CN113727354A

CN113727354A - Wireless local area network communication method, related equipment and system

Info

Publication number: CN113727354A
Application number: CN202110817729.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马驰翔; 林英沛; 罗俊; 彼得·禄
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-07-30
Filing date: 2015-07-30
Publication date: 2021-11-30
Also published as: CN107852613A; CN107852613B; WO2017015941A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a wireless local area network communication method, related equipment and a system, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a first access point sends establishment information to a plurality of adjacent access points, wherein the establishment information is used for requesting to establish a cooperative service set; the first access point receives a response message fed back by the adjacent access point according to the establishment message; the first access point establishes a cooperative service set comprising the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response message, wherein the second access points are adjacent access points which send the response message; and the first access point sends confirmation messages to the plurality of second access points, wherein the confirmation messages comprise the identity identifications corresponding to the established cooperation service sets and are used for indicating that the second access points belong to the cooperation service sets corresponding to the identity identifications. By implementing the method of the invention, the channel competition overhead can be reduced when data interaction is carried out between the access points.

Description

Wireless local area network communication method, related equipment and system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a wireless local area network communication method, related device, and system.

Background

The IEEE 802.11 working Group established a High Efficiency wireless local area network (HEW SG) research Group in 2013, and established an 802.11ax working Group (TGax) in 2014, and prepared to introduce new technologies such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and scheduling. Since the AP operates in an unlicensed frequency band, cooperation between APs is particularly important for Access Points (APs) using an 802.11ax standard protocol.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic view of a scenario of a Collaborative Service Set (CSS) in the prior art. The CSS is composed of multiple Basic Service Sets (BSSs), and since an inter-BSS interaction mode may be negotiated in advance between BSSs, an AP in each BSS and a user equipment (Station, STA) interact data without interference from other BSSs, and negotiation between BSSs may be specifically completed by AP interaction data in each BSS.

Referring to fig. 1A, fig. 1A is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication principle of APs according to a conventional standard. In fig. 1A, the AP1 is a master AP, the AP2, the AP3, the AP4, and the AP5 are slave APs, and a process of the master AP interacting with the slave APs is as follows: the AP1 contends for the channel, sends a status request message (Coordination Information request) to the AP2 after channel contention succeeds, the AP2 sends a status message (Coordination Information response) to the AP1 after receiving the status request message, the AP1 contends for the channel again after receiving the status message fed back by the AP2 according to the status request message, sends the status request message to the AP3, and so on to obtain the status messages of all the slave APs, and finally generates a Coordination Information (Coordination Information communication) of the Coordination service set by combining all the received status messages, and sends the Coordination Information to each slave AP, so that each AP in the Coordination service set interacts data with each sta in a manner indicated by the Coordination Information.

In a dense deployment scenario, the distribution of APs is dense, channel competition is required before information interaction is performed between the master AP and each slave AP in the cooperative service set, and the repeated channel competition greatly increases the time overhead, so that the efficiency of data interaction between APs is low.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a wireless local area network communication method, related devices and system, which are used to solve the problem in the prior art that channel contention overhead is large when data interaction is performed between access points.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless local area network communication method, where the method includes:

a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of adjacent access points, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to set up a cooperative service set;

the first access point receives a response message fed back by the adjacent access point according to the establishment message;

the first access point establishes a cooperative service set comprising the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response message, wherein the second access points are adjacent access points which send the response message;

and the first access point sends a confirmation message to the plurality of second access points, wherein the confirmation message contains an identity identifier corresponding to the established cooperative service set and is used for indicating that the second access points belong to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the establishment message includes the identity, and is used to indicate that the collaboration service set requested to be established is a collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the establishing, by the first access point, a cooperative service set including the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response message includes:

and the first access point establishes a cooperative service set comprising the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response message, and generates an identity corresponding to the cooperative service set.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending, by the first access point, the establishment message to multiple neighboring access points includes:

the first access point broadcasts a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending, by the first access point, the establishment message to multiple neighboring access points includes:

the first access point transmits a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second access point is a neighboring access point that has sent the response message, and an RSSI when the response message is sent exceeds a preset threshold and/or an RSSI when the setup message is received exceeds a preset threshold, where the RSSI of the response message is measured by the first access point, and the RSSI of the setup message is measured by the neighboring access point and then fed back to the first access point through the response message.

With reference to the first aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless local area network communication method, where the method includes:

the second access point receives a setup message sent by the first access point, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to setup a cooperative service set;

the second access point sends a response message to the first access point according to the establishment message, so that the first access point establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point and a plurality of second access points, wherein the plurality of second access points are all adjacent access points which send the response message;

and the second access point receives a confirmation message sent by the first access point, wherein the confirmation message contains an identity identifier corresponding to the established cooperative service set and is used for indicating that the second access point belongs to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the establishment message includes the identity, and is used to indicate that the collaboration service set requested to be established is a collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the response message includes an identity of the collaboration service set.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving, by the second access point, the setup message sent by the first access point includes:

and the second access point receives the establishment message broadcast by the first access point.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving, by the second access point, the setup message sent by the first access point includes:

and the second access point receives a setup message sent by the first access point in a polling mode.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the RSSI of the second access point when the response message is sent exceeds a preset threshold and/or the RSSI of the second access point when the setup message is received exceeds a preset threshold.

With reference to the second aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless local area network communication method, where the method includes:

a first access point sends a status request message to a plurality of second access points, wherein the status request message is used for assigning channel resources for each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back status information, and the first access point and the plurality of second access points belong to a cooperative service set;

the first access point receives a state message which is sent by each second access point through the assigned channel resource and contains the state information of the second access point;

the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in the cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the state message;

and the first access point sends the corresponding cooperation message to each second access point through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending, by the first access point, a status request message to multiple second access points includes:

a first access point in a cooperative service set sends a status request message to a plurality of second access points, wherein the status request message comprises channel resource allocation information and an identity of the cooperative service set; the channel resource allocation information is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point, and the identity is used for the plurality of second access points to judge whether the second access points belong to the cooperative service set, and when the judgment result is yes, the status information is fed back to the first access point.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, before the sending, by the first access point, the status request message to the multiple second access points, the method further includes:

the first access point allocates channel resources to each second access point in the cooperative service set by using an OFDMA technology, and generates the status request message containing channel resource allocation information.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, before the sending, by the first access point, the status request message to the multiple second access points, the method further includes:

the first access point establishes the cooperating service set including the first access point and the plurality of second access points.

With reference to the third aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the sending, by the first access point, a status request message to multiple second access points includes:

the first access point sends a status request message to a plurality of second access points at a preset time point, wherein the preset time point is a time point of interaction data agreed by the first access point and the plurality of second access points in advance.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the third aspect, before the sending, by the first access point, the status request message to the multiple second access points at preset time, the method further includes:

the first access point broadcasts a broadcast message containing the preset time point, so that the plurality of second access points receiving the broadcast message are idle at the preset time point to receive the state request message, wherein the preset time point contains at least one time point.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, after the first access point sends the status request message to the multiple second access points at a preset time point, the first access point sends the status request message to the multiple second access points at a next time point; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access points receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless local area network communication method, where the method includes:

the method comprises the steps that a second access point receives a state request message sent by a first access point, wherein the state request message is a state request message sent by the first access point to a plurality of second access points, the state request message is used for assigning channel resources for each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back state information, and the first access point and the second access points belong to a cooperative service set;

the second access point sends a status message containing status information to the first access point through the channel resource assigned to the second access point and other access points in the plurality of second access points simultaneously, so that the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in the cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the status message;

and the second access points receive a cooperation message sent by the first access point, wherein the cooperation message is a corresponding cooperation message sent by the first access point to each second access point through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the receiving, by the second access point, a status request message sent by the first access point includes:

the method comprises the steps that a second access point receives a state request message sent by a first access point in a cooperative service set, wherein the state request message is the state request message sent by the first access point to a plurality of second access points, the state request message comprises channel resource allocation information and identity marks of the cooperative service set, and the channel resource allocation information is used for appointing channel resources for each second access point;

the second access point compares the identity identification with a pre-stored identity identification to judge whether the second access point belongs to the cooperative service set;

and if the first access point belongs to the second access point, the second access point sends a status message containing status information to the first access point through the channel resource assigned to the second access point and other access points in the plurality of second access points simultaneously, so that the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in the cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the status message.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

With reference to the fourth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the channel resources are time-frequency resource blocks allocated by the first access point through an OFDMA technique.

With reference to the fourth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the receiving, by the second access point, the status request message sent by the first access point includes:

and the second access point receives the state request message sent by the first access point at a preset time point, wherein the preset time point is a time point of interactive data agreed by the first access point and the plurality of second access points in advance.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, before the receiving, by the second access point, the status request message sent by the first access point at a preset time point, the method further includes:

and the second access point receives a broadcast message which is broadcasted by the first access point and contains the preset time point, wherein the broadcast message is used for enabling the plurality of second access points which receive the broadcast message to be idle at the preset time point so as to receive the state request message.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, after the second access point receives the status request message sent by the first access point at a preset time point, the second access point receives the status request message sent by the first access point at a next time point; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access points receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a first access point device, and the access point device includes:

a first sending unit, configured to send a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices, where the setup message is used to request to establish a cooperative service set;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a response message fed back by the neighboring access point device according to the establishment message;

a establishing unit, configured to establish, according to the received response message, a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, where the second access point devices are neighboring access point devices that have sent the response message;

a second sending unit, configured to send a confirmation message to the multiple second access point devices, where the confirmation message includes an identity identifier corresponding to the established cooperative service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point device belongs to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the establishment message includes the identity, and is used to indicate that the collaboration service set requested to be established is a collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the establishing unit is specifically configured to establish, according to the received response message, a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, and generate an identity corresponding to the cooperative service set.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the first sending unit is specifically configured to broadcast the setup message to the multiple neighboring access point devices.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the first sending unit is specifically configured to send the setup message to the multiple neighboring access point devices in a polling manner.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the second access point device is a neighboring access point device that has sent the response message, and an RSSI when the response message is sent exceeds a preset threshold and/or an RSSI when the setup message is received exceeds a preset threshold, where the RSSI of the response message is measured by the first access point device, and the RSSI of the setup message is measured by the neighboring access point device and then fed back to the first access point device through the response message.

With reference to the fifth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a second access point device, and the access point device includes:

a first receiving unit, configured to receive a setup message sent by a first access point device, where the setup message is used to request to establish a cooperative service set;

a sending unit, configured to send a response message to the first access point device according to the establishment message, where the response message is used for the first access point device to establish a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, and the plurality of second access point devices are all neighboring access point devices that have sent the response message;

a second receiving unit, configured to receive a confirmation message sent by the first access point device, where the confirmation message includes an identity identifier corresponding to the established cooperative service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point device belongs to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the establishment message includes the identity, and is used to indicate that the collaboration service set requested to be established is a collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the response message includes an identity of the collaboration service set.

With reference to the sixth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the first receiving unit is specifically configured to receive the setup message broadcast by the first access point device.

With reference to the sixth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the first receiving unit is specifically configured to receive a setup message sent by the first access point device in a polling manner.

With reference to the sixth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the RSSI of the second access point device when the response message is sent exceeds a preset threshold and/or the RSSI of the second access point device when the setup message is received exceeds a preset threshold.

With reference to the sixth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer, or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a first access point device, and the access point device includes:

a first sending unit, configured to send a status request message to multiple second access point devices, where the status request message is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device and instruct the multiple second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device and the multiple second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a status message containing respective status information sent by each second access point device through a channel resource assigned to the respective second access point device;

a generating unit, configured to generate, in combination with the status message, a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in the cooperation service set;

a second sending unit, configured to send the corresponding cooperation message to each second access point device through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the access point device belongs to a cooperative service set, and the first sending unit is specifically configured to send a status request message to multiple second access point devices, where the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identity of the cooperative service set; the channel resource allocation information is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point device, and the identity is used for the plurality of second access point devices to judge whether the second access point devices belong to the cooperative service set, and when the judgment result is yes, the identity feeds back state information to the first access point device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field constitute the identity.

With reference to the seventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the access point device further includes:

an allocating unit, configured to allocate channel resources to each second access point device in the cooperative service set by using an OFDMA technique, and generate the status request message including channel resource allocation information.

With reference to the seventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the access point device further includes:

an establishing unit, configured to establish the cooperative service set including the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices.

With reference to the seventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the first sending unit is specifically configured to send the status request message to multiple second access point devices at a preset time point, where the preset time point is a time point of interaction data agreed in advance by the first access point device and the multiple second access point devices.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the access point device further includes:

a broadcasting unit, configured to broadcast a broadcast message including the preset time point, so that the plurality of second access point devices that receive the broadcast message are idle at the preset time point to receive the status request message, where the preset time point includes at least one time point.

