of whether the station device has the das capability in the association response frame. The master access point device and the slave access point device may interact whether the das capability is available when joining the cooperative group.

Optionally, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the method further includes: the first access point equipment receives a panel state acquisition request frame sent by the station equipment, wherein the panel state acquisition request frame is used for requesting to acquire the switch states of the multiple antenna panels; the first access point device sends a panel status response frame to the station device, wherein the panel status response frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used for indicating the switch status of each antenna panel in the plurality of antenna panels. That is, the first access point device may declare its multi-panel switch state after a request by the station device.

Optionally, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the method further includes: the first access point device sends a first panel status declaration frame to the station device, wherein the first panel status declaration frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used for indicating the switch status of each antenna panel in the plurality of antenna panels. That is, the first access point device may actively assert its multi-panel switch state to the station device.

Optionally, after the first access point device sends the first panel status declaration frame to the station device, the first access point device may further receive a declaration confirmation frame sent by the station device, where the declaration confirmation frame is used to instruct the station device to confirm that the first panel status declaration frame is received.

In this application, the first access point device may serve multiple links, where a target link is a link in which a station device served by the first access point device is located, and the first access point device may notify the station device of information of an antenna panel used when the target link is served. That is, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the method further includes: the first access point equipment sends a second panel state statement frame to the station equipment, and the second panel state statement frame carries first link state information; the first link state information includes an identifier of a target link and an identifier of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when the first access point device serves the target link, where the target link is a link in which the station device is located.

Optionally, after the first access point device sends the second panel status declaration frame to the station device, the first access point device may further receive a declaration confirmation frame sent by the station device, where the declaration confirmation frame is used to instruct the station device to confirm that the second panel status declaration frame is received.

Optionally, the first access point device may also broadcast panel status information corresponding to each served link. That is, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the method further includes: the first access point device broadcasts a third panel state declaration frame through the plurality of antenna panels, wherein the third panel state declaration frame carries second link state information; the second link state information includes an identifier of one or more links, and an identifier of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when serving each of the one or more links, where the one or more links include a target link, and the target link refers to a link in which the station device is located.

Optionally, the first link state information may further include a transmission power and/or a transmission angle of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when serving the target link, and the second link state information may also include a transmission power and/or a transmission angle of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when serving each link.

In this application, the first access point device may also notify the station device of information of an antenna panel to be used when changing the state of each antenna panel to save panel power. That is, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the method further includes: the first access point equipment sends a fourth panel state statement frame to the station equipment, and the fourth panel state statement frame carries panel increase and decrease information; the panel increase and decrease information includes a start time, a duration, and second panel status information, the panel increase and decrease information is used to indicate that the first access point device serves the station device according to the second panel status information within the duration from the start time, and the second panel status information is used to indicate a combination of switch statuses of the plurality of antenna panels; alternatively, the panel increase/decrease information includes third panel state information indicating one of various combinations of the switching states of the plurality of antenna panels, and the panel increase/decrease information indicates that the first access point device switches to service the station device based on the third panel state information. That is, a duration-based panel power save assertion, or a pattern-based panel power save assertion.

In order to further improve the capability of the multi-antenna panel, the application also provides a method for controlling the state of the antenna panel of other equipment so as to control the panel switch state, the transmission power, the transmission angle and the like of other equipment, thereby facilitating better utilization of the multi-antenna panel. The first access point device may control the switching states of the antenna panels included in the station device, and the station device may also request to control the switching states of the antenna panels included in the first access point device. When the first access point device is a master access point device in the access point cooperation group, the master access point device may further control the switching states of the respective antenna panels included in the slave access point device, and the slave access point device may also request to control the switching states of the respective antenna panels included in the master access point device. Next, a method for controlling the antenna panel states of other devices provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described by taking an example in which the master access point device controls the switch states of the antenna panels included in the slave access point device.

Optionally, the first access point device is a master access point device in an access point cooperation group, and the access point cooperation group further includes one or more slave access point devices; the method further comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first access point device sends a first panel state control frame to a second access point device, the first panel state control frame carries panel switch indication information, panel sending power information and/or panel sending angle information, the panel switch indication information is used for indicating that the first access point device expects to control each antenna panel in a plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device to be switched on or switched off, the panel sending power information and the panel sending angle information are respectively used for indicating that the first access point device expects to control the sending power and the sending angle corresponding to each antenna panel in the plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device, and the second access point device is one of one or more slave access point devices; the first access point device receives a control response frame sent by the second access point device, wherein the control response frame is used for indicating the second access point device to accept or reject the control of the first access point device.

Optionally, the panel switch indication information includes a third bit sequence, the third bit sequence includes a plurality of third bits, the plurality of third bits correspond to the plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device in a one-to-one manner, and a bit value on each third bit is used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control the corresponding antenna panel on the second access point device to be turned on or off.

In addition to the above description, the present application further provides a method for declaring a change in plugging/unplugging information or a panel state of an upper panel of a device, so that when a state of an antenna panel of the device changes, a change message is timely notified to other devices, so that the other devices can timely know a transmission capability of a current peer device, change a panel state of the device of the other devices, or control the panel states of the other devices, thereby ensuring communication quality. It should be noted that the declaration may be a declaration between the access point device and the station device, or between the master access point device and the slave access point device. This is described next with an assertion between the master access point device and the slave access point device.

Optionally, the first access point device is a master access point device in an access point cooperation group, and the access point cooperation group further includes one or more slave access point devices; the method further comprises the following steps: the first access point device receives a panel state change frame sent by the second access point device, wherein the panel state change frame is used for indicating an antenna panel with a changed panel state in the second access point device, the changed panel state refers to plugging and unplugging the antenna panel, or the antenna panel is turned on or turned off, and the second access point device is one of the one or more slave access point devices; if it is determined through the panel status change frame that an antenna panel is inserted in the second access point device, the first access point device transmits a panel status command frame to the second access point device, the panel status command frame being used to instruct the second access point device to turn on or turn off the inserted antenna panel.

Optionally, if it is determined through the panel status change frame that one antenna panel is unplugged in the second access point device, the first access point device sends a panel status response frame to the second access point device, where the panel status response frame is used to indicate that the first access point device has accepted the unplugged antenna panel of the second access point device.

Optionally, in a case where it is determined through the panel status change frame that one antenna panel is inserted in the second access point device, before the first access point device sends the panel status command frame to the second access point device, the method further includes: the first access point equipment sends a confirmation response frame to the second access point equipment; the first access point device sends a channel measurement frame to the second access point device to instruct the second access point device to perform channel measurement on the inserted antenna panel; the first access point equipment receives a channel measurement result sent by the second access point equipment; the first access point device performs a step of transmitting a panel status command frame to the second access point device according to the channel measurement result. That is, in the present application, the first access point device may instruct the second access point device to evaluate the inserted antenna panel, for example, initiate a channel measurement procedure to instruct the station device to perform channel measurement, and send a panel status command frame to the second access point device according to an evaluation result after evaluation to instruct the second access point device to turn on or turn off the inserted antenna panel.

In a second aspect, an apparatus for associating an access point device is provided, where the apparatus for associating an access point device has a function of implementing the method behavior of the above-mentioned first aspect for associating an access point device. The apparatus for associating an access point device includes one or more modules, and the one or more modules are configured to implement the method for associating an access point device provided in the first aspect.

That is, the present application provides an apparatus for associating an access point device, which is applied to a first access point device, where the first access point device includes a plurality of antenna panels, and each antenna panel of the plurality of antenna panels is provided with a plurality of antennas, and the apparatus includes:

a broadcasting module for broadcasting a beacon frame through the plurality of antenna panels;

a first receiving module, configured to receive an association request frame sent by a station device, where the association request frame carries preference panel information, the preference panel information is used to indicate one or more first antenna panels, a first antenna panel is an antenna panel used when a first access point device is expected to serve the station device, and the preference panel information is determined by the station device according to a beacon frame;

the first sending module is configured to send an association response frame to the station device to associate the station device with the first access point device, where the association response frame is used to indicate one or more second antenna panels, where the second antenna panel is an antenna panel actually used by the first access point device when serving the station device, and the one or more second antenna panels are determined by the first access point device according to the preference panel information.

Optionally, the preference panel information includes an identification of the one or more first antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the preference panel information includes a first bit sequence including a plurality of first bits, the plurality of first bits corresponding to the plurality of antenna panels one-to-one, and a bit value on each of the first bits indicating whether a corresponding antenna panel is a first antenna panel.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a determining module for determining service panel information from the preference panel information, the service panel information indicating the one or more second antenna panels;

the association reply frame carries service panel information in the event that the one or more first antenna panels are different from the one or more second antenna panels.

Optionally, the service panel information comprises an identification of the one or more second antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the service panel information includes a second bit sequence, the second bit sequence includes a plurality of second bits, the plurality of second bits are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of antenna panels, and a bit value on each second bit is used to indicate whether the corresponding antenna panel is a second antenna panel.

Optionally, the association response frame further carries antenna number indication information, where the antenna number indication information is used to indicate the number of antennas on each of the one or more second antenna panels.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a second sending module, configured to send a data frame to the site device, where the data frame carries transmission mode indication information, and the transmission mode indication information is used to indicate whether a transmission mode of the data frame is a multi-panel joint transmission mode or a single-panel transmission mode, and to indicate an antenna panel used to transmit the data frame.

