CN114339926A

CN114339926A - Method for switching terminal operation mode, terminal, network access device and medium

Info

Publication number: CN114339926A
Application number: CN202011058771.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴昊; 谢芳
Original assignee: Chengdu Jimi Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Jimi Software Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-30
Filing date: 2020-09-30
Publication date: 2022-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-30
Also published as: CN114339926B

Abstract

The application discloses a method for converting terminal operation modes, a terminal, network access equipment and a medium, and relates to the field of wireless communication. The method for converting the terminal operation mode comprises the following steps: receiving a first message sent by a network access device, wherein the first message comprises parameters of Frame Control and AP-Activated Link Set; sending a broadcast message or responding to a detection request message of a second terminal on a Link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set; and after the second terminal is connected to or disconnected from the first terminal serving as the soft AP, sending an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the network access equipment, wherein the AP-STA-NOTIFY message comprises parameters STA Address and Update type. According to the method and the device, the terminal is controlled and managed by the AP to be converted into the soft AP in a frame control interaction mode. The capacity of a wireless network can be enlarged by converting the multilink terminal into the soft AP, the load of the AP can be shared, and meanwhile, when the advantages are achieved, the deployment cost is not increased due to the introduction of extra overhead.

Description

Method for switching terminal operation mode, terminal, network access device and medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a method for switching a terminal operation mode, a terminal, a network access device, and a medium.

Background

802.11be networks, also known as Extreme High Throughput (EHT) networks, are enhanced by a range of system features and a variety of mechanisms to achieve very High Throughput. As the use of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important to provide wireless data services in many environments, such as homes, businesses, and hot spots. In particular, video traffic will continue to be the dominant type of traffic in many WLAN deployments. With the advent of 4k and 8k video (uncompressed rates of 20 Gbps), the throughput requirements for these applications are constantly evolving. New high throughput, low latency applications such as virtual reality or augmented reality, gaming, remote office and cloud computing will proliferate (e.g., latency for real-time gaming is less than 5 milliseconds).

In view of the high throughput and stringent real-time latency requirements of these applications, users expect higher throughput, higher reliability, less latency and jitter, and higher power efficiency when supporting their applications over a WLAN. Users desire improved integration with Time Sensitive Networks (TSNs) to support applications on heterogeneous ethernet and wireless LANs. 802.11be networks aim to ensure the competitiveness of WLANs by further increasing overall throughput and reducing latency, while ensuring backward compatibility and coexistence with legacy technology standards. 802.11 compatible devices operating in the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands.

In the 802.11be network, a non-AP terminal can be converted into an AP, thereby performing load balancing and enlarging the coverage.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to carry out load balancing and expand the coverage, the application proposes that a non-AP terminal is controlled and managed by an AP to be converted into an AP operation mode in a mode of controlling frame interaction, and the AP converted by the non-AP terminal is called soft AP.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for switching operation modes of a terminal, which is applied to a first terminal, and includes: receiving a first message sent by a network access device, wherein the first message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting the network access device to indicate that a first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP; and sending a broadcast message or responding to a probe request message of the second terminal on the Link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the method comprises the steps of sending an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to a network access device, wherein the AP-STA-NOTIFY message comprises parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used for indicating the Address of a terminal connected to a first terminal serving as a soft AP, the parameter Update type is used for indicating addition or deletion, when a second terminal is connected to the first terminal, the Update type is set to be added, and when the second terminal is disconnected with the first terminal, the Update type is set to be deleted.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and sending a second message to the network access device, wherein the second message comprises a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used for indicating that the first terminal is used as a Link which the soft AP wants to use.