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the first sending unit sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices at a next time point after sending the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices at a preset time point; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a second access point device, and the access point device includes:

a first receiving unit, configured to receive a status request message sent by a first access point device, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to multiple second access point devices, and the status request message is used to specify a channel resource for each second access point device and indicate the multiple second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device and the second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set;

a sending unit, configured to send, through channel resources assigned to the sending unit, a status message including status information to the first access point device simultaneously with other access point devices in the plurality of second access point devices, so that the first access point device generates, in combination with the status message, a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in the cooperation service set one to one;

a second receiving unit, configured to receive a cooperation message sent by the first access point device, where the cooperation message is a corresponding cooperation message sent by the first access point device to each second access point device through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the first receiving unit includes:

a receiving subunit, configured to receive a status request message sent by a first access point device in a cooperative service set, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to multiple second access point devices, the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identifier of the cooperative service set, and the channel resource allocation information is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device;

the comparison subunit is used for comparing the identity identifier with a prestored identity identifier so as to judge whether the identity identifier belongs to the cooperative service set; and if the first access point device belongs to the first access point device, triggering the sending unit to send a status message containing status information to the first access point device through the channel resource assigned to the sending unit and other access point devices in the plurality of second access point devices, so that the first access point device generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in the cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the status message.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

With reference to the eighth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the channel resource is a time-frequency resource block allocated by the first access point device through an OFDMA technique.

With reference to the eighth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the first receiving unit is specifically configured to receive the status request message sent by the first access point device at a preset time point, where the preset time point is a time point of interaction data that is pre-agreed by the first access point device and the multiple second access point devices.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the access point device further includes:

a third receiving unit, configured to receive a broadcast message that includes the preset time point and is broadcast by the first access point device, where the broadcast message is used to enable the plurality of second access point devices that receive the broadcast message to be idle at the preset time point, so as to receive the status request message.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the first receiving unit receives, after receiving the status request message sent by the first access point device at a preset time point, the status request message sent by the first access point device at a next time point; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a first access point, and the access point device includes a processor, an input device, and an output device, where:

the processor sends a setup message to a plurality of adjacent access point devices through the output device, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to set up a cooperative service set;

the processor receives a response message fed back by the adjacent access point equipment according to the establishment message through the input device;

the processor establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices according to the received response message, wherein the second access point devices are adjacent access point devices which send the response message;

and the processor sends a confirmation message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output device, where the confirmation message includes an identity identifier corresponding to the established collaboration service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point devices belong to the collaboration service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the establishment message includes the identity, and is used to indicate that the collaboration service set requested to be established is a collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

With reference to the ninth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the establishing, by the processor, a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices according to the received response message includes:

and the processor establishes a cooperation service set comprising the first access point equipment and a plurality of second access point equipment according to the received response message, and generates an identity corresponding to the cooperation service set.

With reference to the ninth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the sending, by the processor, a setup message to the neighboring access point devices through the output device includes:

the processor broadcasts a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices through the output means.

With reference to the ninth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the sending, by the processor, a setup message to the neighboring access point devices through the output device includes:

the processor transmits a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices through the output means in a polling manner.

With reference to the ninth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the second access point device is a neighboring access point device that has sent the response message, and an RSSI when the response message is sent exceeds a preset threshold and/or an RSSI when the setup message is received exceeds a preset threshold, where the RSSI of the response message is measured by the processor, and the RSSI of the setup message is measured by the neighboring access point device and then fed back to the input apparatus through the response message.

With reference to the ninth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer, or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the ninth aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a second access point, and the access point device includes a processor, an input device, and an output device, where:

the processor receives a setup message sent by a first access point device through the input device, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to setup a cooperative service set;

the processor sends a response message to the first access point device through the output device according to the establishment message, so that the first access point device establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, where the plurality of second access point devices are all neighboring access point devices that have sent the response message;

the processor receives, through the input device, a confirmation message sent by the first access point device, where the confirmation message includes an identity identifier corresponding to the established collaboration service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point device belongs to the collaboration service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

With reference to the tenth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, the establishment message includes the identity, and is used to indicate that the collaboration service set requested to be established is a collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

With reference to the tenth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, the response message includes an identity of the collaboration service set.

With reference to the tenth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, the receiving, by the processor, the setup message sent by the first access point device through the input apparatus includes:

the processor receives a setup message broadcast by the first access point device via the input means.

With reference to the tenth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, the receiving, by the processor, the setup message sent by the first access point device through the input apparatus includes:

the processor receives a setup message sent by the first access point device in a polling mode through the input device.

With reference to the tenth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, the RSSI of the second access point device when the response message is sent exceeds a preset threshold and/or the RSSI of the second access point device when the setup message is received exceeds a preset threshold.

With reference to the tenth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer, or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a first access point, and the access point device includes a processor, an input device, and an output device, where:

the processor sends a status request message to a plurality of second access point devices through the output device, where the status request message is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device and instruct the plurality of second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set;

the processor receives, through the input device, a status message containing respective status information sent by each second access point device over the channel resources assigned to it;

the processor generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in one-to-one mode for the cooperation service set by combining the state message;

and the processor sends the corresponding cooperation message to each second access point device through the output device through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the first access point device belongs to a cooperative service set; the processor, via the output device, sending status request messages to a plurality of second access point devices, comprising:

the processor sends a status request message to a plurality of second access point devices through the output device, wherein the status request message comprises channel resource allocation information and the identification of the cooperative service set; the channel resource allocation information is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point device, and the identity is used for the plurality of second access point devices to judge whether the second access point devices belong to the cooperative service set, and when the judgment result is yes, the identity feeds back state information to the first access point device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, before the processor sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output unit, the method further includes:

the processor allocates channel resources to each second access point device in the cooperative service set by using an OFDMA technique, and generates the status request message including channel resource allocation information.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, before the processor sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output device, the processor further includes:

the processor establishes the cooperating service set including the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the sending, by the processor, a status request message to a plurality of second access point devices through the output unit includes:

the processor sends a status request message to a plurality of second access point devices at a preset time point through the output unit, wherein the preset time point is a time point of interaction data agreed in advance by the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, before the processor sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices at preset time through the output device, the processor further includes:

the processor broadcasts a broadcast message including the preset time point through the output device, so that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the broadcast message are idle at the preset time point to receive the status request message, wherein the preset time point includes at least one time point.

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the processor sends, through the output device, a status request message to the plurality of second access point devices at a next time point after sending, at a preset time point, the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access point device, where the access point device is a second access point, where the access point device includes a processor, an input device, and an output device, where:

the processor receives a status request message sent by a first access point device through an input device, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to a plurality of second access point devices, and the status request message is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device and indicate the plurality of second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device and the second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set;

the processor sends a status message containing status information to the first access point device through the output device and the channel resources assigned to the processor and other access point devices in the plurality of second access point devices simultaneously, so that the first access point device generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in the cooperation service set in a one-to-one manner by combining the status message;

the processor receives, through the input device, a cooperation message sent by the first access point device, where the cooperation message is a corresponding cooperation message sent by the first access point device to each second access point device through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, the receiving, by the processor, a status request message sent by a first access point device through the input apparatus includes:

the processor receives, through the input device, a status request message sent by a first access point device in a cooperative service set, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to multiple second access point devices, the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and identifiers of the cooperative service set, and the channel resource allocation information is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device;

the processor compares the identity identification with a pre-stored identity identification to judge whether the processor belongs to the cooperative service set;

if the first access point device belongs to the second access point device, the processor executes the step of sending a status message containing status information to the first access point device through the channel resource assigned to the first access point device and other access point devices in the plurality of second access point devices at the same time, so that the first access point device generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in the cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the status message.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, the identity is indicated in a frame of a physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, when the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, a bit is set in front of a basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, the channel resources are time-frequency resource blocks allocated by the first access point device through an OFDMA technique.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, the receiving, by the processor, the status request message sent by the first access point device through the input apparatus includes:

the processor receives a status request message sent by a first access point device at a preset time point through the input device, wherein the preset time point is a time point of interactive data agreed in advance by the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices.

With reference to the twelfth aspect, or the first possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, or the third possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, before the processor receives, through the input device, the status request message sent by the first access point device at a preset time point, the method further includes:

the processor receives a broadcast message broadcast by the first access point device and including the preset time point through the input device, wherein the broadcast message is used for enabling the plurality of second access point devices receiving the broadcast message to be idle at the preset time point so as to receive the status request message.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the twelfth aspect, after the processor receives, through the input device, the status request message sent by the first access point device at a preset time point, the processor receives, at a next time point, the status request message sent by the first access point device; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless local area network communication system, including a first access point device and a second access point device, where:

the first access point device sends a setup message to a plurality of adjacent access point devices, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to set up a cooperative service set;

the second access point equipment receives the establishment message and responds a response message to the first access point equipment according to the establishment message, wherein the second access point equipment is the access point equipment in the plurality of adjacent access point equipment;

the first access point equipment receives the response message and establishes a cooperative service set containing the first access point equipment and a plurality of second access point equipment according to the received response message;

the first access point device sends a confirmation message to the plurality of second access point devices, where the confirmation message includes an identity identifier corresponding to the established cooperative service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point devices belong to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity identifier;

the second access point device receives the acknowledgement message.

With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the thirteenth aspect,

the first access point device is the first access point device of any one of claims 34 to 41;

the second access point device is as claimed in any one of claims 42 to 49.

With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the thirteenth aspect,

the first access point device is the first access point device of any one of claims 67-74;

the second access point device is as claimed in any one of claims 75 to 82.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless local area network communication system, which includes a first access point device and a second access point device, wherein,

the first access point device sends a status request message to a plurality of second access point devices, wherein the status request message is used for assigning channel resources for each second access point device and indicating the plurality of second access point devices to feed back status information, and the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set;

the second access point equipment receives the state request message and sends a state message containing state information to the first access point equipment through the channel resource appointed to the second access point equipment;

the first access point equipment receives the status message sent by each second access point equipment, and generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point equipment in a one-to-one mode aiming at the cooperation service set by combining the status message;

the first access point device sends the corresponding cooperation message to each second access point device through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point device;

and the second access point equipment receives the cooperation message corresponding to the second access point equipment through the channel resource corresponding to the second access point equipment.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourteenth aspect,

the first access point device is the first access point device of any one of claims 50-58;

the second access point device is as claimed in any one of claims 59 to 66.

With reference to the fourteenth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourteenth aspect,

the first access point device is the first access point device of any one of claims 83-91;

the second access point device is as claimed in any one of claims 92 to 99.

In summary, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information for indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Furthermore, when interaction is carried out among the access points, the sender encapsulates the identity of the cooperative service set in the sent message, so that the receiver processes the data in the message only when judging that the cooperative service set is the cooperative service set to which the receiver belongs according to the identity, thereby reducing the pressure of processing the data by each access point in the cooperative service set; before data interaction is carried out between a first access point and a second access point in a cooperation service set, the first access point firstly establishes the cooperation service set to generate an identity of the cooperation service set, and the identity information is carried during the interaction between the access points to ensure that the interaction is more orderly and accurate; in the frame format, the identity of the cooperative service set and the identity of the basic service set share one field, so that the compatibility of the protocol standard is improved; the first access point sends a message containing preset time before sending the state request message, so that the second access point is idle in the preset time to receive the state request message, member access points in a cooperative service set participate in cooperation as much as possible, and the efficiency of cooperation among the access points is improved; furthermore, the preset time is encapsulated in the status request message and is used for indicating the time for sending the status request message next time, so that the cooperation efficiency between the access points is improved; the channel resources are distributed by the orthogonal frequency division multiple access technology, so that sufficient physical channels can be provided for each member access point, and the interference among the access points is reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a scenario diagram of a collaboration service set of the prior art;

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of APs communicating based on existing standards;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of communications between APs provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4A is a schematic diagram of a principle of sending a setup message in a broadcast manner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4B is a schematic diagram of a principle of sending a setup message in a polling manner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating a preset time indicated by a beacon frame;

fig. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating a preset time indicated by a beacon frame and a status request message;

FIG. 5C is a schematic diagram of indicating a preset time by a preset time frame;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an interaction flow of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow of interaction between access points according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15A is a schematic structural diagram of a setup unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15B is a schematic structural diagram of another setup unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17A is a schematic structural diagram of a first receiving unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 18A is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 25 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless local area network communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 27 is a schematic structural diagram of another wlan communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention. In addition, the fields in the frame structure listed in the embodiment of the present invention are only partial fields, and other fields may also be included in practical applications.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle of communication between APs according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 includes AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4, and AP5, where AP1 is a master AP and APs 2 to 5 are slave APs. Compared with the prior art shown in fig. 1A, the AP1 in fig. 2 can send the status request messages (Coordination Information requests) to the APs 2 to 5 only by successfully contending for the channel once, then receive the status messages (Coordination Information responses) sent by the APs 2 to 5 simultaneously (or synchronously), and then send the Coordination messages (Coordination Information communications) generated according to the status messages to the APs 2 to 5 simultaneously (or synchronously), thereby improving the efficiency of data interaction between the APs.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is described from an end of a first ap, and includes the following specific steps.