Optionally, the broadcast module is specifically configured to:

broadcasting a first beacon frame through one or more third antenna panels at a first time, broadcasting a second beacon frame through one or more fourth antenna panels at a second time, the first beacon frame being a beacon frame that does not support MP MIMO, the second beacon frame being a beacon frame that supports MP MIMO, the first time being the same as or different from the second time, the third antenna panel being one of the plurality of antenna panels, the one or more fourth antenna panels being antenna panels of the plurality of antenna panels other than the one or more third antenna panels;

wherein the first beacon frame carries an identification of the first BSS created by the one or more third antenna panels, the second beacon frame carries an identification of the second BSS, the identification of the second BSS being different from the identification of the first BSS, the second BSS being created by the one or more fourth antenna panels.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a second receiving module, configured to receive a panel status acquisition request frame sent by the site device, where the panel status acquisition request frame is used to request to acquire switch statuses of the multiple antenna panels;

and a third sending module, configured to send a panel status response frame to the site device, where the panel status response frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used to indicate a switch status of each antenna panel in the multiple antenna panels.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a fourth sending module, configured to send a first panel status declaration frame to the site device, where the first panel status declaration frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used to indicate a switch status of each antenna panel in the multiple antenna panels.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a fifth sending module, configured to send a second panel status declaration frame to the site device, where the second panel status declaration frame carries the first link status information;

the first link state information includes an identifier of a target link and an identifier of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when serving the target link, where the target link is a link in which the station device is located.

Optionally, the broadcasting module is further configured to:

broadcasting a third panel status declaration frame through the plurality of antenna panels, the third panel status declaration frame carrying second link status information;

the second link state information includes an identifier of one or more links, and an identifier of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when serving each of the one or more links, where the one or more links include a target link, and the target link refers to a link in which the station device is located.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises:

a sixth sending module, configured to send a fourth panel status statement frame to the station device, where the fourth panel status statement frame carries panel increase and decrease information;

the panel increase-decrease information includes a start time, a duration, and second panel status information, the panel increase-decrease information is used to indicate that the first access point device serves the station device according to the second panel status information within the duration from the start time, and the second panel status information is used to indicate a combination of switch statuses of the plurality of antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the panel increase/decrease information includes third panel state information indicating one of various combinations of the on/off states of the plurality of antenna panels, and the panel increase/decrease information indicates that the first access point device switches to service the station device according to the third panel state information.

Optionally, the first access point device is a master access point device in an access point cooperation group, and the access point cooperation group further includes one or more slave access point devices;

the device also includes:

a seventh sending module, configured to send a first panel state control frame to a second access point device, where the first panel state control frame carries panel switch indication information, panel sending power information, and/or panel sending angle information, where the panel switch indication information is used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control each antenna panel of multiple antenna panels on the second access point device to be turned on or turned off, the panel sending power information and the panel sending angle information are respectively used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control sending power and a sending angle corresponding to each antenna panel of multiple antenna panels on the second access point device, and the second access point device is one of the one or more slave access point devices;

and a third receiving module, configured to receive a control response frame sent by the second access point device, where the control response frame is used to instruct the second access point device to accept or reject control of the first access point device.

the device also includes:

a fourth receiving module, configured to receive a panel state change frame sent by the second access point device, where the panel state change frame is used to indicate an antenna panel of the second access point device, where the panel state change indicates to plug or unplug the antenna panel, or turn on or off the antenna panel, and the second access point device is one of the one or more slave access point devices;

an eighth sending module, configured to send a panel status command frame to the second access point device if it is determined through the panel status change frame that one antenna panel is inserted in the second access point device, where the panel status command frame is used to instruct the second access point device to turn on or turn off the inserted antenna panel.

Optionally, the eighth sending module is specifically configured to:

sending a confirmation response frame to the second access point device;

transmitting a channel measurement frame to the second access point device to instruct the second access point device to perform channel measurement on the inserted antenna panel;

receiving a channel measurement result sent by second access point equipment;

and transmitting a panel status command frame to the second access point device according to the channel measurement result.

In a third aspect, an access point device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a program for executing the method for associating with the access point device provided in the first aspect, and store data used to implement the method for associating with the access point device provided in the first aspect. The processor is configured to execute programs stored in the memory. The operating means of the memory device may further comprise a communication bus for establishing a connection between the processor and the memory.

In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which has instructions stored therein, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of associating access point devices of the first aspect described above.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of associating an access point device as described in the first aspect above.

The technical effects obtained by the above second, third, fourth and fifth aspects are similar to the technical effects obtained by the corresponding technical means in the first aspect, and are not described herein again.

The technical scheme that this application provided can bring following beneficial effect at least:

in this application, the access point device includes a plurality of antenna panels, the station device may transmit an association request frame to the access point device after receiving a beacon frame broadcast by the access point device through the plurality of antenna panels, and the access point device may transmit an association response frame to the station device to associate with the station device. The association request frame carries preference panel information, the preference panel information is determined according to the beacon frame and is used for indicating an antenna panel which is expected to be used when the access point device serves the station device, and the association response frame is used for indicating the antenna panel which is actually used when the access point device serves the station device. Therefore, in the process of associating the station device with the access point device, the station device can propose the suggestion to the access point device, and the access point device can respond the suggestion to the station device, so that the access point device can use the most appropriate antenna panel to serve the station device after association, the capability of the multiple antenna panels is fully utilized, efficient data transmission is achieved, and throughput is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram according to a method for associating an access point device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for associating an access point device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an access point device broadcasting a beacon frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another access point device broadcasting a beacon frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of preference panel information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another structure of preference panel information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another structure of preference panel information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a structure of still another preference panel information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of still another preference panel information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of another preference panel information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a flowchart of an apparatus for associating with an access point according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a structure of service panel information according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another service panel information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna number indication information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a data frame carrying transmission mode indication information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of another data frame carrying transmission mode indication information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of another data frame carrying transmission mode indication information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an ap device declaring multi-panel switch states according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure carrying dynamic increasing/decreasing multi-panel support capability according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a method for defining sub-elements in an element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of first panel status information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of a reply acknowledgement message of a declaration included in a declaration confirmation frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of first link state information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 25 is a schematic structural diagram of panel increase/decrease information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of another panel increase/decrease information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 27 is a schematic diagram of a declaration frame structure carrying panel addition/subtraction information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 28 is a flowchart of a method for controlling the state of an antenna panel of another device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 29 is a schematic structural diagram of a first panel status control frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 30 is a schematic structural diagram of a panel status change frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 31 is a flow chart of a method for declaring a change in panel status on a device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a panel status command frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 33 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for associating with an access point device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The network architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiment of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and do not form a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art knows that along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

It is to be understood that reference herein to "at least one" means one or more and "a plurality" means two or more. In the description of the present application, "/" indicates an OR meaning, for example, A/B may indicate A or B; "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, and means that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, in order to facilitate clear description of technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, terms such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items having substantially the same functions and actions. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terms "first," "second," etc. do not denote any order or quantity, nor do the terms "first," "second," etc. denote any order or importance.

Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram according to a method for associating an access point device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 1, the system architecture includes one or more access point devices 101, station devices 102. Each access point device 101 may be connected through a wire or wirelessly to communicate with another access point device 101, the station device 102 may be connected through a wire or wirelessly to communicate with another access point device 101, each access point device 101 may include multiple antenna panels, and the station device 102 may include one or more antenna panels, each antenna panel having multiple antennas disposed thereon.

When the system architecture includes a plurality of access point devices 101, the plurality of access point devices 101 may form one or more access point cooperation groups, that is, a multi-access point device cooperation scenario. For example, one access point device 101 of the plurality of access point devices 101 serves as a master access point device, and the remaining access point devices 101 serve as slave access point devices, thereby forming an access point cooperation group. For another example, each access point device 101 may serve as a master access point device, and the remaining one or more access point devices 101 serve as slave access point devices, that is, the access point devices 101 are in parallel relationship with each other, so as to form a plurality of access point cooperation groups.

When the system architecture includes an access point device 101, a single access point device scenario is formed, with the access point device 101 independently serving the station device 102.

Access point device 101 is configured to broadcast a beacon frame to instruct station device 102 to associate with access point device 101 and to serve station device 102 after association. In a scenario where a plurality of access point devices 101 form an access point cooperation group, the master access point device 101 is also configured to control the slave access point device 101 to cooperatively serve the station device 102 with the slave access point device 101.

The station apparatus 102 is configured to receive the beacon frame broadcast by the access point apparatus 101, send an association request frame to the access point apparatus 101 to associate with the access point apparatus 101, and perform data transmission with other apparatuses through the access point apparatus 101 after association.

It should be noted that the system architecture may also include a plurality of station devices 102, each station device 102 may implement the method for associating with the access point device 101 provided in this embodiment, and the following embodiment describes the method with one station device 102.

In the embodiment of the present application, the access point device 101 may be a communication server, a router, a switch, a bridge, or the like, and the station device 102 may be a computer, a mobile phone, a communication server, a router, a switch, a bridge, or the like.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Optionally, the computer device is an access point device or a station device as shown in fig. 1, and the computer device includes one or more processors 201, a communication bus 202, a memory 203, one or more communication interfaces 204, and one or more antenna panels 205.

The processor 201 is a general Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a microprocessor, or one or more integrated circuits such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof for implementing the present invention. Optionally, the PLD is a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

A communication bus 202 is used to transfer information between the above components. Optionally, the communication bus 202 is divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

Alternatively, the memory 203 is a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), an optical disk (including a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a compact disc, a laser disk, a digital versatile disk, a blu-ray disk, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to. The memory 203 is separate and connected to the processor 201 via the communication bus 202, or the memory 203 is integrated with the processor 201.

The communication interface 204 uses any transceiver or the like for communicating with other devices or communication networks. The communication interface 204 includes a wired communication interface and optionally a wireless communication interface. The wired communication interface is, for example, an ethernet interface. Optionally, the ethernet interface is an optical interface, an electrical interface, or a combination thereof. The wireless communication interface is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) interface, a cellular network communication interface, or a combination thereof.