In a possible implementation manner, the second message further includes a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or includes a parameter SSID and a Multi SSID supported, or a parameter BSSID and a Multi BSSID supported, where the parameter SSID and the BSSID are both used to set an identifier for identifying the terminal when the terminal is used as a soft AP, and the parameter Multi SSID supported and the Multi BSSID supported are both used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for switching operation modes of a terminal, which is applied to a network access device, and includes: locally setting a soft AP management message, wherein the soft AP management message comprises a soft AP information unit, the soft AP information unit comprises parameters soft APAddress and Associated STAs, the parameters soft APAddress is used for representing the address of a terminal serving as a soft AP, and the Associated STAs are used for representing the address of a terminal connected with the terminal serving as a soft AP; adding the first terminal into a local soft AP information unit, or adding the first terminal into the local soft AP information unit, and identifying the device type of the first terminal as a soft AP; and sending a first message to a first terminal, wherein the first message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting a network access device to indicate that the first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving an AP-STA-NOTIFY message sent by a first terminal, wherein the AP-STA-NOTIFY message comprises parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used for indicating the Address of the terminal connected to the first terminal serving as a soft AP, and the parameter Update type is used for indicating addition or deletion; if the parameter Update type indicates addition, adding the value of the parameter STA Address into Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or adding information related to the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit; and if the parameter Update type indicates deletion, deleting an Address corresponding to the parameter STA Address information in Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or deleting information related to the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and receiving a second message sent by the first terminal, wherein the second message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used for setting a Link which the soft AP wants to use.

In a possible implementation manner, the second message further includes a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or includes a parameter SSID and a Multi SSID supported, or a parameter BSSID and a Multi BSSID supported, where the parameter SSID and the BSSID are used to set an identifier for identifying the terminal when the terminal is used as a soft AP, and the parameter Multi SSID supported and the Multi BSSID supported are used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

In a possible implementation manner, the soft AP information element further includes a parameter SSID or BSSID, where the parameter SSID and BSSID are used to set an identifier for identifying the terminal when the terminal is used as a soft AP.

In a possible implementation manner, in the soft AP information unit, a first terminal as a soft AP corresponds to a plurality of identifiers, and each identifier corresponds to a parameter Associated STAs.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a terminal, comprising: the first message receiving unit is used for receiving a first message sent by a network access device, wherein the first message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting the network access device to indicate that a first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP; and the first message sending unit is used for sending a broadcast message or responding to a detection request message of the second terminal on the Link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message sending unit is further configured to send an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the network access device, where the AP-STA-NOTIFY message includes parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used to indicate an Address of a terminal connected to the first terminal serving as a soft AP, the parameter Update type is used to indicate addition or deletion, when the second terminal is connected to the first terminal, the Update type is set to be added, and when the second terminal is disconnected from the first terminal, the Update type is set to be deleted.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message sending unit is further configured to send a second message to the network access device, where the second message includes a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used to indicate that the first terminal is a Link that the soft AP desires to use.

In a possible implementation manner, the second message further includes a parameter SSID and a Multi SSID supported, or a parameter BSSID and a Multi BSSID supported, where the parameter SSID and the BSSID are used to set an identifier for identifying the terminal when the terminal is a soft AP, and the parameter SSID supported and the Multi BSSID supported are used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a network access device, including: the system comprises a soft AP management message setting unit, a soft AP management message processing unit and a soft AP management message processing unit, wherein the soft AP management message setting unit is used for locally setting a soft AP management message, the soft AP management message comprises a soft AP information unit, the soft AP information unit comprises parameters soft APAddress and Associated STAs, the parameters soft APAddress is used for representing the address of a terminal serving as a soft AP, and the Associated STAs are used for representing the address of the terminal connected with the terminal serving as a soft AP; adding the first terminal into a local soft AP information unit, or adding the first terminal into the local soft AP information unit, and identifying the device type of the first terminal as a soft AP; and the second message sending unit is used for sending a first message to the first terminal, wherein the first message comprises parameters of Frame Control and AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter of Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter of AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting a network access device to indicate that the first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: a second message receiving unit, configured to receive an AP-STA-NOTIFY message sent by a first terminal, where the AP-STA-NOTIFY message includes parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used to indicate an Address of a terminal connected to the first terminal as a soft AP, and the parameter Update type is used to indicate addition or deletion; the soft AP management message setting unit is further used for adding the value of the parameter STA Address into Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit if the parameter Update type indicates addition, or adding information Associated with the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit; and if the parameter Update type indicates deletion, deleting an Address corresponding to the parameter STA Address information in Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or deleting information related to the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit.