Step S301: the first access point sends a status request message to the plurality of second access points, wherein the status request message is used for assigning channel resources for each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back status information, and the first access point and the plurality of second access points belong to a cooperative service set.

Specifically, the first access point and the second access point are both access points in a cooperative service set, where the first access point may be a master AP; the second access point may be a slave AP, and the number of the second access points is multiple, and the second access point is used for participating in interaction dominated by the master AP.

Before the first access point sends the status request message to the plurality of second access points, it first needs to listen to the channel, and if it is assumed that the channel a is idle, then the first access point sends the status request message to the plurality of second access points through the channel a, and the specific way of sending may be broadcasting.

After receiving the status request message, each second access point may determine that the received status request message is used to indicate feedback status Information, where the status Information includes, but is not limited to, Channel State Information (CSI) of a BSS in which the second access point is located, Clear Channel Assessment (CCA), number of associated STAs, number of active STAs, and load Information.

Further, the status request message also indicates how to allocate the channel resources such that each second access point corresponds to a respective channel resource on channel a. The allocation of the channel resources may be implemented by any one or more of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) technology, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology, Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) technology, and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, but other implementations are also possible, and are not illustrated here.

Step S302: the first access point receives status messages containing respective status information sent by each second access point over respective channel resources assigned to the respective access point.

Specifically, each second access point simultaneously (or synchronously) feeds back the respective status message to the first access point through the corresponding channel resource without mutual interference, and accordingly, the first access point receives the status message sent by each second access point.

Step S303: the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in a one-to-one mode for the cooperation service set by combining the state messages.

Specifically, the first access point performs comprehensive analysis on received status request messages sent by the second access points simultaneously (or synchronously) to generate a cooperation message of the cooperation service set, where each of the second access points and the first access point corresponds to a respective cooperation message.

Step S304: and the first access point sends corresponding cooperation messages to each second access point through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point.

Specifically, the first access point sends the corresponding cooperation message to each second access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point. After receiving the cooperation message, each second access point performs data interaction with the respective STAs according to the cooperation message, so that the access points do not interfere with each other when interacting data with the respective STAs.

It should be noted that steps S301 to S304 may be repeatedly executed according to a preset time interval, that is, the channel resources in the cooperative service set may be dynamically adjusted according to the change of the state information of each access point, so as to improve the utilization rate of the channel resources and the efficiency of interaction between APs.

Further, the wireless local area network communication method shown in fig. 3 also has the following optional embodiments.

For step S301, a first access point in the cooperative service set sends a status request message to multiple second access points, where the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identity of the cooperative service set; the channel resource allocation information is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point, and the identity is used for judging whether the second access points belong to the cooperative service set or not by the plurality of second access points and feeding back state information to the first access point when the judgment result is yes.

Specifically, a plurality of cooperation service sets may exist in a certain spatial range, each cooperation service set corresponds to its own identity, and an access point in each cooperation service set stores the identity of the cooperation service set in advance. Accordingly, the status request message must carry an identity, so that the second access point can analyze that the status request message is from the cooperative service set to which the second access point belongs.

The channel resource allocation information and the identity identifier contained in the status request message can be indicated in a frame format of a Media Access Control (MAC) layer at the same time; or the channel resource allocation information is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and the identity is indicated in a common part of an HE-SIG-A or HE-SIG-B of a physical layer (PHY); table 3-1 shows the frame format of the MAC layer when both the channel resource allocation information and the identity are indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer; table 3-2 indicates the channel resource allocation information in the frame format of the MAC layer, and when the identity is indicated by the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer.

TABLE 3-1

TABLE 3-2

In table 3-1 or 3-2, a "identity (CSS color)" field indicates an identity of a cooperative service set, and a "resource indication (MAP)" field defines a resource indication that the second access point reports the cooperation information to the first access point, and includes channel resource allocation information (e.g., a mapping relationship between MAC addresses of the second access points and channel resources); the "Duration" field defines that the receiving node does not send out data for the indicated time period; the Frame control field defines the usage of the resource indication field and the indication mode of the id. For table 3-1, the "frame control" field defines the identity indicated at the "identity" field of the frame, and for table 3-2, the "frame control" defines the identity indicated at the PHY layer.

For step S302, after receiving the status request message containing the identity identifier sent by the first access point, the second access point sends a status message to the first access point, where the status message may include the identity identifier, and is used for screening whether the status message is from the cooperative service set to which the first access point belongs after the first access point receives the status message, if so, reading data in the status request message, and if not, not performing processing. The identity in the status message may be indicated in the PHY layer, or in the frame format of the MAC; table 3-3 is the frame format of the MAC layer when the id is indicated in the PHY layer; tables 3-4 are the frame formats of the MAC layer when the identity is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer.

Tables 3 to 3

Tables 3 to 4

The "identity" field is an identity of the collaborative service set, and the "frame control" field defines an indication manner of the identity. For tables 3-3, the "frame control" field defines the identity indicated at the "identity" field of the frame, and for tables 3-4, the "frame control" field defines the identity indicated at the PHY layer.

For step S304, the cooperation message includes an identifier of the cooperation service set, and the identifier may be indicated in the PHY layer or in the frame format of the MAC layer.

In yet another alternative, a frame format including the "identity" field is compatible with a frame format of a basic service set in an existing standard, specifically, N bits are added to a basic service set identification field (BSS color) of the existing standard, when the added N bits are equal to a preset value, it indicates that the existing basic service set identification field and the added N bits are used for indicating a "identity (csscolor)" field, and when the added N bits are equal to another preset value, it indicates that the existing basic service set identification field and the added N bits are used for indicating a basic service set identification. For example, assuming that the existing basic service set identifier field occupies 6 bits, the embodiment of the present invention adds 1 bit to the existing 6 bits, as shown in tables 3 to 5, and when the value of the added 1 bit is preset to be 1, the identity is represented, and when the value of the added 1 bit is 0, the basic service set identifier is represented.

Tables 3 to 5

Further, in an optional scheme, the basic service set identification field and the added N bits are used to indicate an identity, and the basic service set identification field still indicates the basic service set identification.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 3, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a wlan communication method according to another embodiment of the present invention, which is described from an end of a first access point, and further details how to establish a cooperative service set and how to establish a communication mode between the access points.

Step S401: the first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to establish a cooperative service set.

Specifically, a "frame control" field in a MAC layer frame in the establishment message (Coordination request) indicates that the establishment message is for requesting establishment of a cooperative service set.

Referring to fig. 4A, fig. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a broadcast manner, where physical addresses of the neighboring access points are encapsulated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 4-1.

TABLE 4-1

In table 4-1, "frame control" defines that the above-mentioned frame is used for requesting the establishment of a collaborative service set; a 'receiving site address (RA)' field is defined as a broadcast address so as to allow neighboring access points to reply in sequence; a field of 'Neighbor access point number (Neighbor AP number)' is defined to be transmitted to N access points; the "AP n address (APn address)" field defines the MAC address of the nth access point.

In an optional scheme, the establishment message may further carry an identity of the collaborative service set to be established, so that the neighboring access point receiving the establishment message knows which collaborative service set the collaborative service set to be established is. The identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer, or in a frame format at the MAC layer. When indicated at the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 4-2; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 4-3.

TABLE 4-2

Tables 4 to 3

Referring to fig. 4B, fig. 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner. As shown in table 4-4, the physical address of the neighboring access point to which the current poll is directed is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer.

Tables 4 to 4

In table 4-4, "frame control" defines that the above-mentioned frame is used for requesting the establishment of the collaborative service set.

Further, the establishment message may also carry an identity of the collaborative service set to be established, so that the neighboring access point receiving the establishment message knows that the collaborative service set to be established is the collaborative service set. The identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B in a frame of the PHY layer, or in a frame format of the MAC layer. When indicated in the frame format of the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 4-5; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 4-6, and in table 4-6, the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the cooperating service set to be established.

Tables 4 to 5

Tables 4 to 6

Step S402: and the first access point receives a response message fed back by the adjacent access point according to the establishment message.

Specifically, after the neighboring access point that receives the setup message parses the setup message, it can analyze that a response message (Coordination request) needs to be fed back to the first access point according to the "frame control" field, so that the neighboring access point that receives the setup message generates the response message and sends the response message to the first access point, and when sending the response message, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 4-7.

Tables 4 to 7

In tables 4-7, the "frame control" field defines the response message for establishing the collaboration service set; the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) field defines the Signal Strength measured to the setup message, and in the embodiment of the present invention, the RSSI is an optional field.

In an optional scheme, the response message further carries an identity, where the identity may be indicated by a common part of the HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B in a frame of the PHY layer by the neighboring access point, or may be indicated by the neighboring access point in a frame format of the MAC layer, and when the identity is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 4 to 8; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 4-9, and in tables 4-9, the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the collaborative service set to which the response message belongs.

Tables 4 to 8

Tables 4 to 9

Step S403: and the first access point establishes a cooperative service set comprising the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response messages, wherein the second access points are adjacent access points which send the response messages.

Specifically, although the first access point sends the setup message to each neighboring access point, some neighboring access points may not be in the signal coverage of the first access point and cannot receive the setup message; some adjacent access points are in the signal coverage range of the first access point, but the first access point is not in the signal coverage range of the adjacent access points, so that the first access point cannot receive the response messages sent by the access points; there are also some neighboring access points that do not react to the above-mentioned setup messages based on the rules of the protocol, and therefore the first access point does not receive response messages for these neighboring access points either. There may of course be other reasons why the first access point does not receive the response messages of a part of the neighbouring access points.

Further, the first access point analyzes all the received response messages to obtain all the neighboring access points which have sent the response messages, establishes a cooperative service set including the neighboring access points and the first access point, and generates the identity of the cooperative service set. For convenience of description, a neighboring access point analyzed by a first access point may be classified as a second access point. That is, when the first access point determines members of the cooperative service set, the requirements for the neighboring access points are: a response message is sent and can be received by the first access point.

In an alternative scheme, when the first access point determines members of the cooperative service set, the requirements of the first access point on the adjacent access points are as follows: a response message is sent and can be received by the first access point, and in addition, the RSSI at the time of interaction with the first access point must reach a preset value. The RSSI comprises two aspects, namely the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point and the RSSI of the response message received by the first access point, wherein the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point is measured by the adjacent access point and is sent to the first access point through the response message; the RSSI of the first access point receiving the response message is measured by the first access point. The above-mentioned that the RSSI required to reach the preset value when interacting with the first access point means that both the RSSI of the neighboring access point receiving the setup message and the RSSI of the first access point receiving the response message need to reach the preset value, or one of them needs to reach the preset value.

Further, after the first access point establishes the cooperative service set, when the cooperative service set does not have a corresponding identity, the identity of the cooperative service set may also be generated to be used for distinguishing from other cooperative service sets. In an alternative, a basic service set identifier of a basic service set in which the first access point is located may be determined as the identity identifier; in another alternative, the identity is a value randomly generated by the first access point according to a preset algorithm; in yet another alternative, when the first access point sends the establishment message of the neighboring access point that includes the identity, the included identity may be used as the identity of the cooperative service set.

Step S404: and the first access point sends confirmation messages to the plurality of second access points, wherein the confirmation messages comprise the identity identifications corresponding to the established cooperation service sets and are used for indicating that the second access points belong to the cooperation service sets corresponding to the identity identifications.

Specifically, when the acknowledgement message is transmitted, the identity may be indicated by the first access point at a common portion of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer, and when indicated at the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 4-10. The "APn address" field is used to indicate the MAC address of each second access point that is eventually joined to the cooperating service set.

Tables 4 to 10

The identity may also be indicated by the first access point in a frame format of the MAC layer, which, when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, is shown in tables 4-11, where the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the established set of cooperating services. The "APn address" field is used to indicate the MAC address of each second access point that is eventually joined to the cooperating service set.

Tables 4 to 11

In an optional scheme, the "APn address" field may further indicate number information (APn ID) of the second access point, and in an existing standard, the number information of the access point occupies a bit much smaller than a bit occupied by the MAC address, so that efficiency of cooperation between access points in a cooperation service set can be improved.

In an optional scheme, after the cooperative service set is established, the first access point and the plurality of second access points send the identity information of the cooperative service set to respective STAs, so that the STAs subsequently process only data from the cooperative service set. Specifically, the first access point sends the confirmation message to the STAs associated with the first access point while sending the confirmation message to each second access point; or sending the cooperation message to the STAs associated with the STAs when sending the cooperation message to each second access point; and a message for notifying that the cooperative service set is established can be sent to STAs of the first access point separately. Further, after confirming that the second access point belongs to the cooperative service set, the second access point may also send a notification to STAs to notify the STAs of belonging to the established cooperative service set.

Step S405: the first access point sends a status request message to the plurality of second access points, wherein the status request message is used for assigning channel resources for each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back status information, and the first access point and the plurality of second access points belong to a cooperative service set.

Step S406: the first access point receives status messages containing respective status information sent by each second access point over respective channel resources assigned to the respective access point.