The antenna panel 205 is provided with a plurality of antennas, and the antenna panel 205 is used for transmitting and receiving data and performing data transmission with other devices.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the computer device comprises a plurality of processors, such as processor 201 and processor 206 shown in fig. 2. Each of these processors is a single core processor, or a multi-core processor. A processor herein optionally refers to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

In a particular implementation, the computer device further includes an output device 207 and an input device 208, as one embodiment. An output device 207 is in communication with the processor 201 and is capable of displaying information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 207 is a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, a projector (projector), or the like. The input device 208 is in communication with the processor 201 and is capable of receiving user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 208 is a mouse, keyboard, touch screen device, or sensing device, among others.

In some embodiments, the memory 203 is used to store program code 210 for performing aspects of the present application, and the processor 201 is capable of executing the program code 210 stored in the memory 203. The program code includes one or more software modules, and the computer device is capable of implementing the method for associating access point devices provided in the embodiment of fig. 3 below by the processor 201 and the program code 210 in the memory 203.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for associating an access point device, which may be applied to a first access point device including a plurality of antenna panels, where each antenna panel of the plurality of antenna panels is provided with a plurality of antennas. Referring to fig. 3, the method includes the following steps.

Step 301: the first access point device broadcasts a beacon frame through the plurality of antenna panels.

In this embodiment, the system architecture shown in fig. 1 includes one or more access point devices, and the first access point device is one of the access point devices. The first access point device may broadcast the beacon frame through multiple antenna panels, either periodically or periodically.

After the first access point device broadcasts the beacon frame, nearby station devices may receive the beacon frame, after which the station devices may send an association request frame to the first access point device to request association with the first access point device.

For example, suppose that the first access point device is a wireless Access Point (AP) device, the station device is a mobile phone, the wireless AP may broadcast a beacon frame to the surrounding environment to notify its existence, and the mobile phone may send an association request frame to the wireless AP to request to access the wireless network by scanning and receiving the beacon frame, that is, discovering the existence of the wireless AP.

Since there may be a station device that does not support MP MIMO in an application scenario, in order to be compatible with the station device that does not support MP MIMO and the station device that supports MP MIMO, in this embodiment of the application, the first station device may be compatible with the two station devices through a broadcasted beacon frame.

Optionally, the first access point device may broadcast a first beacon frame through one or more third antenna panels at a first time, broadcast a second beacon frame through one or more fourth antenna panels at a second time, the first beacon frame being a beacon frame that does not support MP MIMO, the second beacon frame being a beacon frame that supports MP MIMO, the first time being the same as or different from the second time, the third antenna panel being one of the plurality of antenna panels, and the one or more fourth antenna panels being antenna panels of the plurality of antenna panels other than the one or more third antenna panels. Wherein the first beacon frame carries an identification of the first BSS created by the one or more third antenna panels, the second beacon frame carries an identification of the second BSS, the identification of the second BSS being different from the identification of the first BSS, the second BSS being created by the one or more fourth antenna panels.

In this embodiment of the present application, a first access point device may be compatible with different station devices by sending different beacon frames, where the first beacon frame is a beacon frame that does not support MP MIMO and is used for being compatible with the station device that does not support MP MIMO, and the second beacon frame is a beacon frame that supports MP MIMO and is used for being compatible with the station device that supports MP MIMO.

It should be noted that the first BSS and the second BSS are two virtual cells created by the first access point device through different antenna panels, the first BSSID and the second BSSID are two different Media Access Control (MAC) addresses, and the two virtual cells form two virtual APs outside the pair. Since the MAC addresses of the antenna panels of the first access point device may be the same or different, if the MAC addresses of the antenna panels are the same, the first BSSID may be the MAC address, that is, the first BSSID is the MAC address of the antenna panel, and the second BSSID is a virtual identifier different from the MAC address. If the MAC addresses of the plurality of antenna panels are different, the first BSSID may be a virtual one of the MAC addresses and the second BSSID may be a virtual another one of the MAC addresses, or a MAC address of a third antenna panel may be selected as the first BSSID and a MAC address of a fourth antenna panel may be selected as the second BSSID. That is, the determined BSSID may be either a real MAC address or a newly generated MAC address.

In addition, usually, the access point device itself is equipped with a built-in antenna, the access point device itself as an independent device itself corresponds to a MAC address, and when creating a BSS, the access point device itself and the antenna panel can create the BSS, and if the identification of the BSS is a virtual MAC address, the virtual MAC address can be generated according to the MAC address of the access point device itself and the MAC address of the antenna panel.

The first beacon frame may be a legacy beacon frame, the second beacon frame is a newly defined beacon frame, and a frame format of the second beacon frame may be different from a frame format of the first beacon frame.

In addition, if the first time is the same as the second time, the station device may determine whether the received beacon frame is the first beacon frame or the second beacon frame according to the difference in frame formats of the two beacon frames by parsing the received beacon frame. Even if such station equipment requests to associate with the first access point equipment according to the incorrectly-analyzed second beacon frame, the first access point equipment will reject the association request after receiving the association request frame. The station device supporting MP MIMO can correctly resolve the second beacon frame and also correctly resolve the first beacon frame, but such station device may distinguish the first beacon frame and the second beacon frame according to the frame format, and request to associate with the first access point device only through the second beacon frame.

If the first time is different from the second time, the station device may parse the beacon frame after receiving the beacon frame for the first time, and record the receiving time, and after the first access point device is successfully associated with the beacon frame through the beacon frame and the same beacon frame is received for the second time, learn the broadcast period of the beacon frame, and then the station device may synchronously receive and parse the beacon frame according to the broadcast period, and ignore other beacon frames that are not synchronous with the broadcast period.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an access point device broadcasting a beacon frame according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 4, assuming that the first time is different from the second time, the first access point device may broadcast the first beacon frame through the antenna panel 1 at the first time and broadcast the second beacon frame through the antenna panel 2 and the antenna panel 3 at the second time.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another access point device broadcasting a beacon frame according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 5, assuming that the first time is the same as the second time, the first access point device may broadcast the first beacon frame through the antenna panel 1 and broadcast the second beacon frame through the antenna panel 2 and the antenna panel 3 at the same time.

Step 302: the first access point device receives an association request frame sent by the station device, where the association request frame carries preference panel information, where the preference panel information is used to indicate one or more first antenna panels, and the first antenna panel is an antenna panel used when the first access point device is expected to serve the station device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after a first access point device broadcasts a beacon frame through multiple antenna panels, a station device may determine preference panel information according to the received beacon frame, carry the preference panel information in an association request frame, and send the association request frame to the first access point device, so as to propose, to the first access point device, an antenna panel that the first access point device is expected to use when serving the station device. Since the station device may receive beacon frames broadcast by all antenna panels, or may receive beacon frames broadcast by only a part of the antenna panels, and the relevant information of the antenna panels carried in the beacon frames broadcast by the respective antenna panels may be different. Based on this, there are various implementations in which the station device determines the preference panel information from the beacon frame, and two implementations thereof are described next.

In this embodiment, the station device may evaluate corresponding antenna panels according to the received signal energy, signal angle, and the like of each beacon frame, and select one or more first antenna panels from the antenna panels corresponding to the beacon frames as preference panels. The first antenna panel is one of the antenna panels corresponding to the beacon frames, and the first antenna panel is an antenna panel used when the first access point device is expected to serve the station device. It should be noted that the specific evaluation method may be set according to actual requirements, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the preference panel information includes the identifier of the one or more first antenna panels, and the order of the identifier of the one or more first antenna panels in the preference panel information may be any order.

Illustratively, since a frame body of an Association Request (Association Request) frame is defined in Table 8-22-Association Request frame body of IEEE Std 802.11TM-2012, in which 256 elements (elements) are defined, in the embodiment of the present application, the structure of preference panel information may be designed with a frame structure of the elements.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of preference panel information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 6, an Octet (internet standard usage Octet) is 8 bits, a first Octet carries an identifier (element ID, Ele ID) of a corresponding element, a second Octet carries a length (length, L) of the corresponding element, one or more first antenna panel identifiers included in the preference panel information are carried from a third Octet, each first antenna panel identifier may occupy a length of one Qctet, one first antenna panel may be referred to as a preference panel (prefp), and the number of preference panel identifiers included in the preference panel information is equal to the number of preference panels selected after evaluation.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the preference panel information includes a fourth bit sequence and an identifier of an antenna panel corresponding to each beacon frame received by the station device, where the fourth bit sequence includes a plurality of fourth bits, the plurality of fourth bits correspond to the antenna panels corresponding to each beacon frame received by the station device in a one-to-one manner, and a bit value on each fourth bit is used to indicate whether a corresponding antenna panel is the first antenna panel.

Exemplarily, the preference panel information is one element, and fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another preference panel information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 7, the third Octet carries a fourth bit sequence, where the fourth bit sequence may be referred to as a Multi-panel capability (MP Capa) field, and the fourth Octet carries the identifiers of the antenna panels corresponding to the beacon frames received by the station device, where the length occupied by each antenna panel identifier may be one Qctet, and the number of the antenna panel identifiers included in the preference panel information is equal to the number of the beacon frames received by the station device after evaluation.

Optionally, the association request frame may further carry signal energy indication information, where the signal energy indication information is used to indicate the signal energy of the beacon frame received by the station device through each of the one or more first antenna panels.

In this embodiment, the signal energy indication information includes the signal energy of the beacon frame received by each of the one or more first antenna panels, and in the case that the preference panel information includes the identification of the one or more first antenna panels, the identification of each first antenna panel may be followed by the corresponding signal energy, or the identification of the last antenna panel may be followed by the corresponding signal energy of the respective antenna panels in turn in the order of the respective first antenna panels.

Illustratively, the preference panel information and the signal energy indication information are carried in one element, and fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another preference panel information provided by an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 8, starting from the third Octet, the identifiers (psid) of one or more first antenna panels included in the preference panel information are carried, and each identifier of the first antenna panel may be followed by a corresponding signal energy (RSSI), that is, on the basis of fig. 6, each identifier of the preference panel is followed by a corresponding signal energy.