Step S407: the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in a one-to-one mode for the cooperation service set by combining the state messages.

Step S408: and the first access point sends corresponding cooperation messages to each second access point through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point.

Specifically, steps S405 to 408 may respectively refer to steps S301 to S304, which are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 4, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Before data interaction is carried out between a first access point and a second access point in a cooperation service set, the first access point firstly establishes the cooperation service set to generate an identity of the cooperation service set, and the identity information is carried during the interaction between the access points to enable the interaction to be more orderly and accurate.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The description is from one end of the first access point, and further details how the access points in the cooperative service set agree on the time for data interaction, and the specific steps are as follows.

Step S501: the first access point broadcasts a broadcast message containing a preset time point, so that a plurality of second access points receiving the broadcast message are idle at the preset time point to receive the state request message, wherein the preset time point contains at least one time point.

Specifically, a "preset time of CI request" field may be added in a Beacon frame (Beacon) of the existing standard to indicate the preset time; a preset time frame (CI-announce) including a field of 'preset time' may be newly created to indicate the preset time, and a frame format of the preset time frame is shown in table 5-1.

TABLE 5-1

It should be noted that the difference between the beacon frame and the preset time frame is that the beacon frame is a standard broadcast frame, and each second access point is in an idle state when the beacon frame is broadcast, that is, each second access point can receive the beacon frame, and therefore can resolve to the preset time; the preset time frame is a newly established broadcast frame, and each second access point does not know the time for broadcasting the preset time frame, that is, each second access point is not always in an idle state when the preset time frame is broadcasted, so that some second access points may not be able to resolve the preset time.

Further, the broadcast message may also be a status request message sent by the first access point. It should be noted that, the first ap may periodically send status request messages, where each status request message includes a preset time (TX time for next CI request) to indicate a time for sending the status request message next time. The request frame of the physical layer corresponding to the status request message is shown in table 5-2.

TABLE 5-2

Still further, the preset time indicated in the broadcast message may be one time or a plurality of times, where the one time is used to indicate a time for sending the status request message next time, and when the plurality of times are provided, each time corresponds to a time for sending the status request message.

Referring to fig. 5A, fig. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating a beacon frame indicating a preset time. In fig. 5A, after receiving the beacon frame, the AP 2-AP 5 are idle for a time represented by a preset time to receive the status request message; the AP2 to AP5 receive the status request message again according to the indicated time after receiving the beacon frame next time, and the process loops.

Referring to fig. 5B, fig. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating a beacon frame and a status request message to indicate a preset time. In fig. 5B, after the AP 2-AP 5 receive the beacon frame, the time indicated by the "preset time" field in the beacon frame is idle to receive the status request message, and further, the preset time for next sending the status request message is indicated in the status request message, and so on, so that the beacon frame does not need to be sent in a loop.

Referring to fig. 5C, fig. 5C is a schematic diagram illustrating a preset time frame indicating a preset time. The method for using the preset time frame may refer to the method for using the beacon frame in fig. 5A and 5B, and is not described herein again.

Further, in an optional scheme, the broadcast message may further include an identity, which is used to clarify that the broadcast message is a message in a cooperative service set to devices that receive the broadcast message, so that the devices select whether to process data in the broadcast message.

Step S502: the first access point sends a status request message to the plurality of second access points, wherein the status request message is used for assigning channel resources for each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back status information, and the first access point and the plurality of second access points belong to a cooperative service set.

Step S503: the first access point receives status messages containing respective status information sent by each second access point over respective channel resources assigned to the respective access point.

Step S504: the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in a one-to-one mode for the cooperation service set by combining the state messages.

Step S505: and the first access point sends corresponding cooperation messages to each second access point through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point.

Specifically, steps S502 to 505 may respectively correspond to steps S301 to S304, which are not described herein again.

It should be noted that steps S501 to 505 may be repeatedly executed at preset time intervals.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 5, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Further, preset time is encapsulated in the status request message and used for indicating the time for sending the status request message to each second access point next time, so that the cooperation efficiency between the access points is improved.

The embodiments shown in fig. 3 to fig. 5 describe the implementation of the wlan communication method provided by the present invention in detail from one end of the first access point, and the following describes the implementation of the wlan communication method provided by the present invention in detail from one end of the second access point in conjunction with the embodiments shown in fig. 6 to fig. 8.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating another wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is described from an end of a second ap, and includes the following specific steps.

Step S601: the second access point receives a status request message sent by the first access point, wherein the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point to a plurality of second access points, and the status request message is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back status information, and the first access point and the second access points belong to a cooperative service set.

Specifically, the first access point and the second access point are both access points in a cooperative service set, wherein the first access point is a master control AP; the second access points are slave APs, and the number of the second access points is multiple, and the second access points are used for participating in interaction dominated by the master AP.

Before the first access point sends the status request messages (Coordination Information requests) to the plurality of second access points, it first needs to listen to the channel, and if it is assumed that channel a is idle, then the first access point sends the status request messages to the plurality of second access points through channel a, and the sending may be broadcast, and accordingly, the second access points receive the status request messages.

The second access point may determine that the received status request message is used to indicate feedback status Information, where the status Information includes, but is not limited to, Channel Status Information (CSI) of a BSS in which the second access point is located, Clear Channel Assessment (CCA), number of associated STAs, number of active STAs, and load Information.

Step S602: and the second access point sends a status message containing status information to the first access point simultaneously with other access points in the plurality of second access points through the channel resources assigned to the second access point, so that the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in a cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the status message.

Specifically, since the status request message indicates the channel resources corresponding to each second access point, the second access point feeds back the status message (Coordination Information response) to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) with other second access points through the channel resources corresponding to the second access point.

Correspondingly, the first access point receives the status messages synchronously (simultaneously) sent by the second access points, and comprehensively analyzes the status request messages to generate the cooperation messages of the cooperation service set, wherein each second access point and the first access point correspond to respective cooperation messages.

Step S603: the second access points receive the cooperation messages sent by the first access point, and the cooperation messages are corresponding cooperation messages sent to each second access point by the first access point through the corresponding channel resource of each second access point.

Specifically, the first access point sends a corresponding Coordination Information communication to each second access point through the channel resources corresponding to each second access point at the same time (or synchronously). Correspondingly, the second access point and other second access points synchronously receive the corresponding cooperation messages, and the cooperation messages are used for indicating the second access point to perform data interaction with the associated STAs and are not interfered by the other second access points.

It should be noted that steps S601 to S603 may be repeatedly executed according to a preset time interval, that is, the channel resources in the cooperative service set may be dynamically adjusted according to the change of the state information of each access point, so as to improve the utilization rate of the channel resources and the efficiency of interaction between APs.

Further, the wireless local area network communication method shown in fig. 6 also has the following optional embodiments.

For step S601, the second access point receives a status request message sent by the first access point in the cooperative service set, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point to multiple second access points, the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identity of the cooperative service set, and the channel resource allocation information is used to specify channel resources for each second access point; the second access point compares the identity identification with a prestored identity identification to judge whether the second access point belongs to a cooperative service set or not; and if the first access point belongs to the second access point, the second access point sends a state message containing the state information to the first access point through the channel resource assigned to the second access point and other access points in the plurality of second access points simultaneously, so that the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in a cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the state message.

The channel resource allocation information and the identity contained in the status request message can be indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer at the same time; or the channel resource allocation information is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, and the identity is indicated in the public part of the HE-SIG-A or the HE-SIG-B of the PHY layer; table 6-1 shows the frame format of the MAC layer when both the channel resource allocation information and the identity are indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer; table 6-2 indicates the channel resource allocation information in the frame format of the MAC layer, and when the identity is indicated by the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer.

TABLE 6-1

TABLE 6-2

In table 6-1 or 6-2, a "identity (CSS color)" field indicates an identity of a cooperative service set, and a "resource indication (MAP)" field defines a resource indication that the second access point reports the cooperation information to the first access point, and includes channel resource allocation information (e.g., a mapping relationship between MAC addresses of the second access points and channel resources); the "Duration" field defines that the receiving node does not send out data for the indicated time period; the "Frame control" field defines a use method of the "resource indication" field and an indication manner of the id. For table 6-1, the "frame control" field defines the identity indicated at the "identity" field of the frame, and for table 6-2, the "frame control" field defines the identity indicated at the PHY layer.

For step S602, after receiving the status request message including the identifier sent by the first access point and received by the second access point, the second access point sends a status message to the first access point, where the status message may include the identifier, and is used for screening whether the status message is from a cooperative service set to which the first access point belongs after the first access point receives the status message, if so, reading data in the status request message, and if not, performing no processing. The identity in the status message may be indicated in the PHY layer, or in the frame format of the MAC; table 6-3 is the frame format of the MAC layer when indicated by the PHY layer; table 6-4 is the frame format of the MAC layer when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer.

Tables 6 to 3

Tables 6 to 4

The "identity" field is an identity of the collaborative service set, and the "frame control" field defines an indication manner of the identity. For table 6-3, the "frame control" field defines the identity indicated at the "identity" field of the frame, and for table 6-4, the "frame control" field defines the identity indicated at the PHY layer.

For step S603, the cooperation message includes an identifier of the cooperation service set, and the identifier may be indicated in the PHY layer or in the frame format of the MAC layer.

In yet another alternative, a frame format including the "identity" field is compatible with a frame format of a basic service set in an existing standard, specifically, N bits are added to a basic service set identification field (BSS color) of the existing standard, when the added N bits are equal to a preset value, it indicates that the existing basic service set identification field and the added N bits are used for indicating a "identity (csscolor)" field, and when the added N bits are equal to another preset value, it indicates that the existing BSS identification field and the added N bits are used for indicating a basic service set identification field. For example, assuming that the existing basic service set identifier field occupies 6 bits, the embodiment of the present invention adds 1 bit to the existing 6 bits, as shown in tables 6 to 5, and when the value of the added 1 bit is preset to be 1, the identity is represented, and when the value of the added 1 bit is 0, the basic service set identifier is represented.

Tables 6 to 5

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 6, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating another wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is described from an end of a second access point, and further details how to establish a cooperative service set and how to communicate between the access points.

Step S701: and the second access point receives a setup message sent by the first access point, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to set up the cooperative service set.

Referring to fig. 4A, fig. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a broadcast manner, where the second access point belongs to the neighboring access points, physical addresses of the neighboring access points are all encapsulated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 7-1.

TABLE 7-1

In table 7-1, "frame control" defines that the above-mentioned frame is used for requesting the establishment of a collaborative service set; a 'receiving site address (RA)' field is defined as a broadcast address so as to allow neighboring access points to reply in sequence; "Neighbor access point number (Neighbor AP number)" is defined to be sent to N access points; the "AP n address (APn address)" defines the MAC address of the nth access point.

In an optional scheme, the establishment message may further carry an identity of the cooperative service set to be established, so that the second access point knows which cooperative service set the cooperative service set to be established is. The identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer, or in a frame format at the MAC layer. When indicated at the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 7-2; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 7-3.

TABLE 7-2

Tables 7 to 3

Referring to fig. 4B, fig. 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner, and a second access point belongs to a neighboring access point; as shown in table 7-4, the physical address of the neighboring access point to which the current poll is directed is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer.

Tables 7 to 4

In table 7-4, "frame control" defines that the above-described frame is used to request establishment of a collaborative service set.

Further, the establishment message may also carry an identity of the cooperative service set to be established, so that the second access point knows that the cooperative service set to be established is the cooperative service set. The identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B in a frame of the PHY layer, or in a frame format of the MAC layer. When indicated in the frame format of the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 7-5; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 7-6, and in table 7-6, the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the cooperating service set to be established.

Tables 7 to 5

Tables 7 to 6

Step S702: and the second access point sends a response message to the first access point according to the establishment message, so that the first access point establishes a cooperative service set comprising the first access point and a plurality of second access points, wherein the plurality of second access points are all adjacent access points which send the response message.

Specifically, after the second access point analyzes the setup message, it can analyze that a response message (Coordination response) needs to be fed back to the first access point according to the "frame control" field, so that the second access point generates the response message and sends the response message to the first access point, and when the response message is sent, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 7-7.

Tables 7 to 7

In tables 7-7, the "frame control" field defines the response message for establishing the collaboration service set; the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) field defines the Signal Strength measured to the setup message, and in the embodiment of the present invention, the RSSI is an optional field.

It should be noted that, of the neighboring access points, the neighboring access point that has sent the response message to the first access point is the second access point.

In an optional scheme, the response message further carries an identity, where the identity may be indicated by a common part of the HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B in a frame of the PHY layer by the second access point, or may be indicated by the second access point in a frame format of the MAC layer, and when the identity is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 7 to 8; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 7-9, and in tables 7-9, the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the collaborative service set to which the response message belongs.