Optionally, the signal energy indication information includes signal energy of antenna panels corresponding to each beacon frame received by the station device, and in the case that the preference panel information includes the fourth bit sequence, the identifier of the antenna panel corresponding to each beacon frame received by the station device may be immediately followed by the corresponding signal energy, or the identifier of the last antenna panel may be followed by the corresponding signal energy in sequence according to the order of the antenna panels corresponding to each fourth bit sequence.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 9, preference panel information may be obtained on the basis of fig. 7, following the identification of each antenna panel by the corresponding signal energy.

Optionally, the preference panel information includes a first bit sequence, the first bit sequence includes a plurality of first bits, the plurality of first bits are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of antenna panels, and a bit value on each first bit is used to indicate whether a corresponding antenna panel is a first antenna panel.

Exemplarily, the preference panel information is one element, and fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of still another preference panel information provided by an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 10, the third Octet carries a first bit sequence, which may be referred to as a multi-panel capability field, and an order of antenna panels corresponding to the first bit sequence may be the same as an order of antenna panels in a beacon frame. Or, the beacon frame carries panel sequence information indicating a sequence of the plurality of antenna panels, and the sequence of each antenna panel corresponding to the first bit sequence may be determined according to the panel sequence information.

Assuming that the first access point device includes three antenna panels, which are antenna panel 1, antenna panel 2, and antenna panel 3 in sequence, and the first antenna panel determined by the station device is antenna panel 1 and antenna panel 3, the first bit sequence may be 00000101, where the last three bit sequences correspond to antenna panel 1, antenna panel 2, and antenna panel 3 in sequence, a bit value of '1' may indicate that the corresponding antenna panel is the first antenna panel, that is, a preference panel, and a bit value of '0' may indicate that the corresponding antenna panel is not the first antenna panel, that is, not the preference panel.

For example, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of still another preference panel information provided in an embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 11, signal energy corresponding to a corresponding antenna panel may be sequentially included in an order of each antenna panel in a first bit sequence after the first bit sequence, that is, after a multi-panel capability domain, on the basis of fig. 10.

Step 303: the first access point device sends an association response frame to the station device to associate the station device with the first access point device, where the association response frame is used to indicate one or more second antenna panels, where the second antenna panels are actually used by the first access point device when serving the station device.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving an association request frame carrying preference panel information, a first access point device may determine one or more second antenna panels according to the preference panel information, where a second antenna panel refers to an antenna panel actually to be used when the station device is served by the first access point device, and send an association response frame to the station device to indicate the one or more second antenna panels to the station device. That is, after the station device makes a preference panel suggestion to the first access point device, the first access point device may respond to the suggestion to the station device.

It should be noted that the first access point device may determine the one or more second antenna panels after evaluating the one or more first antenna panels indicated by the preference panel information.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of an apparatus for associating with an access point according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 12, a Station (STA) device may send an association request frame to a first Access Point (AP) device in an association phase, where the association request frame carries preference panel information, and the first access point device may send an association response frame to the station device after receiving the association request frame, where the association response frame is used to indicate the one or more second antenna panels.

Optionally, before sending the association response frame to the station device, the first access point device may determine, according to the preference panel information, service panel information, where the service panel information is used to indicate one or more second antenna panels, and in the case that the one or more first antenna panels indicated by the preference panel information are different from the one or more second antenna panels, the service panel information is carried in the association response frame. Optionally, in the case that the one or more first antenna panels are the same as the one or more second antenna panels, the first access point device may not carry the service panel information in the association reply frame.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first access point device may evaluate one or more first antenna panels indicated by the preference panel information according to the transmission power and the transmission angle of each antenna panel mounted by itself, and the interference relationship between the antenna panels of itself and the interference relationship between the antenna panels of other devices, and then select one or more second antenna panels from the plurality of antenna panels, thereby determining the service panel information. It should be noted that, the specific evaluation method may also be set according to actual requirements, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Optionally, the service panel information comprises an identification of one or more second antenna panels. Or, the service panel information includes a second bit sequence, the second bit sequence includes a plurality of second bits, the plurality of second bits correspond to the plurality of antenna panels included in the first access point device in a one-to-one manner, and a bit value on each second bit is used to indicate whether the corresponding antenna panel is the second antenna panel.

Illustratively, the service panel information is an element, and fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a service panel information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 13, in the case that the service panel information includes one or more second antenna panel identifications, the service panel information may include one or more second antenna panel identifications (panel IDs) beginning with a third Octet, each of the second antenna panel identifications may have a length of one Qctet, one second antenna panel may be referred to as a service panel (Serv P), and the number of the service panel identifications included in the service panel information is equal to the number of service panels selected after evaluation.

Illustratively, the service panel information is an element, and fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another service panel information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 14, in a case that the service panel information includes a second bit sequence, the third Octet carries the second bit sequence, the second bit sequence may be referred to as a service panel bitmap (bitmap ), and an order of each antenna panel corresponding to the second bit sequence may be the same as an order of each antenna panel in the beacon frame.

Optionally, the association response frame may further carry antenna number indication information, where the antenna number indication information is used to indicate the number of antennas on each of the one or more second antenna panels. That is, the first access point device may further carry the number of antennas on each first antenna panel in the association response frame to notify the station device, so that the station device can more accurately obtain detailed information of each first antenna panel according to the number of antennas to evaluate the transmission capability of each first antenna panel, and then may propose a preference suggestion to the first access point device according to the evaluation result, or may request to control the antenna panel on the first access point device to turn on or turn off, etc.

Exemplarily, the antenna number indication information is one element, and fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an antenna number indication information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 15, the third Octet carries the total number (number, Num) of the second antenna panels, and from the fourth Octet, the number (antenna number, Ant number) of the antennas on each antenna panel is carried in sequence according to the sequence of the second antenna panels included in the service panel information.

Alternatively, on the basis of fig. 13, the number of antennas on each second antenna panel may be immediately followed by the identification of the corresponding second antenna panel. Alternatively, in addition to fig. 13, the number of antennas on each second antenna panel may be carried behind the identifier of the last second antenna panel in the order of the second antenna panels included in the service panel information.

For example, on the basis of fig. 14, the number of antennas on each antenna panel may be carried after the second bit sequence in sequence according to the order of each antenna panel included in the second bit sequence.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the association between the first access point device and the station device is completed. After that, the first access point device may serve the station device, that is, the station device may perform data transmission with other devices through the first access point device. The first access point device may forward the data frame to the station device, or receive the data frame sent by the station device and forward the data frame to other devices.

In this embodiment of the application, because the first access point device includes a plurality of antenna panels, a manner in which the plurality of antenna panels transmit data frames may be a multi-panel joint transmission manner or a single-panel transmission manner, the first access point device may notify the station device of the manner in which the data frames are transmitted to the station device, and the station device may accurately know which antenna panels on the first access point device transmit the currently received data frames, and further may evaluate the antenna panels according to the signal power of the received data frames, and subsequently may also propose a preference suggestion to the first access point device according to the evaluation result, or may also request to control the antenna panels on the first access point device to be turned on or turned off, and the like. It should be noted that, the specific evaluation method may also be set according to actual requirements, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

In some embodiments, the first access point device may send, to the station device, a data frame, where the data frame carries transmission mode indication information, where the transmission mode indication information is used to indicate whether a transmission mode of the data frame is a multi-panel joint transmission mode or a single-panel transmission mode, and indicates an antenna panel used to transmit the data frame.

Optionally, the transmission mode indication information includes a fifth bit sequence, and a length of the fifth bit sequence may be determined according to the maximum number of antenna panels that can be mounted in the first access point device. The length of the fifth bit sequence may be 2 if a maximum of 3 antenna panels can be mounted in the first access point device, and may be 3 if a maximum of 6 antenna panels can be mounted in the first access point device.

Assuming that at most 3 antenna panels, namely, the antenna panel 1, the antenna panel 2, and the antenna panel 3, can be installed in the first access point device, and the length of the fifth bit sequence is 2, if the value of the fifth bit sequence is 0, it may indicate that the transmission mode of the corresponding data frame is the multi-panel joint transmission mode, and if the value of the fifth bit sequence is not 0, it may indicate that the transmission mode of the corresponding data frame is the single-panel transmission mode. If the value of the fifth bit sequence is 0, it may indicate that the multi-panel joint transmission is performed using the antenna panel 1, the antenna panel 2, and the antenna panel 3, and if the value of the fifth bit sequence is 1, 2, or 3, it may indicate that the single-panel transmission is performed using the antenna panel 1, the antenna panel 2, or the antenna panel 3, respectively. In other embodiments, if the value of the fifth bit sequence is not 0, it may also indicate that the transmission mode of the corresponding data frame is a multi-panel joint transmission mode, for example, when the value of the fifth bit sequence is defined as 1, the transmission mode of the corresponding data frame is the joint transmission of antenna panel 1 and antenna panel 2, when the value of the fifth bit sequence is defined as 2, the transmission mode of the corresponding data frame is the joint transmission of antenna panel 1 and antenna panel 3, and when the value of the fifth bit sequence is defined as 3, the transmission mode of the corresponding data frame is the joint transmission of antenna panel 2 and antenna panel 3. That is, 3 different combinations of the antenna panel 1, the antenna panel 2, and the antenna panel 3 may form 3 panel combination patterns, and if the value of the fifth bit sequence is 1, 2, or 3, it may respectively indicate that the multi-panel joint transmission is performed using the corresponding panel combination pattern.

For example, assuming that the length of the fifth bit sequence may be 2, that is, data including two bits, the first access point device may carry transmission mode indication information in a Physical Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) frame, that is, the fifth bit sequence including two bits, and fig. 16, 17 and 18 are schematic structural diagrams of three data frames carrying transmission mode indication information provided in this embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 16, the transmission manner indication information may be represented by two bits in the EHT-SIG-a in the PPDU frame. Referring to fig. 17, on the basis of fig. 16, the transmission manner indication information may be carried with two bits in the LSB in the BSS color (BSS Col, cell color) field in the EHT-SIG-a in particular. Referring to fig. 18, the transmission manner indication information may be carried in two bits in a version dependent field (Ver D F) in a general information field in the PPDU frame. Optionally, the transmission mode indication information may also be carried by two bits in an MPDU (mac pdu) frame, that is, in a Data field in the PPDU frame, for example, two bits may be added before the initial position of the MPDU frame body for carrying the transmission mode indication information, and for example, two bits (for example, the third and fourth bits) may be used in the frame control field for carrying the transmission mode indication information.

In addition, it should be noted that, in the implementation manner of the station device transmitting the data frame through the first access point device in the foregoing embodiment, it is assumed that the station devices are all devices supporting MP MIMO, that is, there is no compatibility problem, in this case, if MAC addresses of multiple antenna panels on the first access point device are different, the first access point device may virtualize a BSS through the multiple antenna panels, where an identifier (BSSID) of the BSS is a virtual MAC address, and the multiple antenna panels commonly use the BSSID to externally represent as an access point device, that is, after the station device receives the data frame, it knows that a current correspondent node is an access point device through the BSSID. Each antenna panel has a unique identifier, that is, the identifiers (panel ID, P ID) of the antenna panels are different, and the antenna panel indicated by the transmission mode indication information carried by the data frame is used to indicate the station device to know the antenna panel used by the associated access point device to actually transmit the corresponding data frame. In addition, if the above compatibility problem is considered, in the implementation manner in which the station device transmits the data frame through the first access point device in the above embodiment, the station device is a device supporting MP MIMO, and the first access point device may virtualize a BSS through one or more fourth antenna panels, that is, create a second BSS for serving the station device supporting MP MIMO.

In order to further utilize the capability of the multi-antenna panel, the embodiment of the present application further provides a method for declaring the multi-panel switch state on the device, so as to inform other devices of the current own panel switch state, and facilitate panel evaluation, channel measurement, and the like. For example, the first access point device may declare the switch state of each antenna panel included in the access point device, and may also broadcast the declaration, or when the first access point device is a master access point device in the access point cooperation group, the master access point device may also declare the switch state of each antenna panel included in the access point device to the slave access point device, and the slave access point device may also declare the switch state of each antenna panel included in the access point device to the master access point device. If the station device also includes multiple antenna panels, the station device may also assert its own switch state of the included antenna panels to the first access point device.

Next, a method for declaring a multi-panel switch state on a device provided in an embodiment of the present application is described by taking an example that a first access point device declares switch states of its own included antenna panels to a station device.

In this embodiment of the application, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the panel state acquisition request frame sent by the station device may also be received, where the panel state acquisition request frame is used to request to acquire the switch states of the multiple antenna panels included in the first access point device. The first access point device may send a panel status response frame to the station device, where the panel status response frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used to indicate a switch status of each of the plurality of antenna panels.

Illustratively, fig. 19 is a flowchart illustrating that an access point device declares a multi-panel switch state according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 19, a station device (STA) may transmit a panel status acquisition request frame to a first access point device, and a first access point device (AP) may transmit a panel status response frame to the station device to inform the station device of the on/off status of each antenna panel included in itself.

It should be noted that, in the method for declaring the multi-panel switch state on the device provided in the embodiment of the present application, it is assumed that the transceiving dual-transmission has a capability of dynamically increasing/decreasing the multi-panel support (das). The station device and the first access point device may interact whether the station device and the first access point device have the das capability in the association stage, that is, the station device may carry indication information of whether the station device has the das capability in the association request frame, and the first access point device may carry indication information of whether the station device has the das capability in the association response frame. The master access point device and the slave access point device may interact whether the das capability is available when joining the cooperative group.

For example, referring to fig. 20, the indication information of whether the device is capable of das is an element, which may define an EHT capability element, and use a bit therein to indicate whether the device is capable of das, for example, bit 1 may indicate having, and 0 indicates not having.

Optionally, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the first access point device may also actively send a first panel status declaration frame to the station device, where the first panel status declaration frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used to indicate a switch status of each antenna panel in the multiple antenna panels.

Illustratively, the first panel status information may be one element. Alternatively, in the case that all the elements defined in the IEEE Std 802.11TM-2012 standard are used, as shown in fig. 21, a sub-element (sub) may be defined in one of the elements, where the length represents the total length of the element, and includes the length of the sub-element, the length of the sub-element is a variable length, and the sub-element portion may be expanded according to the different identifiers of the sub-elements, that is, one or more sub-elements are expanded in one element, and the identifier of each sub-element is different, and in the case that the element is insufficient, one sub-element may be defined to represent the first panel status information.

As can be seen from the foregoing, there may be multiple declaration information types for declaring the panel switch state of the device, see table 1, where table 1 shows several defined sub-elements and a declaration information type corresponding to each sub-element, and table 1 also shows a sub-element of the reply acknowledgement information defining an information type as declaration, which is used to represent a declaration acknowledgement frame, and the declaration acknowledgement frame includes the declaration reply acknowledgement information.

TABLE 1

Sub-element ID	Type (B)
		0	xxx
1	xxx
		xx	Panel switch status statement
……	Declared reply acknowledgement information
		……	Multi-link pavement slab state statement
……	Duration-based panel power saving declaration
		……	Pattern-based panel power saving declaration
255	xxx

For example, the first panel status information may be a sub-element, and fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of a kind of first panel status information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 22, the frame structure of the first panel status information is defined as follows:

1. sub-element ID: represents the order of the sub-elements in the dynamic add-drop support element, as shown in table 1;

2. length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. on-off status (On-off Status, On-off Sta): the switching state of the panel is represented by using a bitmap form, the front x bits represent the switching state of each antenna panel equipped on the equipment, and the rear bits are set to be 0;

4. maximum number of supported (Maximum required panel number, Max Equ P Num): the number of antenna panels which is maximally supported by the device is represented, and the device is generally considered to have the transceiving capability of the antenna, so that the value of the maximum supported number is equal to the number of antenna panels which can be assembled at most plus 1 (optionally);

5. number of equipped panels (ordered panel number): represents the number of currently equipped panels of the device that sent the sub-element, this value being equal to the number of currently equipped panels of the device plus 1 (here the default device should be equipped with at least one panel, and may also represent the equipment of 0 panels) (optionally);

6. panel list presence indication (P ID list exist, P ID Lis Exi): indicating whether a panel ID list exists behind (optionally);

7. request or response (request or response, Req or Resp): indicating whether the sub-element is present in the request frame or the response frame (optionally);

8. panel ID list: identifying a number of a particular panel; the ID length of each panel can be 8 bits, and can also be set to 3 bits or other bits (optionally) according to other requirements.

Illustratively, fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of a reply acknowledgement message of a declaration included in a declaration acknowledgement frame according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 23, the frame structure of the first panel status information is defined as follows:

1. sub-element ID: representing the order of the sub-elements in the dynamic add-drop support element;

2. length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. acknowledgement information (Ack): when the value is 1, the first panel state information is confirmed to be received, or the multi-panel state change is accepted; a value of 0 indicates rejection of the multi-panel state change.

In this embodiment, the first access point device may serve multiple links, where a target link is a link in which a station device served by the first access point device is located, and the first access point device may notify the station device of information of an antenna panel used when the target link is served.

Optionally, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, a second panel status declaration frame may also be sent to the station device, where the second panel status declaration frame carries the first link status information. The first link state information includes an identifier of a target link and an identifier of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when serving the target link, where the target link is a link in which the station device is located.

Exemplarily, fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of first link state information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 24, the first link status information is a sub-element, and the frame structure of the first panel status information is defined as follows:

2. length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. multilink ID (ML ID): a link ID indicating the use of the rear antenna panel, i.e., an identification of the target link;

4. antenna panel ID: the ID length of each antenna panel may be 8 bits, or may be set to 3 bits or other bits according to other requirements.

Optionally, the first access point device may also broadcast the panel status information corresponding to each served link, that is, the first access point device may broadcast a third panel status declaration frame through the multiple antenna panels, where the third panel status declaration frame carries the second link status information. The second link state information includes an identifier of one or more links, and an identifier of an antenna panel used by the first access point device when serving each of the one or more links, where the one or more links include a target link, and the target link is a link in which the station device is located.

Illustratively, the second link state information is a sub-element, and the second link state information includes an identification of an antenna panel used by each link, which may be immediately followed by an identification of the corresponding link.

In this embodiment, the first access point device may further notify the station device of information of an antenna panel to be used when changing the state of each antenna panel to save panel power. That is, after the first access point device sends the association response frame to the station device, the first access point device may also send a fourth panel status declaration frame to the station device, where the fourth panel status declaration frame carries the panel increase and decrease information.

The panel increase and decrease information comprises a starting time, a duration and second panel state information, the panel increase and decrease information is used for indicating that the first access point device serves the station device according to the second panel state information within the duration from the starting time, and the second panel state information is used for indicating a combination mode of switch states of a plurality of antenna panels; alternatively, the panel increase/decrease information includes third panel state information indicating one of various combinations of the switching states of the plurality of antenna panels, and the panel increase/decrease information indicates that the first access point device switches to service the station device based on the third panel state information.

From the foregoing, the declaration information type of the device may be a duration-based panel power saving declaration or a pattern-based panel power saving declaration, and based on this, the embodiment of the present application defines two sub-elements to respectively represent the panel increase and decrease information carried by the two declarations. The panel increase and decrease information represented by the sub-element defining the duration-based panel power saving statement comprises start time, duration and second panel state information, and the panel increase and decrease information represented by the sub-element defining the mode-based panel power saving statement comprises third panel state information.