Tables 7 to 8

Tables 7 to 9

Step S703: and the second access point receives a confirmation message sent by the first access point, wherein the confirmation message contains an identity identifier corresponding to the established cooperation service set and is used for indicating that the second access point belongs to the cooperation service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

Specifically, the identity may be indicated by the first access point at a common portion of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer when the acknowledgement message is transmitted, and the frame format at the MAC layer when indicated at the PHY layer is as shown in tables 7-10.

Tables 7 to 10

The identity may also be indicated by the first access point in a frame format of the MAC layer, which, when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, is shown in tables 7-11, where the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the established set of cooperating services. The "APn address" field is used to indicate the MAC address of each second access point that is eventually joined to the cooperating service set.

Tables 7 to 11

In an optional scheme, after the cooperative service set is established, the first access point and the plurality of second access points send the identity information of the cooperative service set to respective STAs, so that the STAs subsequently process only data from the cooperative service set. Specifically, the first access point sends the confirmation message to the STAs associated with the first access point while sending the confirmation message to each second access point; or sending the cooperation message to the STAs associated with the STAs when sending the cooperation message to each second access point; and a message for notifying that the cooperative service set is established can be sent to STAs of the first access point separately. Further, after confirming that the second access point belongs to the cooperative service set, the second access point may also send a message to STAs of the second access point to notify that the STAs belong to the established cooperative service set.

It should be noted that the confirmation message is a confirmation message generated by combining all response messages after the first access point receives the response messages fed back by all neighboring access points. Specifically, although the first access point sends the setup message to each neighboring access point, some neighboring access points may not be in the signal coverage of the first access point and cannot receive the setup message; some adjacent access points are in the signal coverage range of the first access point, but the first access point is not in the signal coverage range of the adjacent access points, so that the first access point cannot receive the response messages sent by the access points; there are also some neighboring access points that do not react to the above-mentioned setup messages based on the rules of the protocol, and therefore the first access point does not receive response messages for these neighboring access points either. There may of course be other reasons why the first access point does not receive the response messages of a part of the neighbouring access points.

Further, the first access point analyzes all the received response messages to obtain all the neighboring access points which have sent the response messages, and establishes a cooperative service set including the neighboring access points and the first access point. For convenience of description, a neighboring access point analyzed by a first access point may be classified as a second access point. That is, when the first access point determines members of the cooperative service set, the requirements for the neighboring access points are: a response message is sent and can be received by the first access point.

In an alternative scheme, when the first access point determines members of the cooperative service set, the requirements of the first access point on the adjacent access points are as follows: a response message is sent and can be received by the first access point, and in addition, the RSSI at the time of interaction with the first access point must reach a preset value. The RSSI comprises two aspects, namely the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point and the RSSI of the response message received by the first access point, wherein the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point is measured by the adjacent access point and is sent to the first access point through the response message; the RSSI of the first access point receiving the response message is measured by the first access point. The fact that the RSSI of the first ap needs to reach the predetermined value means that both the RSSI of the neighboring aps receiving the setup message and the RSSI of the first ap receiving the response message need to reach the predetermined value, or one of the two needs to reach the predetermined value.

Further, after the first access point establishes the cooperative service set, when the cooperative service set does not have a corresponding identity, the identity of the cooperative service set may also be generated to be used for distinguishing from other cooperative service sets.

In one alternative, the basic service set identification of the basic service set may be determined as the identity; in another alternative, the identity is a value randomly generated by the first access point according to a preset algorithm; in yet another alternative, when the first access point sends the establishment message of the neighboring access point that includes the identity, the included identity may be used as the identity of the cooperative service set.

Step S704: the second access point receives a status request message sent by the first access point, wherein the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point to a plurality of second access points, and the status request message is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back status information, and the first access point and the second access points belong to a cooperative service set.

Step S705: and the second access point sends a status message containing status information to the first access point simultaneously with other access points in the plurality of second access points through the channel resources assigned to the second access point, so that the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in a cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the status message.

Step S706: the second access points receive the cooperation messages sent by the first access point, and the cooperation messages are corresponding cooperation messages sent to each second access point by the first access point through the corresponding channel resource of each second access point.

Specifically, steps S704 to 706 may refer to steps S601 to S603, which are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 7, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Furthermore, before data interaction is carried out between a first access point and a second access point in the cooperative service set, the first access point firstly establishes the cooperative service set to generate the identity of the cooperative service set, and the access points carry identity information during interaction to enable the interaction to be more orderly and accurate.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The description is from one end of the second access point, and further details how the access points in the cooperative service set agree on the time for data interaction, and the specific steps are as follows.

Step S801: and the second access point receives the state request message sent by the first access point at a preset time point, wherein the preset time point is a time point of interactive data which is pre-agreed by the first access point and the plurality of second access points.

Specifically, a "preset time of CI request" field may be added in a Beacon frame (Beacon) of the existing standard to indicate the preset time; a preset time frame (CI-announce) of a broadcast frame including a field of 'preset time' may be newly created to indicate the preset time, and a frame format of the preset time frame is shown in table 8-1.

TABLE 8-1

It should be noted that the difference between the beacon frame and the preset time frame is that the beacon frame is a standard broadcast frame, and each second access point is in an idle state when the beacon frame is broadcast, that is, each second access point can receive the beacon frame, and therefore can resolve to the "preset time"; the preset time frame is a newly established broadcast frame, and each second access point does not know the time for broadcasting the preset time frame, that is, each second access point is not always in an idle state when the preset time frame is broadcasted, so that some second access points may not be able to resolve the preset time.

Further, the broadcast message may also be a status request message sent by the first access point. It should be noted that, the first access point may periodically send status request messages, and each status request message includes a preset time to indicate a time for sending the status request message next time. The request frame of the physical layer corresponding to the status request message is shown in table 8-2.

TABLE 8-2

Referring to fig. 5A, fig. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating a beacon frame broadcasting a frame to indicate a preset time. In fig. 5A, after receiving the beacon frame, the AP 2-AP 5 are idle for a time represented by a preset time to receive the status request message; the AP2 to AP5 receive the status request message again according to the indicated time after receiving the beacon frame next time, and the process loops.

Referring to fig. 5B, fig. 5B is a diagram illustrating that a preset time is indicated by a beacon frame and a status request message. In fig. 5B, after the AP 2-AP 5 receive the beacon frame, the time indicated by the "preset time" field in the beacon frame is idle to receive the status request message, and further, the preset time for next sending the status request message is indicated in the status request message, and so on, so that the beacon frame does not need to be sent in a loop.

Step S802: the second access point receives a status request message sent by the first access point, wherein the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point to a plurality of second access points, and the status request message is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point and indicating the plurality of second access points to feed back status information, and the first access point and the second access points belong to a cooperative service set.

Step S803: and the second access point sends a status message containing status information to the first access point simultaneously with other access points in the plurality of second access points through the channel resources assigned to the second access point, so that the first access point generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point in a cooperation service set in a one-to-one mode by combining the status message.

Step S804: the second access points receive the cooperation messages sent by the first access point, and the cooperation messages are corresponding cooperation messages sent to each second access point by the first access point through the corresponding channel resource of each second access point.

Specifically, steps 802 to 804 can refer to steps S601 to S603, which are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 8, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic view of an access point interaction flow provided by an embodiment of the present invention, which is used for interaction between a first access point and a second access point, and the specific steps are as follows.

Step S901: a first access point sends establishment information to a plurality of adjacent access points, wherein the establishment information is used for requesting to establish a cooperative service set;

step S902: the second access point receives the establishment message;

step S903: the second access point responds to the first access point with a response message according to the establishment message, wherein the second access point is one of the plurality of adjacent access points;

step S904: the first access point receives the response message;

step S905: the first access point establishes a cooperative service set containing the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response message;

step S906: the first access point sends confirmation messages to the plurality of second access points, wherein the confirmation messages comprise identity marks corresponding to the established collaboration service sets and are used for indicating that the second access points belong to the collaboration service sets corresponding to the identity marks;

step S907: the second access point receives the acknowledgement message.

Specifically, steps S901 to S907 may correspond to the steps of the method embodiments shown in fig. 3 and fig. 6, and are not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 9, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein how a cooperative service set is established is described from an end of a first access point, and specific steps are as follows.

Step S1001: the first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to establish a cooperative service set.

Referring to fig. 4A, fig. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a broadcast manner, where physical addresses of the neighboring access points are encapsulated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 10-1.

TABLE 10-1

In table 10-1, "frame control" defines that the above-mentioned frame is used for requesting the establishment of a collaborative service set; a 'receiving site address (RA)' field is defined as a broadcast address so as to allow neighboring access points to reply in sequence; a field of 'Neighbor access point number (Neighbor AP number)' is defined to be transmitted to N access points; the "AP n address (APn address)" field defines the MAC address of the nth access point.

Referring to fig. 4B, fig. 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner. As shown in table 10-2, the physical address of the neighboring access point to which the current poll is directed is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer.

TABLE 10-2

In table 10-2, "frame control" defines that the above-described frame is used to request establishment of a collaborative service set.

Step S1002: and the first access point receives a response message fed back by the adjacent access point according to the establishment message.

Specifically, after the neighboring access point that receives the setup message parses the setup message, it can analyze that a response message (Coordination request) needs to be fed back to the first access point according to the "frame control" field, so that the neighboring access point that receives the setup message generates the response message and sends the response message to the first access point, and when sending the response message, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 10-3.

Tables 10-3

In table 10-3, the "frame control" field defines that the response message is used to establish a collaborative service set; the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) field defines the Signal Strength measured to the setup message, and in the embodiment of the present invention, the RSSI is an optional field.

Step S1003: and the first access point establishes a cooperative service set comprising the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response messages, wherein the second access points are adjacent access points which send the response messages.

Step S1004: and the first access point sends confirmation messages to the plurality of second access points, wherein the confirmation messages comprise the identity identifications corresponding to the established cooperation service sets and are used for indicating that the second access points belong to the cooperation service sets corresponding to the identity identifications.

Specifically, when the acknowledgement message is transmitted, the identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common portion of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer, and when indicated at the PHY layer, a frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 10-4. The "APn address" field is used to indicate the MAC address of each second access point that is eventually joined to the cooperating service set.

Tables 10-4

The identity may also be indicated by the first access point in a frame format of the MAC layer, which, when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, is shown in table 10-5, where the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the established collaborative service set. The "APn address" field is used to indicate the MAC address of each second access point that is eventually joined to the cooperating service set.

Tables 10 to 5

It should be noted that the embodiment shown in fig. 10 has the following alternative embodiments.

For step S1001: the establishment message may also carry an identity of the collaborative service set to be established, so that the neighboring access point receiving the establishment message knows which collaborative service set the collaborative service set to be established is. The identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer, or in a frame format at the MAC layer.

If the first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of adjacent access points in a broadcast manner, when the identity identifier is indicated by the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 10-6; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 10-7.

Tables 10 to 6

Tables 10 to 7

If the first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner, when indicated in the frame format of the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 10-8; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 10-9, and in table 10-9, the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the cooperating service set to be established.

Tables 10 to 8

Tables 10 to 9

For step S1002: the response message also carries an identity, which may be indicated by a common part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B of the neighboring access point in a frame of the PHY layer, or may be indicated by the neighboring access point in a frame format of the MAC layer, where, when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 10-10; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 10-11, and in table 10-11, the "identity" field is used to indicate that the response message is from the collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

Tables 10 to 10

Tables 10 to 11

For step S1003: when the first access point determines members of the cooperative service set, the requirements for the neighboring access points may be: a response message is sent and can be received by the first access point, and in addition, the RSSI at the time of interaction with the first access point must reach a preset value. The RSSI comprises two aspects, namely the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point and the RSSI of the response message received by the first access point, wherein the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point is measured by the adjacent access point and is sent to the first access point through the response message; the RSSI of the first access point receiving the response message is measured by the first access point. The above-mentioned that the RSSI required to reach the preset value when interacting with the first access point means that both the RSSI of the neighboring access point receiving the setup message and the RSSI of the first access point receiving the response message need to reach the preset value, or one of them needs to reach the preset value.

Further, after the first access point establishes the cooperation service set, when the cooperation service set has no identity, the identity of the cooperation service set may be generated to be distinguished from other cooperation service sets. In an alternative, a basic service set identifier of a basic service set in which the first access point is located may be determined as the identity identifier; in another alternative, the identity is a value randomly generated by the first access point according to a preset algorithm; in yet another alternative, when the first access point sends the establishment message of the neighboring access point that includes the identity, the included identity may be used as the identity of the cooperative service set.

For step S1004: the "APn address" field may also indicate number information (APn ID) of the second access point, and in the existing standard, the number information of the access point occupies a bit much smaller than the bit occupied by the MAC address, so that the efficiency of cooperation between access points in the cooperation service set can be improved.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 10, the first access point sends the establishment request message to the second access point, and when the first access point can receive the response message fed back by the second access point according to the establishment message, it can be determined that both the first access point and the second access point are within the signal coverage range of the other access point, so that a cooperative service set including the first access point and the plurality of second access points is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, and the efficiency of interaction between APs in a dense scene is improved.

It should be noted that, after the cooperative service set is established according to the embodiment shown in fig. 10, each AP in the cooperative service set may transmit and receive data through a channel resource block assigned to the AP, so that channel contention overhead before transmitting data is reduced. The specific manner of data interaction between APs in the collaboration service set may be as described in the embodiments with reference to fig. 3 to 5, and is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a further wlan communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein how a cooperative service set is established is described from an end of a second access point, and specific steps are as follows.

Step S1101: and the second access point receives a setup message sent by the first access point, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to set up the cooperative service set.

Referring to fig. 4A, fig. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a broadcast manner, where the second access point belongs to the neighboring access points, physical addresses of the neighboring access points are all encapsulated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 11-1.

TABLE 11-1

In table 11-1, "frame control" defines that the above-mentioned frame is used for requesting the establishment of a collaboration service set; a 'receiving site address (RA)' field is defined as a broadcast address so as to allow neighboring access points to reply in sequence; "Neighbor access point number (Neighbor AP number)" is defined to be sent to N access points; the "AP n address (APn address)" defines the MAC address of the nth access point.

Referring to fig. 4B, fig. 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating a principle that a first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner, and a second access point belongs to a neighboring access point; as shown in table 11-2, the physical address of the neighboring access point to which the current poll is directed is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer.

TABLE 11-2

In table 11-2, "frame control" defines that the above-described frame is used to request establishment of a collaborative service set.

Step S1102: and the second access point sends a response message to the first access point according to the establishment message, so that the first access point establishes a cooperative service set comprising the first access point and a plurality of second access points, wherein the plurality of second access points are all adjacent access points which send the response message.

Specifically, after the second access point analyzes the setup message, it can analyze that a response message (Coordination response) needs to be fed back to the first access point according to the "frame control" field, so that the second access point generates the response message and sends the response message to the first access point, and when the response message is sent, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 11-3.

Tables 11 to 3

In Table 11-3, the "frame control" field defines that the response message is used to establish a collaborative service set; the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) field defines the Signal Strength measured to the setup message, and in the embodiment of the present invention, the RSSI is an optional field.

Step S1103: and the second access point receives a confirmation message sent by the first access point, wherein the confirmation message contains an identity identifier corresponding to the established cooperation service set and is used for indicating that the second access point belongs to the cooperation service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

Specifically, when the acknowledgement message is transmitted, the identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common portion of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer, and when indicated at the PHY layer, a frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 11-4.

Tables 11 to 4

The identity may also be indicated by the first access point in a frame format of the MAC layer, which, when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, is shown in table 11-5, where the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the established collaborative service set. The "APn address" field is used to indicate the MAC address of each second access point that is eventually joined to the cooperating service set.

Tables 11 to 5

For the embodiment shown in fig. 11, there are also alternative implementations as follows.

For step S1101: the establishment message may also carry an identity of the cooperative service set to be established, so that the second access point knows which cooperative service set the cooperative service set to be established is. The identity may be indicated by the first access point in a common part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B at the PHY layer, or in a frame format at the MAC layer.

If the first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner, when indicated by the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 11-6; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 11-7.

Tables 11 to 6

Tables 11 to 7

If the first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points in a polling manner, when the setup message is indicated in the frame format of the PHY layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 11-8; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in table 11-9, and in table 11-9, the "identity" field is used to indicate the identity of the cooperating service set to be established.

Tables 11 to 8

Tables 11 to 9

For step S1102: the response message also carries the above identity, which may be indicated by the second access point in the public part of HE-SIG-a or HE-SIG-B in the frame of the PHY layer, or may be indicated by the second access point in the frame format of the MAC layer, and when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is as shown in tables 11-10; when indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, the frame format of the MAC layer is shown in table 11-11, and in table 11-11, the "id" field is used to indicate the cooperative service set corresponding to the response message id.

Tables 11 to 10

Tables 11 to 11

For step S1103: the "APn address" field may also indicate number information (APn ID) of the second access point, and in the existing standard, the number information of the access point occupies a bit much smaller than the bit occupied by the MAC address, so that the efficiency of cooperation between access points in the cooperation service set can be improved.

In another alternative, when determining the members of the cooperative service set, the first access point may set the following requirements for the neighboring access points: a response message is sent and can be received by the first access point, and in addition, the RSSI at the time of interaction with the first access point must reach a preset value. The RSSI comprises two aspects, namely the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point and the RSSI of the response message received by the first access point, wherein the RSSI of the establishment message received by the adjacent access point is measured by the adjacent access point and is sent to the first access point through the response message; the RSSI of the first access point receiving the response message is measured by the first access point. The fact that the RSSI of the first ap needs to reach the predetermined value means that both the RSSI of the neighboring aps receiving the setup message and the RSSI of the first ap receiving the response message need to reach the predetermined value, or one of the two needs to reach the predetermined value.

Further, after the first access point establishes the cooperative service set, if the cooperative service set does not have a corresponding identity, the identity of the cooperative service set may also be generated to be used for distinguishing from other cooperative service sets.

In the method shown in fig. 11, a first access point sends a setup request message to a second access point, and when the first access point can receive a response message fed back by the second access point according to the setup message, it can be determined that both the first access point and the second access point are within a signal coverage range of the other access point, so that a cooperative service set including the first access point and a plurality of second access points is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, thereby improving the efficiency of interaction between APs in a dense scene.

It should be noted that, after the cooperative service set is established according to the embodiment shown in fig. 11, each AP in the cooperative service set may transmit and receive data through a channel resource block assigned to the AP, so that channel contention overhead before transmitting data is reduced. The specific manner of data interaction between APs in the collaboration service set may be as described in the embodiments shown in fig. 6 to 8, and is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic view of another access point interaction flow provided by an embodiment of the present invention, which is used for interaction between a first access point and a second access point, and the specific steps are as follows.

Step S1201: the first access point sends a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to establish a cooperative service set.

Step S1202: the second access point receives the setup message.

Step S1203: and the second access point sends a response message to the first access point according to the establishment message, wherein the second access point is an access point in the plurality of adjacent access points.

Step S1204: the first access point receives the response message.

Step S1205: and the first access point establishes a cooperative service set containing the first access point and a plurality of second access points according to the received response message.

Step S1206: and the first access point sends confirmation messages to the plurality of second access points, wherein the confirmation messages comprise the identity identifications corresponding to the established cooperation service sets and are used for indicating that the second access points belong to the cooperation service sets corresponding to the identity identifications.

Step S1207: the second access point receives the acknowledgement message.

Specifically, steps S1201 to S1207 may correspond to the method embodiments shown in fig. 10 and fig. 11, and are not described again here.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 12, the first access point sends the establishment request message to the second access point, and when the first access point can receive the response message fed back by the second access point according to the establishment message, it can be determined that both the first access point and the second access point are within the signal coverage range of the other access point, so that a cooperative service set including the first access point and the plurality of second access points is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, thereby improving the efficiency of interaction between APs in a dense scene.

While the method of the embodiments of the present invention has been described in detail above, to facilitate a better understanding of the above-described aspects of the embodiments of the present invention, the following provides a corresponding apparatus of the embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an access point device 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 130 is a first access point device 130, and the access point device 130 includes a first sending unit 1301, a receiving unit 1302, a generating unit 1303, and a second sending unit 1304, where details of each unit are described below.

The first sending unit 1301 is configured to send a status request message to the multiple second access point devices, where the status request message is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device and instruct the multiple second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device 130 and the multiple second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set.

The receiving unit 1302 is configured to receive a status message containing respective status information sent by each second access point device through the channel resource assigned to the respective second access point device.

The generating unit 1303 is configured to generate, in combination with the status message, a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device for the cooperation service set.

The second sending unit 1304 is configured to send a corresponding cooperation message to each second access point device through a channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

In an optional scheme, the first sending unit 1301 is specifically configured to send a status request message to multiple second access point devices, where the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identity of a cooperative service set; the channel resource allocation information is used to assign a channel resource to each second access point device, and the identity is used for the multiple second access point devices to determine whether the multiple second access point devices belong to the cooperative service set, and when the determination result is yes, feedback status information to the first access point device 130.

In an alternative, the status request message is generated and sent by the physical layer, and the identity is indicated in the physical layer or the identity is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer.

Further, when the identity is identified in the frame format of the MAC layer, a bit is set in front of the basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

In the access point device 130 shown in fig. 13, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 130 is a first access point device 130, and the access point device 130 may further include an allocating unit 1307 in addition to the first sending unit 1301, the receiving unit 1302, the producing unit 1303 and the second sending unit 1304, where the allocating unit 1307 is configured to allocate channel resources to each second access point device in the cooperative service set by using an OFDMA technique, and generate a status request message including channel resource allocation information.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 130 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

In the access point device 130 shown in fig. 14, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Furthermore, the preset time is encapsulated in the status request message and is used for indicating the time for sending the status request message next time, so that the cooperation efficiency between the access points is improved; the channel resources are distributed by the orthogonal frequency division multiple access technology, so that sufficient physical channels can be provided for each member access point, and the interference among the access points is reduced.

Referring to fig. 15, fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 130 is a first access point device 130, and the access point device 130 may further include an establishing unit 1305, in addition to the first sending unit 1301, the receiving unit 1302, the generating unit 1303 and the second sending unit 1304, where the establishing unit 1305 is configured to establish a cooperative service set including the first access point device 130 and a plurality of second access point devices.

Further, referring to fig. 15A, fig. 15A is a schematic structural diagram of a creating unit 1305, where the creating unit 1305 includes a first sending sub-unit 13051, a first receiving sub-unit 13052, a first creating sub-unit 13053, and a second sending sub-unit 13054, where details of each sub-unit are described as follows.

The first transmitting sub-unit 13051 is configured to transmit a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access points, where the setup message is used to request to establish a cooperative service set.

The first receiving sub-unit 13052 is configured to receive a response message fed back by the neighboring access point according to the setup message.

The first establishing subunit 13053 is configured to establish, according to the received response message, a cooperative service set including the first access point device 130 and the multiple second access point devices, and generate an identity identifier corresponding to the cooperative service set; the second access point device is the neighboring access point that sent the response message.

The second sending subunit 13054 is configured to send an acknowledgement message to the multiple second access point devices, where the acknowledgement message includes an identity, and indicates that the second access point device belongs to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity.

Further, referring to fig. 15B, fig. 15B is a schematic diagram of another structure of the establishing unit 1305, where the establishing unit 1305 includes a third sending sub-unit 13055, a second receiving sub-unit 13056, a second establishing sub-unit 13057, and a fourth sending sub-unit 13058, where details of each sub-unit are described as follows.

The third sending subunit 13055 is configured to send a setup message to multiple neighboring access points, where the setup message includes identification information and is used to request to establish a cooperative service set.

The second receiving sub-unit 13056 is configured to receive a response message fed back by the neighboring access point according to the identification information.

The second establishing subunit 13057 is configured to, according to the received response message, establish a cooperation service set that includes the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, and use the identification information as an identity identifier corresponding to the cooperation service set; the second access point device is the neighboring access point that sent the response message.

The fourth sending subunit 13058 is configured to send an acknowledgement message to multiple second access point devices, where the acknowledgement message includes an identity, and is used to indicate that the second access point device belongs to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity.

Optionally, the first sending sub-unit 13051 is specifically configured to broadcast the setup message to multiple neighboring access points, or send the setup message to multiple neighboring access points in a polling manner.

Optionally, the second access point device is an adjacent access point device that has sent the response message, and the RSSI when sending the response message exceeds the preset threshold and/or the RSSI when receiving the setup message exceeds the preset threshold, where the RSSI of the response message is measured by the first access point device 130, and the RSSI of the setup message is measured by the adjacent access point device and then fed back to the first access point device 130 through the response message.

In the access point device 130 shown in fig. 15, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Furthermore, before data interaction is performed between a first access point device and a second access point device in the cooperative service set, the first access point device firstly establishes the cooperative service set to generate an identity of the cooperative service set, and the access points carry identity information during interaction so that the interaction is more orderly and accurate.

Referring to fig. 16, fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ap device 130 is a first ap device 130, and the ap device 130 may further include a broadcasting unit 1306 in addition to the first transmitting unit 1301, the receiving unit 1302, the generating unit 1303 and the second transmitting unit 1304, where the broadcasting unit 1306 is configured to broadcast a broadcast message including a preset time point, so that a plurality of second ap devices receiving the broadcast message are idle at the preset time point to receive the status request message, where the preset time point includes at least one time point.

The first sending unit 1301 is specifically configured to send a status request message to the multiple second access point devices at preset time, where the status request message is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device and indicate the multiple second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device 130 and the multiple second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set.

In an optional scheme, the first sending unit 1301 is further configured to send a status request message to a plurality of second access point devices at a next time point; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

In the access point device 130 shown in fig. 16, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Referring to fig. 17, fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 170 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 170 is a second access point device 170, and the access point device 170 includes a first receiving unit 1701, a transmitting unit 1702 and a second receiving unit 1703, wherein the detailed description of each unit is as follows.