Exemplarily, fig. 25 is a schematic structural diagram of panel increase and decrease information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 25, the panel addition/subtraction information is a sub-element, and the frame structure of the panel addition/subtraction information is defined as follows:

2. length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. start Time (ST): the time of the change of the state of the equipment panel switch can be about second, millisecond, microsecond or other constant time units;

4. duration (keep time, KT): the length of time that the device is to maintain the state of the panel switch after the change, which may be on the order of seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, or other constant units of time;

5. panel switch state: and second panel state information, which represents the switching state of the panel in the form of a bit map, wherein the first x bits represent the switching state of each antenna panel currently equipped on the device, and the rear bits are set to 0.

Fig. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of another panel increase/decrease information according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 26, the panel increase/decrease information is a sub-element, and the frame structure of the panel increase/decrease information is defined as follows:

2. length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. old mode (old mode, OM): the power saving mode (optional) originally employed by the multiple panels of the device;

4. new Mode (NM): third panel status information, a power saving mode to be used by multiple panels of the device, the mode being active immediately after broadcasting the information by default.

In addition to the information declaration method using the element, the a-Control field in the HE variable HT Control field may be used for information declaration in the embodiment of the present application. Table 2 shows a Control ID value of the a-Control field, table 3 shows a type value of a panel energy saving increase and decrease declaration frame structure based on the a-Control field, and fig. 27 shows a declaration frame structure of panel increase and decrease information based on the a-Control field.

TABLE 2

TABLE 3

Type value	Type (B)
		00	Duration mode
01	Old and new change mode
		10	Retention
11	Retention

The declaration frame structure of the panel addition/subtraction information shown in fig. 27 is defined as follows:

1. type (type, T): as shown in Table 3, when the type is 00, a duration pattern is indicated, at which time B3-B18 is valid, while B19-B26 have no meaning; when the type is 01, the old and new change modes are represented, B3-B18 have no meaning, and B19-B26 are effective and are reserved when the field has other values;

2. start time: the effective time of the announcement is a period of time after the information is received, the specific time value is the display value of the domain, and the time unit can be about seconds, milliseconds, microseconds or other constant time units;

3. duration: the time of the change of the state of the equipment panel switch can be about second, millisecond, microsecond or other constant time units;

4. panel switch state: second panel state information, which represents the switch state of the panel in the form of a bit map, wherein the first x bits represent the switch state of each antenna panel equipped on the device currently, and the back is set to 0;

5. the new mode is as follows: third panel status information, a power saving mode to be employed by a multi-antenna panel of the device, the mode being effective immediately after the information is broadcast by default;

6. old mode: the power saving mode (optional) originally employed by the multi-antenna panel of the device.

In order to further improve the capability of the multi-antenna panel, the embodiments of the present application further provide a method for controlling the state of the antenna panel of another device, so as to control the panel switch state, the transmission power, the transmission angle, and the like of the other device, thereby facilitating better utilization of the multi-antenna panel. The first access point device may control the switching states of the antenna panels included in the station device, and the station device may also request to control the switching states of the antenna panels included in the first access point device. When the first access point device is a master access point device in the access point cooperation group, the master access point device may further control the switching states of the respective antenna panels included in the slave access point device, and the slave access point device may also request to control the switching states of the respective antenna panels included in the master access point device.

Next, a method for controlling the antenna panel states of other devices provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described by taking an example in which the master access point device controls the switch states of the antenna panels included in the slave access point device.

In this embodiment, the first access point device is a master access point device in an access point cooperation group, the access point cooperation group further includes one or more slave access point devices, the first access point device may send a first panel status control frame to the second access point device, the first panel status control frame carries panel switch indication information, the panel transmission power information and/or the panel transmission angle information are used for indicating that the first access point device desires to control the opening or closing of each antenna panel in a plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device, the panel transmission power information and the panel transmission angle information are respectively used for indicating that the first access point device desires to control the transmission power and the transmission angle corresponding to each antenna panel in a plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device, and the second access point device is one of one or more slave access point devices. The first access point device may receive a control response frame sent by the second access point device, where the control response frame is used to instruct the second access point device to accept or reject control of the first access point device.

Fig. 28 is a flowchart of a method for controlling the state of an antenna panel of another device according to an embodiment of the present application. The first access point device is a master access point device (master AP) in the access point cooperation group, and the second access point device is one of one or more slave access point devices (slave APs). Referring to fig. 28, the first access point device may transmit a first panel status control frame to the second access point device in order to expect to control the respective antenna panels of the second access point device, and the second access point device may transmit a control response frame to the first access point device to instruct the second access point device to accept or reject the control of the first access point device.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, the first access point device may obtain an interference management result through a procedure such as channel measurement, or through processes such as centralized calculation and interference management optimization, for example, through interference relationships between each second access point device and the station device in the network and between each antenna panel on each second access point device, and determine panel switch indication information, panel transmission power information, and/or panel transmission angle information according to the interference management result, so as to desirably control the on or off of each antenna panel in the multiple antenna panels on the second access point device, and the transmission power and the transmission angle corresponding to each antenna panel. The specific channel measurement method may be set according to actual requirements, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the panel switch indication information includes a third bit sequence, the third bit sequence includes a plurality of third bits, the plurality of third bits correspond to the plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device in a one-to-one manner, and a bit value on each third bit is used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control the corresponding antenna panel on the second access point device to be turned on or turned off.

In this embodiment of the application, the first panel status control frame and the control response frame may be newly defined frames, or the panel switch indication information, the panel transmission power information, and/or the panel transmission angle information may be defined in the control frame and the management frame defined in IEEE Std 802.11TM-2012, that is, the panel switch indication information, the panel transmission power information, and/or the panel transmission angle information may all be an element or a sub-element.

Table 4 shows several sub-elements defined in the embodiments of the present application and the corresponding information types. Referring to table 4, the types of the several sub-elements newly defined are panel switch state control, panel transmission power control, and panel transmission angle control, respectively.

TABLE 4

Sub-element ID	Type (B)
		0	xxx
1	xxx
		xx	Panel switch state control
……	Panel transmit power control
		……	Panel transmission angle control
255	xxx

Fig. 29 is a schematic structural diagram of a first panel status control frame according to an embodiment of the present application, where a frame structure is defined as follows:

2. length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. command type (T): as shown in table 5, using 2 bits for representation, a type value of 00 represents a command issued by the master AP, a type value of 01 represents a command issued by the AP, a type value of 10 represents a request issued by the STA, and a type value of 00 represents a reserved value;

4. information type (information type, Info T): as shown in table 6, the type of the subsequent information is represented using 3 bits, where: when the 1 st bit value is 1, the panel mark is contained, when the 2 nd ratio is 1, the transmitting power is contained, and when the 3 rd bit value is 1, the transmitting angle is contained; correspondingly, a value of 0 means not included;

5. link identification ID: indicating that the panel switch state used by the link is to be required to be set in a subsequent manner;

6. on-off bitmap: panel switch indication information, i.e., a third bit sequence, indicating a switch state of the multi-panel, a 1 st bit value of 1 indicating that the 1 st antenna panel in the panel list is turned on (a value of 0 indicating turning off), and so on, an nth bit value of 1 indicating that the nth panel in the panel list is turned on (a value of 0 indicating turning off); when the 1 st bit value of the information type is 1, the panel list is a list formed by multiple panel IDs in subsequent information, and when the value is 0, the panel list is a panel list of a self device which is defaulted by a receiving end;

7. panel list: the identification of each antenna panel on the equipment which is expected to be controlled, the length of each panel identification can be 8 bits, and can also be set to be 3 bits or other bits according to other requirements;

8. transmit power (TX Po): the panel transmitting power information and the transmitting power of the corresponding antenna panel are in dBm, and the corresponding bit number can be set according to the precision requirement;

9. transmit angle (TX Ang): the panel sends angle information, the maximum range of the sending angle of the corresponding antenna panel is in radian, and the corresponding bit number can be set according to the precision requirement.

TABLE 5

TABLE 6

Information type value	Type (B)
		1xx	Including panel identification
x1x	Involving the transmission power
		xx1	Involving transmission angles

According to the method for controlling the states of the antenna panels of the other devices, the panel switch control, the transmission power control and/or the transmission angle control of the multi-antenna panel of the slave access point device can be performed by the master access point device, and therefore interference control and management in the access point cooperation group are achieved. The method can also realize panel switch control, transmission power control and/or transmission angle control between antenna panels of the access point equipment and the site equipment, thereby realizing interference control and management.

It should be noted that, the method for controlling the switch states of the antenna panels on the other devices may perform control by using multiple links as dimensions, that is, in the implementation manner, control or request control may be performed by using each link in the multiple links as a unit, or control or request control may be performed by using all links in a unified manner. For example, a station device may request to control the switch state of an antenna panel used when serving a target link on an access point device, as well as, for example, a master access point device may control the switch state of an antenna panel used when serving a link on a slave access point device.

In addition to the above description, the embodiment of the present application further provides a method for declaring a change in plugging/unplugging information or a panel state of an upper panel of a device, so that when an antenna panel state of the device changes, a change message is timely notified to other devices, so that the other devices can timely know a transmission capability of a current peer device, change a panel state of the device itself better, or control a panel state of the other devices, thereby ensuring communication quality. It should be noted that the declaration may be a declaration between the access point device and the station device, or between the master access point device and the slave access point device. This is described next with an assertion between the master access point device and the slave access point device.

In this embodiment, the first access point device is a master access point device in the access point cooperation group, and the second access point device is a slave access point device. When the antenna panel is plugged or plugged in or out of the second access point device or the assembled antenna panel is turned on or turned off, the second access point device may send a panel state change frame to the first access point device, and the first access point device may receive the panel state change frame sent by the second access point device, where the panel state change frame is used to indicate the antenna panel whose panel state is changed in the second access point device, and the panel state change refers to plugging or unplugging the antenna panel or turning on or turning off the antenna panel.