The first receiving unit 1701 is configured to receive a status request message sent by a first access point device, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to multiple second access point devices, and the status request message is used to specify a channel resource for each second access point device and indicate that the multiple second access point devices feed back status information, where the first access point device and the second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set.

The sending unit 1702 is configured to send a status message containing status information to the first access point device through the channel resource assigned to the first access point device and at the same time with other access point devices in the plurality of second access point devices, so that the first access point device generates, in combination with the status message, a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in a one-to-one manner for the cooperation service set.

The second receiving unit 1703 is configured to receive a cooperation message sent by the first access point device, where the cooperation message is a corresponding cooperation message sent by the first access point device to each second access point device through a channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

In an alternative arrangement, as shown in fig. 17A, the first receiving unit 1701 includes a receiving subunit 17011 and a comparing subunit 17012, wherein each subunit is described in detail below.

The receiving subunit 17011 is configured to receive a status request message sent by a first access point device in a cooperative service set, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to multiple second access point devices, and the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identifier of the cooperative service set, where the channel resource allocation information is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device.

The comparing subunit 17012 is configured to compare the identity with a pre-stored identity, so as to determine whether the identity belongs to the collaborative service set.

If the first access point device belongs to the first access point device, the comparing subunit 17012 triggers the sending unit 1702 to send a status message containing status information to the first access point device through the channel resource assigned to the first access point device and the other access point devices in the plurality of second access point devices, so that the first access point device generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in one-to-one correspondence to the cooperation service set in combination with the status message.

In an optional scheme, the first receiving unit 1701 is further configured to receive a status request message sent by the first access point device at a next time point; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 170 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

In the access point device 17 shown in fig. 17, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information used to indicate a channel resource block and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Referring to fig. 18, fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 170 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ap device 170 is a second ap device 170, and the ap device 170 may further include a third receiving unit 1704, a first sending unit 1705, and a fourth receiving unit 1706, in addition to the first receiving unit 1701, the sending unit 1702, and the second receiving unit 1703, where details of each unit are described below.

The third receiving unit 1704 is configured to receive a setup message sent by the first access point device, where the setup message is used to request to establish a collaborative service set.

The first sending unit 1705 is configured to send a response message to the first access point device according to the establishment message, where the response message is used for the first access point device to establish a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, where the plurality of second access point devices are all neighboring access point devices that have sent the response message.

The fourth receiving unit 1706 is configured to receive a confirmation message sent by the first access point device, where the confirmation message includes an identity identifier corresponding to the established collaboration service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point device 170 belongs to the collaboration service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

Referring to fig. 18A, fig. 18A is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 170 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 170 is a second access point device 170, and the access point device 170 may further include a fifth receiving unit 1707, a second transmitting unit 1708, and a sixth receiving unit 1709 in addition to the first receiving unit 1701, the transmitting unit 1702, and the second receiving unit 1703, where details of each unit are described below.

A fifth receiving unit 1707 is configured to receive a setup message sent by the first access point device, where the setup message is used to request to establish a collaboration service set, and the setup message includes identification information;

the second sending unit 1708 is configured to send a response message to the first access point device according to the establishment message, where the response message is used for the first access point device to establish a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, and use the identification information as an identity corresponding to the cooperative service set; the plurality of second access point devices are all adjacent access points which send the response messages;

the sixth receiving unit 1709 is configured to receive a confirmation message sent by the first access point device, where the confirmation message includes an identity, and is used to indicate that the second access point device belongs to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity.

Optionally, the third receiving unit 1704 and the fifth receiving unit 1707 are specifically configured to receive a setup message sent by the first access point device in a broadcast manner or a polling manner.

In the access point device 18 shown in fig. 18, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Referring to fig. 19, fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 170 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 170 is a second access point device 170, and the access point device 170 may further include a seventh receiving unit 1710 in addition to the first receiving unit 1701, the sending unit 1702 and the second receiving unit 1703, where the seventh receiving unit 1710 is configured to receive a broadcast message broadcast by the first access point device and including a preset time point, and the broadcast message is used to idle a plurality of second access point devices receiving the broadcast message at the preset time point to receive the status request message.

In the access point device 170 shown in fig. 19, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Furthermore, preset time is encapsulated in the status request message and used for indicating the time for sending the status request message next time, so that the cooperation efficiency between the access points is improved.

Referring to fig. 20, fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of an access point device 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 200 is a first access point device 200, and the access point device 200 includes a first transmitting unit 2001, a receiving unit 2002, a establishing unit 2003, and a second transmitting unit 2004, where details of each unit are described below.

The first sending unit 2001 is configured to send a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices, where the setup message is used to request to establish a collaborative service set.

The receiving unit 2002 is configured to receive a response message fed back by the neighboring access point device according to the setup message.

The establishing unit 2003 is configured to establish a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices according to the received response message, where the second access point devices are neighboring access point devices that have sent the response message.

The second sending unit 2004 is configured to send an acknowledgement message to the plurality of second access point devices, where the acknowledgement message includes an identity corresponding to the established collaboration service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point devices belong to the collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

In an optional scheme, the establishing unit 2003 is specifically configured to establish, according to the received response message, a cooperative service set including the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices, and generate an identity corresponding to the cooperative service set.

In yet another alternative, the first sending unit 2001 is specifically configured to broadcast the setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices.

In yet another alternative, the first sending unit 2001 is specifically configured to send the setup message to the neighboring access point devices in a polling manner.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 200 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

In the access point device 200 shown in fig. 20, the first access point device 200 sends the establishment request message to the second access point device, and when the first access point device 200 can receive the response message fed back by the second access point device according to the establishment message, it can be determined that both the first access point device 200 and the second access point device are within the signal coverage range of the other side, so that a cooperative service set including the first access point device 200 and a plurality of second access point devices is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, thereby improving the efficiency of interaction between APs in an intensive scene.

Referring to fig. 21, fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of an access point device 210 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 210 is a second access point device 210, and the access point device 210 includes a first receiving unit 2101, a transmitting unit 2102, and a second receiving unit 2103, wherein the details of each unit are as follows.

The first receiving unit 2101 is configured to receive a setup message sent by a first access point device, where the setup message is used to request to establish a collaborative service set.

The sending unit 2102 is configured to send a response message to the first access point device according to the establishment message, where the response message is used for the first access point device to establish a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, where the plurality of second access point devices are all neighboring access point devices that have sent the response message.

The second receiving unit 2103 is configured to receive a confirmation message sent by the first access point device, where the confirmation message includes an identity identifier corresponding to the established collaboration service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point device belongs to the collaboration service set corresponding to the identity identifier.

In an optional scheme, the sending unit 2102 is specifically configured to send a response message to the first access point device according to the establishment message, so that the first access point device establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices, and an identity of the cooperative service set.

In yet another alternative, the first receiving unit 2101 is specifically configured to receive a setup message broadcasted by the first access point device.

In yet another alternative, the first receiving unit 2102 is specifically configured to receive a setup message sent by the first access point device in a polling manner.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 210 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

In the access point device 210 shown in fig. 21, a first access point device sends a setup request message to a second access point device 210, and when the first access point device can receive a response message fed back by the second access point device 210 according to the setup message, it can be determined that both the first access point device and the second access point device 210 are within a signal coverage range of the other side, so that a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices 210 is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, thereby improving the efficiency of interaction between APs in an intensive scene.

Referring to fig. 22, fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 220 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 220 is a first access point device 220, and the access point device 220 includes an input device 2201, an output device 2202, a memory 2203, and a processor 2204 (the number of the processors 2204 may be one or more, and one processor is taken as an example in fig. 22). In some embodiments of the invention, the input device 2201, the output device 2202, the memory 2203, and the processor 2204 may be connected by a bus or by other means, wherein the bus connection is exemplified in fig. 22.

The memory 2203 is used for storing program codes, and the processor 2204 is used for calling the program codes stored in the memory 2203 to execute the following steps.

The processor 2204 sends a status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output means 2202, the status request message being used for designating channel resources for each of the second access point devices and instructing the plurality of second access point devices to feed back status information, wherein the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set.

The processor 2204 receives, via the input means 2201, status messages containing respective status information sent by each second access point device via the assigned channel resource.

The processor 2204 generates a cooperation message for the cooperation service set in one-to-one correspondence with each second access point device in conjunction with the status message.

The processor 2204 sends a corresponding cooperation message to each second access point device through the output device 2202 via the channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

Optionally, the first access point device belongs to a cooperative service set; the processor 2204 sends status request messages to the plurality of second access point devices via the output means 2202, comprising:

the processor 2204 sends a status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output device 2202, wherein the status request message comprises channel resource allocation information and the identity of the cooperative service set; the channel resource allocation information is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point device, and the identity is used for the plurality of second access point devices to judge whether the second access point devices belong to the cooperative service set, and when the judgment result is yes, the state information is fed back to the first access point device.

Optionally, the identity is indicated in a frame of the physical layer or the identity is indicated in a frame format of the MAC layer.

Optionally, when the identity is indicated in the frame format of the MAC layer, a bit is set in front of the basic service set identification field in the frame format, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

Optionally, before the processor 2204 sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output unit, the method further includes:

the processor 2204 allocates channel resources to the respective second access point devices in the cooperative service set by the OFDMA technique and generates a status request message containing channel resource allocation information.

Optionally, before the processor 2204 sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output device 2202, the method further includes:

the processor 2204 establishes a cooperative service set including a first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices.

Optionally, the processor 2204 sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output unit, including:

the processor 2204 transmits the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices through the output unit at a preset time point, where the preset time point is a time point of interactive data previously agreed by the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices.

Optionally, before the processor 2204 sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices at the preset time through the output device 2202, the method further includes:

the processor 2204 broadcasts a broadcast message including a preset time point through the output device 2202, so that a plurality of second access point devices receiving the broadcast message are idle at the preset time point to receive the status request message, wherein the preset time point includes at least one time point.

Optionally, the processor 2204 sends the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices at a next time point after sending the status request message to the plurality of second access point devices at a preset time point through the output device 2202; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 220 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

In the access point device 220 shown in fig. 22, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Referring to fig. 23, fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 230 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 230 is a second access point device 230, and the access point device 230 includes an input apparatus 2301, an output apparatus 2302, a memory 2303 and a processor 2304 (the number of the processors 2304 may be one or more, and one processor is taken as an example in fig. 23). In some embodiments of the invention, the input device 2301, the output device 2302, the memory 2303 and the processor 2304 may be connected by a bus or other means, wherein the bus connection is exemplified in fig. 23.

The memory 2303 is used for storing program codes, and the processor 2304 is used for calling the program codes stored in the memory 2303 to execute the following steps.

The processor 2304 receives, through the input device 2301, a status request message sent by the first access point device, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to multiple second access point devices, and the status request message is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device and indicate the multiple second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device and the second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set.

The processor 2304 sends a status message containing status information to the first access point device through the output device 2302 simultaneously with other access point devices of the plurality of second access point devices through the channel resources assigned to itself, so that the first access point device generates a cooperation message for the cooperation service set in one-to-one correspondence to each of the second access point devices in conjunction with the status message.

The processor 2304 receives, through the input device 2301, a cooperation message sent by the first access point device, where the cooperation message is a corresponding cooperation message sent by the first access point device to each second access point device through a channel resource corresponding to each second access point device.

Optionally, the processor 2304 receives a status request message sent by the first access point device through the input device 2301, and includes:

the processor 2304 receives, through the input device 2301, a status request message sent by a first access point device in the cooperative service set, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point device to multiple second access point devices, and the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and identifiers of the cooperative service set, where the channel resource allocation information is used to specify channel resources for each second access point device.

The processor 2304 compares the identity with a pre-stored identity to determine whether it belongs to the collaborative service set.

If so, the processor 2304 performs a step of sending a status message containing status information to the first access point device simultaneously with other access point devices in the plurality of second access point devices through the channel resources assigned to itself, so that the first access point device generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point device in one-to-one for the cooperation service set in conjunction with the status message.

Optionally, the channel resource is a time-frequency resource block allocated by the first access point device through an OFDMA technique.

the processor 2304 receives a status request message transmitted by the first access point device through the input device 2301 at a preset time point, where the preset time point is a time point of interactive data previously agreed by the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices.

Optionally, before the processor 2304 receives the status request message sent by the first access point device at the preset time point through the input device 2301, the method further includes:

the processor 2304 receives a broadcast message broadcast by a first access point device, which includes a preset time point, through the input device 2301, and the broadcast message is used to make a plurality of second access point devices, which receive the broadcast message, idle at the preset time point to receive a status request message.

Optionally, the processor 2304 receives, through the input device 2301, the status request message sent by the first access point device at a preset time point, and then receives, at a next time point, the status request message sent by the first access point device; the status request message includes next time point information indicating that the plurality of second access point devices receiving the status request message are idle at the next time point to receive the status request message.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 230 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described herein again.

In the access point device 230 shown in fig. 23, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Referring to fig. 24, fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 240 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 240 is a first access point device 240, and the access point device 240 includes an input means 2401, an output means 2402, a memory 2403, and a processor 2404 (the number of the processors 2404 may be one or more, and one processor is taken as an example in fig. 24). In some embodiments of the invention, the input device 2401, the output device 2402, the memory 2403 and the processor 2404 may be connected by a bus or other means, wherein the bus connection is exemplified in fig. 24.

The memory 2403 is used for storing program codes, and the processor 2404 is used for calling the program codes stored in the memory 2403 to execute the following steps.

Processor 2404 sends a setup message to the plurality of neighboring access point devices through output means 2402, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to set up the collaborative service set.

The processor 2404 receives a response message fed back by the neighboring access point device according to the setup message through the input means 2401.

The processor 2404 establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices according to the received response message, where the second access point devices are neighboring access point devices that have sent the response message.

The processor 2404 sends an acknowledgement message to the second access point devices through the output device 2402, where the acknowledgement message includes an identity corresponding to the established cooperative service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point devices belong to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity.

Optionally, the establishment message includes an identity, and is used to indicate that the collaboration service set requested to be established is a collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

Optionally, the processor 2404 establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices according to the received response message, including:

the processor 2404 establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point device and the plurality of second access point devices according to the received response message, and generates an identity corresponding to the cooperative service set.

Optionally, the processor 2404 sends a setup message to the neighboring access point devices through the output unit 2402, where the setup message includes:

processor 2404 broadcasts a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices via output means 2402.

the processor 2404 transmits a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices in a polling manner through the output means 2402.

Optionally, the second access point device is a neighboring access point device that has sent the response message, and the RSSI when sending the response message exceeds a preset threshold and/or the RSSI when receiving the setup message exceeds a preset threshold, where the RSSI of the response message is measured by the processor 2404, and the RSSI of the setup message is measured by the neighboring access point device and then fed back to the input device 2401 through the response message.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 240 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 24, the first access point device 240 sends the establishment request message to the second access point device, and when the first access point device 240 can receive the response message fed back by the second access point device according to the establishment message, it may be determined that both the first access point device 240 and the second access point device are within the signal coverage of the other side, so that a cooperative service set including the first access point device 240 and a plurality of second access point devices is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, thereby improving the efficiency of interaction between APs in a dense scene.

Referring to fig. 25, fig. 25 is a schematic structural diagram of another access point device 250 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The access point device 250 is a second access point device 250, and the access point device 250 includes an input device 2501, an output device 2502, a memory 2503 and a processor 2504 (the number of the processors 2504 may be one or more, and one processor is taken as an example in fig. 25). In some embodiments of the invention, the input device 2501, the output device 2502, the memory 2503 and the processor 2504 may be connected by a bus or other means, wherein the bus connection is exemplified in fig. 25.

The memory 2503 is used for storing program codes, and the processor 2504 is used for calling the program codes stored in the memory 2503 to execute the following steps.

The processor receives a setup message sent by the first access point device through the input means 2501, where the setup message is used to request to set up the cooperative service set.

The processor 2504 sends a response message to the first ap device through the output device 2502 according to the establishment message, so that the first ap device establishes a cooperative service set including the first ap device and a plurality of second ap devices, where the plurality of second ap devices are all neighboring ap devices that have sent the response message.

The processor 2504 receives, through the input device 2501, a confirmation message sent by the first access point device, where the confirmation message includes an identity corresponding to the established collaboration service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point device belongs to the collaboration service set corresponding to the identity.

Optionally, the response message includes an identity of the collaboration service set.

Optionally, the receiving, by the processor 2504, the setup message sent by the first access point device through the input device 2501 includes:

the processor 2504 receives a setup message broadcast by the first access point device via the input means 2501.

the processor 2504 receives a setup message sent by the first access point device by way of polling via the input means 2501.

Optionally, the RSSI of the second access point device when sending the response message exceeds a preset threshold and/or the RSSI of the second access point device when receiving the setup message exceeds a preset threshold.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation of the access point device 250 may correspond to the corresponding description with reference to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

In the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 25, a first access point device sends a setup request message to a second access point device 250, and when the first access point device can receive a response message fed back by the second access point device 250 according to the setup message, it may be determined that both the first access point device and the second access point device 250 are within the signal coverage of the other side, so that a collaboration service set including the first access point device and a plurality of second access point devices 250 is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, thereby improving the efficiency of interaction between APs in a dense scene.

Referring to fig. 26, fig. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless local area network communication system 260 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 260 includes a first access point device and a second access point device, where the first access point device is the access point device 130 shown in fig. 13 to 16 or the access point device 220 shown in fig. 22, and the second access point device is the access point device 170 shown in fig. 17 to 19 or the access point device 230 shown in fig. 23, where when the first access point device is the access point device, the first access point device 130, and the second access point device is the access point device 170, a detailed description of a relationship between the first access point device and the second access point device is as follows.

The first access point device 130 sends a status request message to the plurality of second access point devices, where the status request message is used to specify channel resources for each second access point 170 device and instruct the plurality of second access point devices to feed back status information, where the first access point device 130 and the plurality of second access point devices belong to a cooperative service set.

The second access point 170 device receives the status request message and transmits a status message containing status information to the first access point 130 device over the channel resources assigned to itself.

The first access point 130 device receives the status message sent by each second access point 170 device, and generates a cooperation message corresponding to each second access point 170 device for the cooperation service set in a one-to-one manner in combination with the status message.

The first access point 130 device sends a corresponding cooperation message to each second access point 170 device through the channel resource corresponding to each second access point 170 device.

The second access point 170 receives the cooperation message corresponding to itself through the channel resource corresponding to itself.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of the access point communication system 260 may correspond to the corresponding description of the access point device shown in fig. 13 and fig. 17, and is not described herein again.

In the access point communication system 260 shown in fig. 26, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point device sends a status request message to each second access point device, where the status request message includes information indicating channel resource blocks, and is used to allocate channel resources to each second access point device, and accordingly, each second access point device sends status information to the first access point device simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resources allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access point devices, the first access point device can acquire the state information of each second access point device only by one-time successful channel competition, and the data interaction efficiency of the first access point device and each second access point device is improved.

Referring to fig. 27, fig. 27 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless local area network communication system 270 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 270 includes a first access point device and a second access point device, where the first access point device is the access point device 200 shown in fig. 20 or the access point device 240 shown in fig. 24, and the second access point device is the access point device 210 shown in fig. 21 or the access point device 250 shown in fig. 25, where, when the first access point device is the access point device, the first access point device 200, and the second access point device is the access point device 210, a detailed description of a relationship between the first access point device and the second access point device is as follows.

The first access point 200 device transmits a setup message to a plurality of neighboring access point devices, wherein the setup message is used for requesting to set up a collaborative service set.

The second access point 210 device receives the setup message and responds to the first access point 200 device with a response message according to the setup message, wherein the second access point 210 device is an access point device among a plurality of neighboring access point devices.

The first access point 200 device receives the response message and establishes a cooperative service set including the first access point 200 device and a plurality of second access point devices according to the received response message.

The first access point 200 device sends an acknowledgement message to the plurality of second access point devices, where the acknowledgement message includes an identity corresponding to the established cooperative service set, and is used to indicate that the second access point 210 device belongs to the cooperative service set corresponding to the identity.

The second access point 210 device receives the acknowledgement message.

It should be noted that the specific implementation of the access point communication system 270 may correspond to the corresponding description of the access point device shown in fig. 20 and fig. 21, and is not described herein again.

In the system described in fig. 27, the first access point device 200 sends the establishment request message to the second access point device 210, and when the first access point device 200 can receive the response message fed back by the second access point device 210 according to the establishment message, it can be determined that both the first access point device 200 and the second access point device 210 are within the signal coverage of each other, so that a cooperative service set including the first access point device 200 and a plurality of second access point devices 210 is established for a plurality of APs to interact data at the same time, thereby improving the efficiency of interaction between APs in an intensive scene.

In summary, after the channel contention succeeds, the first access point sends a status request message to each second access point, where the status request message includes information indicating a channel resource block, and is used to allocate a channel resource to each second access point, and accordingly, each second access point sends status information to the first access point simultaneously (or synchronously) through the channel resource allocated to itself. No matter the number of the second access points, the first access point can acquire the state information of each second access point only by carrying out channel competition once, and the efficiency of cooperation between the first access point and each second access point is improved.

Furthermore, when interaction is carried out among the access points, the sender encapsulates the identity of the cooperative service set in the sent message, so that the receiver processes the data in the message only when judging that the cooperative service set is the cooperative service set to which the receiver belongs according to the identity, thereby reducing the pressure of processing the data by each access point in the cooperative service set; before data interaction is carried out between a first access point and a second access point in a cooperation service set, the first access point firstly establishes the cooperation service set to generate an identity of the cooperation service set, and the identity information is carried during interaction between the access points to enable the interaction to be more orderly and accurate; in the frame format, the identity of the collaboration service set and the identity of the basic service set share one field, when the collaboration service set exists, the identity of the collaboration service set is represented, and when the collaboration service set does not exist, the identity of the basic service set is represented, so that the compatibility of protocol standards is improved; the first access point sends a message containing preset time before sending the state request message, so that the second access point is idle in the preset time to receive the state request message, member access points in a cooperative service set participate in cooperation as much as possible, and the efficiency of cooperation among the access points is improved; furthermore, the preset time is encapsulated in the status request message and is used for indicating the time for sending the status request message next time, so that the cooperation efficiency between the access points is improved; the channel resources are distributed by the orthogonal frequency division multiple access technology, so that sufficient physical channels can be provided for each member access point, and the interference among the access points is reduced.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by hardware related to instructions of a computer program, and the program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like.

While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A wireless local area network communication method, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the status information comprises at least one of:

and the channel state information CSI, the clear channel assessment CCA, the number of associated STAs, the number of active STAs and the load information of the BSS where the second access point is located.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first access point sending status request messages to a plurality of second access points comprises:

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the identity is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and a basic service set identification field in the frame format is preceded by a bit, and the bit and the basic service set identification field form the identity.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein before the first access point sends the status request message to the plurality of second access points, the method further comprises:

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the sending of the status request message by the first access point to the plurality of second access points comprises:

7. A wireless local area network communication method, comprising:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the status information comprises at least one of:

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the second access point receiving the status request message sent by the first access point comprises:

the second access point receives a status request message sent by the first access point in a cooperative service set, where the status request message is a status request message sent by the first access point to multiple second access points, the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identifier of the cooperative service set, and the channel resource allocation information is used to specify channel resources for each of the second access points;

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the id is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and a basic service set identifier field in the frame format is preceded by a bit, and the bit and the basic service set identifier field form the id.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the channel resources are time-frequency resource blocks allocated by the first access point through an OFDMA technique.

12. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 11, wherein the second access point receiving the status request message sent by the first access point comprises:

13. An access point device, the access point device being a first access point device, the access point device comprising:

14. The access point device of claim 13, wherein the status information comprises at least one of:

15. The ap apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the ap apparatus belongs to a cooperative service set, and the first sending unit is specifically configured to send a status request message to a plurality of second ap apparatuses, where the status request message includes channel resource allocation information and an identity of the cooperative service set; the channel resource allocation information is used for assigning channel resources to each second access point device, and the identity is used for the plurality of second access point devices to judge whether the second access point devices belong to the cooperative service set, and when the judgment result is yes, the identity feeds back state information to the first access point device.

16. The ap apparatus of claim 15, wherein the id is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and a basic service set identifier field in the frame format is preceded by a bit, and the bit and the basic service set identifier field form the id.

17. The access point device according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the access point device further comprises:

18. The ap apparatus of any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the first sending unit is specifically configured to send the status request message to a plurality of second ap apparatuses at a preset time point, where the preset time point is a time point of interaction data that is pre-agreed by the first ap apparatus and the plurality of second ap apparatuses.

19. An access point device, the access point device being a second access point device, the access point device comprising:

20. The access point device of claim 19, wherein the status information comprises at least one of:

21. The access point device according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the first receiving unit comprises:

22. The ap apparatus of claim 21, wherein the id is indicated in a frame format of a MAC layer, and a basic service set identifier field in the frame format is preceded by a bit, and the bit and the basic service set identifier field form the id.

23. The access point device of any of claims 19 to 22, wherein the channel resources are time-frequency resource blocks allocated by the first access point device by OFDMA.

24. The ap apparatus of any one of claims 19 to 23, wherein the first receiving unit is specifically configured to receive a status request message sent by a first ap apparatus at a preset time point, where the preset time point is a time point of interaction data that is pre-agreed by the first ap apparatus and a plurality of second ap apparatuses.

25. An apparatus comprising input means, output means, a memory for storing program code, and a processor for calling the program code stored in the memory so that the method of any of claims 1-6 or 7-12 is performed.

26. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer program which, when executed, causes the method of any of claims 1-6 or 7-12 to be performed.