If it is determined through the panel status change frame that one antenna panel is inserted in the second access point device, the first access point device may transmit a panel status command frame to the second access point device, the panel status command frame instructing the second access point device to turn on or turn off the inserted antenna panel.

In this embodiment of the application, if one antenna panel is inserted or unplugged in the second access point device, or an assembled antenna panel is turned on or off, the second access point device may send a panel status change frame to the first access point device, where the panel status change frame may carry the number of panels whose status is changed and the identifier of the antenna panel whose status is changed.

Illustratively, fig. 30 is a schematic structural diagram of a panel state change frame provided in an embodiment of the present application. The panel state change frame is a sub-element, and the frame structure of the panel state change frame is defined as follows:

1. sub-element ID: indicating the order of the sub-elements in the dynamic add-drop support element.

2. Length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. changing the type T: as shown in table 7, including panel addition, panel removal, panel open, panel close;

4. the change number Num: the number of the panel state changes at this time, namely the number of the inserted panels, the number of the unplugged panels or the number of the panels of which the opening or closing state of the antenna panel is changed;

5. panel ID: the ID length of each antenna panel of the status-changed antenna panel may be 8 bits, or may be set to 3 bits or other bits according to other requirements.

TABLE 7

Changing type values	Type (B)
		00	Panel addition
01	Panel removal
		10	Panel opening
11	Panel closing

Optionally, when it is determined that one antenna panel is inserted into the second access point device through the panel status change frame, before the first access point device sends the panel status command frame to the second access point device, an acknowledgement frame may also be sent to the second access point device, where the acknowledgement frame is used to indicate that the first access point device has received a message of inserting the antenna panel into the second station device, and then a channel measurement frame is sent to the second access point device to indicate that the second access point device performs channel measurement on the inserted antenna panel. Thereafter, the first access point device may receive the channel measurement result sent by the second access point device, and send a panel status command frame to the second access point device according to the channel measurement result.

In this embodiment, the first access point device may instruct the second access point device to perform an evaluation on the inserted antenna panel, for example, perform a channel measurement, and send a panel status command frame to the second access point device according to an evaluation result after the evaluation, so as to instruct the second access point device to turn on or turn off the inserted antenna panel.

Fig. 31 is a flowchart of a method for declaring a change in a panel status on a device according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 31, a first access point device is a master access point device (master AP) in an access point cooperation group, a second access point device is a slave access point device (slave AP) in the access point cooperation group, after an antenna panel is inserted into the slave access point device, a panel state change frame is sent to the master access point device, the master access point device may send an acknowledgement frame to the slave access point device, and then send a channel measurement frame to the slave access point device, so as to instruct the slave access point device to perform channel measurement on the inserted antenna panel, that is, the master access point device initiates a channel measurement procedure (sounding). The slave access point device may obtain a channel measurement result after measuring the channel quality between the inserted antenna panel and the master access point device and the interference relationship between its own antenna panel, and transmit the channel measurement result to the master access point device. The master access point device may determine from the channel measurements that the second access point device is expected to turn on or off the inserted antenna panel and send a panel status command frame to the slave access point device to instruct the second access point device to turn on or off the inserted antenna panel. Optionally, the slave access point device may further transmit a command reply frame to the master access point device in response to the command of the master access point device after receiving the panel status command frame. The specific channel measurement method may be set according to actual requirements, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the frame structure of the panel status command frame may be the same as that of the aforementioned control response frame. Alternatively, the frame structure of the panel status command frame may also be redefined.

Illustratively, the panel status command frame is a sub-element, and fig. 32 is a schematic structural diagram of a panel status command frame provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 32, the frame structure of the panel status command frame is defined as follows:

2. Length L: represents the total length (unit: byte) of the sub-element;

3. removing and confirming: acknowledgement bit for removed antenna panel, 1: indicating confirmation, 0: indicating no acknowledgement;

4. and (3) insertion confirmation: acknowledgement bit for inserted antenna panel, 1: indicating confirmation, 0: indicating no acknowledgement;

5. immediate or delayed opening: indicating whether to control the inserted antenna panel to be opened immediately or to be opened with a delay, 1: indicating immediate on, 0: indicating a delayed opening.

It should be noted that the method for declaring the change of the panel plugging information or the panel state on the device, provided by the embodiment of the present application, is applied between the master access point device and the slave access point device, and is helpful for the master access point device to perform unified scheduling on a plurality of antenna panels of all the slave access point devices, so as to achieve the purpose of interference management.

In summary, in the embodiment of the present application, the access point device includes multiple antenna panels, the station device may send an association request frame to the access point device after receiving the beacon frame broadcast by the access point device through the multiple antenna panels, and the access point device may send an association response frame to the station device to associate with the station device. The association request frame carries preference panel information, the preference panel information is determined according to the beacon frame and is used for indicating an antenna panel which is expected to be used when the access point device serves the station device, and the association response frame is used for indicating the antenna panel which is actually used when the access point device serves the station device. Therefore, in the process of associating the station device with the access point device, the station device can propose the suggestion to the access point device, and the access point device can respond the suggestion to the station device, so that the access point device can use the most appropriate antenna panel to serve the station device after association, the capability of the multiple antenna panels is fully utilized, efficient data transmission is achieved, and throughput is improved.

Fig. 33 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 3300 for associating an access point device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the apparatus 3300 for associating an access point device may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of the two as part or all of an access point device, and the access point device may be the access point device shown in fig. 1. The apparatus of the access point device is applied to a first access point device, which includes a plurality of antenna panels, each of which has a plurality of antennas disposed thereon. Referring to fig. 33, the apparatus 3300 includes: a broadcasting module 3301, a first receiving module 3302, and a first transmitting module 3303.

A broadcasting module 3301 for broadcasting a beacon frame through the plurality of antenna panels;

a first receiving module 3302, configured to receive an association request frame sent by a station device, where the association request frame carries preference panel information, the preference panel information is used to indicate one or more first antenna panels, the first antenna panel is an antenna panel used when the station device is expected to be served by a first access point device, and the preference panel information is determined by the station device according to a beacon frame;

a first sending module 3303, configured to send an association response frame to the station device to associate the station device with the first access point device, where the association response frame is used to indicate one or more second antenna panels, where the second antenna panel refers to an antenna panel actually used by the first access point device when serving the station device, and the one or more second antenna panels are determined by the first access point device according to the preference panel information.

Optionally, the apparatus 3300 further comprises:

Optionally, the broadcasting module 3301 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the apparatus 3300 further comprises:

Optionally, the broadcasting module 3301 is further configured to:

Optionally, the apparatus 3300 further comprises:

the apparatus 3300 further includes:

Optionally, the eighth sending module is specifically configured to:

sending a confirmation response frame to the second access point device;

receiving a channel measurement result sent by second access point equipment;

In this embodiment, the access point device includes multiple antenna panels, the station device may send an association request frame to the access point device after receiving a beacon frame broadcast by the access point device through the multiple antenna panels, and the access point device may send an association response frame to the station device to associate with the station device. The association request frame carries preference panel information, the preference panel information is determined according to the beacon frame and is used for indicating an antenna panel which is expected to be used when the access point device serves the station device, and the association response frame is used for indicating the antenna panel which is actually used when the access point device serves the station device. Therefore, in the process of associating the station device with the access point device, the station device can propose the suggestion to the access point device, and the access point device can respond the suggestion to the station device, so that the access point device can use the most appropriate antenna panel to serve the station device after association, the capability of the multiple antenna panels is fully utilized, efficient data transmission is achieved, and throughput is improved.

It should be noted that: in the apparatus associated with the access point device according to the foregoing embodiment, when the access point device is associated with the apparatus, only the division of the functional modules is illustrated, and in practical applications, the function distribution may be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the apparatus is divided into different functional modules, so as to complete all or part of the functions described above. In addition, the embodiments of the method and the apparatus for associating access point devices provided in the foregoing embodiments belong to the same concept, and specific implementation processes thereof are described in the embodiments of the method and will not be described herein again.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partly realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that includes one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others. It is noted that the computer-readable storage medium referred to herein may be a non-volatile storage medium, in other words, a non-transitory storage medium.

The above-mentioned embodiments are provided not to limit the present application, and any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of associating access point devices, wherein a first access point device comprises a plurality of antenna panels, wherein each antenna panel of the plurality of antenna panels has a plurality of antennas disposed thereon, the method comprising:

the first access point device broadcasting a beacon frame through the plurality of antenna panels;

the first access point device receives an association request frame sent by a station device, wherein the association request frame carries preference panel information, the preference panel information is used for indicating one or more first antenna panels, the first antenna panels are antenna panels used when the first access point device is expected to serve the station device, and the preference panel information is determined by the station device according to the beacon frame;

the first access point device sends an association response frame to the station device to associate the station device with the first access point device, where the association response frame is used to indicate one or more second antenna panels, where the second antenna panel is an antenna panel actually used by the first access point device when serving the station device, and the one or more second antenna panels are determined by the first access point device according to the preference panel information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the preference panel information includes an identification of the one or more first antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the preference panel information includes a first bit sequence including a plurality of first bits, the plurality of first bits corresponding to the plurality of antenna panels one-to-one, and a bit value on each first bit for indicating whether a corresponding antenna panel is the first antenna panel.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein prior to the first access point device sending an association reply frame to the station device, further comprising:

the first access point device determining service panel information from the preference panel information, the service panel information indicating the one or more second antenna panels;

the association reply frame carries the service panel information if the one or more first antenna panels are different from the one or more second antenna panels.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the service panel information includes an identification of the one or more second antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the service panel information includes a second bit sequence, the second bit sequence includes a plurality of second bits, the plurality of second bits correspond to the plurality of antenna panels one to one, and a bit value on each second bit is used to indicate whether a corresponding antenna panel is the second antenna panel.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the association request frame further carries signal energy indication information indicating that the station device received signal energy of the beacon frame through each of the one or more first antenna panels.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein the association reply frame further carries antenna number indication information indicating a number of antennas on each of the one or more second antenna panels.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein after the first access point device sends an association reply frame to the station device, further comprising:

the first access point device sends a data frame to the station device, wherein the data frame carries transmission mode indication information, and the transmission mode indication information is used for indicating whether the transmission mode of the data frame is a multi-panel joint transmission mode or a single-panel transmission mode and indicating an antenna panel used for transmitting the data frame.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first access point device broadcasting a beacon frame through the plurality of antenna panels comprises:

the first access point device broadcasts a first beacon frame through one or more third antenna panels at a first time, and broadcasts a second beacon frame through one or more fourth antenna panels at a second time, wherein the first beacon frame is a beacon frame which does not support MP MIMO, the second beacon frame is a beacon frame which supports MP MIMO, the first time is the same as or different from the second time, the third antenna panel is one of the antenna panels, and the one or more fourth antenna panels are antenna panels of the antenna panels except for the one or more third antenna panels;

wherein the first beacon frame carries an identification of a first basic service set, BSS, created by the one or more third antenna panels, the second beacon frame carries an identification of a second BSS, the identification of the second BSS being different from the identification of the first BSS, the second BSS created by the one or more fourth antenna panels.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein after the first access point device sends an association reply frame to the station device, further comprising:

the first access point equipment receives a panel state acquisition request frame sent by the station equipment, wherein the panel state acquisition request frame is used for requesting to acquire the switch states of the multiple antenna panels;

the first access point device sends a panel status response frame to the station device, wherein the panel status response frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used for indicating the switch status of each antenna panel in the plurality of antenna panels.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein after the first access point device sends an association reply frame to the station device, further comprising:

the first access point device sends a first panel status declaration frame to the station device, wherein the first panel status declaration frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used for indicating the switch status of each antenna panel in the plurality of antenna panels.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein after the first access point device sends an association reply frame to the station device, further comprising:

the first access point equipment sends a second panel state declaration frame to the station equipment, wherein the second panel state declaration frame carries first link state information;

12. The method of claim 1, wherein after the first access point device sends an association reply frame to the station device, further comprising:

the first access point device broadcasts a third panel status declaration frame through the plurality of antenna panels, wherein the third panel status declaration frame carries second link status information;

the second link state information includes an identifier of one or more links and an identifier of an antenna panel used by the first access point device to serve each of the one or more links, where the one or more links include a target link, and the target link is a link in which the station device is located.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein after the first access point device sends an association reply frame to the station device, further comprising:

the first access point device sends a fourth panel state statement frame to the station device, wherein the fourth panel state statement frame carries panel increase and decrease information;

the panel increase-decrease information includes a start time, a duration, and second panel status information, the panel increase-decrease information is used to instruct the first access point device to serve the station device according to the second panel status information within the duration from the start time, and the second panel status information is used to instruct a combination of switch statuses of the plurality of antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the panel increase/decrease information includes third panel state information indicating one of various combinations of the switching states of the plurality of antenna panels, and the panel increase/decrease information indicates that the first access point device switches to service the station device according to the third panel state information.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first access point device is a master access point device in a cooperation group of access points, the cooperation group of access points further comprising one or more slave access point devices;

the method further comprises the following steps:

the first access point device sends a first panel state control frame to a second access point device, where the first panel state control frame carries panel switch indication information, panel transmission power information, and/or panel transmission angle information, where the panel switch indication information is used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control each antenna panel of multiple antenna panels on the second access point device to be turned on or off, the panel transmission power information and the panel transmission angle information are respectively used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control transmission power and a transmission angle corresponding to each antenna panel of multiple antenna panels on the second access point device, and the second access point device is one of the one or more slave access point devices;

and the first access point equipment receives a control response frame sent by the second access point equipment, wherein the control response frame is used for indicating the second access point equipment to accept or reject the control of the first access point equipment.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the panel switch indication information comprises a third bit sequence comprising a plurality of third bits, the plurality of third bits corresponding one-to-one to a plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device, a bit value on each third bit to indicate that the first access point device desires to control the corresponding antenna panel on the second access point device to turn on or off.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first access point device is a master access point device in a cooperation group of access points, the cooperation group of access points further comprising one or more slave access point devices;

the method further comprises the following steps:

the first access point device receives a panel state change frame sent by a second access point device, where the panel state change frame is used to indicate an antenna panel of which the panel state changes in the second access point device, the panel state change refers to plugging and unplugging the antenna panel, or turning on or off the antenna panel, and the second access point device is one of the one or more slave access point devices;

if it is determined that an antenna panel is inserted into the second access point device through the panel status change frame, the first access point device sends a panel status command frame to the second access point device, where the panel status command frame is used to instruct the second access point device to turn on or turn off the inserted antenna panel.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein prior to the first access point device sending a panel status command frame to the second access point device in the event that it is determined from the panel status change frame that an antenna panel is inserted in the second access point device, further comprising:

the first access point device sends an acknowledgement frame to the second access point device;

the first access point device sends a channel measurement frame to the second access point device to instruct the second access point device to perform channel measurement on the inserted antenna panel;

the first access point equipment receives a channel measurement result sent by the second access point equipment;

and the first access point equipment executes a step of sending a panel state command frame to the second access point equipment according to the channel measurement result.

18. An apparatus associated with an access point device, the apparatus being applied to a first access point device, the first access point device comprising a plurality of antenna panels, each of the plurality of antenna panels having a plurality of antennas disposed thereon, the apparatus comprising:

a first receiving module, configured to receive an association request frame sent by a station device, where the association request frame carries preference panel information, where the preference panel information is used to indicate one or more first antenna panels, where the first antenna panel is an antenna panel used when the station device is expected to be served by the first access point device, and the preference panel information is determined by the station device according to the beacon frame;

a first sending module, configured to send an association response frame to the station device to associate the station device with the first access point device, where the association response frame is used to indicate one or more second antenna panels, where the second antenna panel is an antenna panel actually used by the first access point device when serving the station device, and the one or more second antenna panels are determined by the first access point device according to the preference panel information.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the preference panel information comprises an identification of the one or more first antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

20. The apparatus of claim 18 or 19, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

a determining module to determine service panel information from the preference panel information, the service panel information to indicate the one or more second antenna panels;

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the service panel information comprises an identification of the one or more second antenna panels; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

22. The apparatus of any one of claims 18-21, wherein the association request frame further carries signal energy indication information indicating that the station device received signal energy of the beacon frame through each of the one or more first antenna panels.

23. The apparatus of any of claims 18-22, wherein the association reply frame further carries antenna number indication information indicating a number of antennas on each of the one or more second antenna panels.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said broadcast module is specifically configured to:

broadcasting a first beacon frame through one or more third antenna panels at a first time, broadcasting a second beacon frame through one or more fourth antenna panels at a second time, the first beacon frame being a beacon frame that does not support MP MIMO, the second beacon frame being a beacon frame that supports MP MIMO, the first time being the same as or different from the second time, the third antenna panel being one of the plurality of antenna panels, the one or more fourth antenna panels being ones of the plurality of antenna panels other than the one or more third antenna panels;

26. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

a third sending module, configured to send a panel status response frame to the site device, where the panel status response frame carries first panel status information, and the first panel status information is used to indicate a switch status of each antenna panel in the multiple antenna panels.

27. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

28. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

a fifth sending module, configured to send a second panel status declaration frame to the site device, where the second panel status declaration frame carries first link status information;

29. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the broadcast module is further configured to:

broadcasting a third panel status statement frame through the plurality of antenna panels, the third panel status statement frame carrying second link status information;

30. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

a sixth sending module, configured to send a fourth panel status statement frame to the site device, where the fourth panel status statement frame carries panel increase and decrease information;

31. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first access point device is a master access point device in a cooperation group of access points, the cooperation group of access points further comprising one or more slave access point devices;

the device further comprises:

a seventh sending module, configured to send a first panel state control frame to a second access point device, where the first panel state control frame carries panel switch indication information, panel transmission power information, and/or panel transmission angle information, where the panel switch indication information is used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control each antenna panel of multiple antenna panels on the second access point device to be turned on or turned off, and the panel transmission power information and the panel transmission angle information are respectively used to indicate that the first access point device desires to control transmission power and a transmission angle corresponding to each antenna panel of multiple antenna panels on the second access point device, where the second access point device is one of the one or more slave access point devices;

a third receiving module, configured to receive a control response frame sent by the second access point device, where the control response frame is used to instruct the second access point device to accept or reject control of the first access point device.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the panel switch indication information comprises a third bit sequence comprising a plurality of third bits, the plurality of third bits corresponding one-to-one to a plurality of antenna panels on the second access point device, a bit value on each third bit to indicate that the first access point device desires to control the corresponding antenna panel on the second access point device to turn on or off.

33. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first access point device is a master access point device in a cooperation group of access points, the cooperation group of access points further comprising one or more slave access point devices;

the device further comprises:

a fourth receiving module, configured to receive a panel state change frame sent by a second access point device, where the panel state change frame is used to indicate an antenna panel of which a panel state changes in the second access point device, where the panel state change refers to plugging and unplugging the antenna panel or turning on or off the antenna panel, and the second access point device is one of the one or more slave access point devices;

an eighth sending module, configured to send a panel status command frame to the second access point device if it is determined that an antenna panel is inserted in the second access point device through the panel status change frame, where the panel status command frame is used to instruct the second access point device to turn on or turn off the inserted antenna panel.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the eighth sending module is specifically configured to:

sending an acknowledgement frame to the second access point device;

receiving a channel measurement result sent by the second access point device;

and sending a panel state command frame to the second access point equipment according to the channel measurement result.

35. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium has stored therein a computer program which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-17.