In a possible implementation manner, the second message receiving unit is further configured to receive a second message sent by the first terminal, where the second message includes a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used to indicate that the first terminal is used as a Link that the soft AP desires to use.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a terminal, including a processor and a memory, where the memory stores at least one program code, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method for switching operation modes of a terminal according to the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a network access device, including a processor and a memory, where the memory stores at least one program code, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method for switching operation modes of a terminal according to any one of the second aspect or possible implementation manners of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where at least one program code is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the method for switching operation modes of a terminal according to any one of the first aspect or possible implementations of the second aspect.

It should be noted that, in the present application, the terminal according to the third aspect and the fifth aspect is configured to execute the method provided by the foregoing first aspect, the network access device according to the fourth aspect and the sixth aspect is configured to execute the method provided by the foregoing second aspect, and the computer-readable storage medium according to the seventh aspect is configured to execute the method provided by the foregoing first aspect or the second aspect, so that the same beneficial effects as the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect can be achieved, and no further description is provided in this application embodiment.

According to the method and the device, the terminal is controlled and managed by the AP to be converted into the soft AP in a frame control interaction mode. The capacity of a wireless network can be enlarged by converting the multilink terminal into the soft AP, the load of the AP can be shared, and meanwhile, when the advantages are achieved, the deployment cost is not increased due to the introduction of extra overhead.

Drawings

The present application will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a terminal operation mode conversion method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another terminal operation mode conversion method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make those skilled in the art better understand the technical solutions in the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. 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 application. Moreover, while the disclosure herein has been presented in terms of exemplary one or more examples, it is to be understood that each aspect of the disclosure can be utilized independently and separately from other aspects of the disclosure to provide a complete disclosure. The embodiments described below and the features of the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

In the embodiments of the present application, the words "exemplary," "for example," and the like are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the term using examples is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.

Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used herein shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The use of "first," "second," and similar terms in this application do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather the terms are used merely to distinguish one element from another, and the meanings of the corresponding terms may be the same or different. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element or item listed before the word covers the element or item listed after the word and its equivalents, but does not exclude other elements or items. The term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

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

In the following embodiments, the non-AP MLD represents a multi-link terminal, where the multi-link terminal includes multiple logical entities, each logical entity performs data transmission through one link, and each logical entity includes an independent data transceiver module. A link is a radio resource used for transmitting data. AP MLD refers to a multi-link network access device. Ssid (service Set identifier) indicates a service Set identifier, and bssid (basic service Set identifier) indicates a basic service Set identifier.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a terminal operation mode conversion method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the method for switching the operation mode of the terminal includes the following steps:

s11, the multilink terminal non-AP MLD sends a soft AP setup Request message to the multilink network access device AP MLD. Illustratively, the soft AP setup Request message settings are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Frame Control

Duration

Address1

Address2

Frame body

FCS

Wherein the content of the first and second substances,

frame Control: for indicating the type of message;

duration: for indicating the duration of a service related to the message type;

address 1: an address for indicating a sender of the message;

address 2: an address for indicating a message recipient;

FCS: checking the code;

the Frame body contains the parameters:

activated Link Set: for setting the multi-link terminal non-AP MLD as the link that the soft AP wishes to use, the setting may be, for example,

the length is 2 bits, and the corresponding values are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2

B2	B1	Description
			0	0	2.4GHz，5GHz
0	1	2.4GHz，6GHz
			1	0	Reserved
1	1	Reserved

Or the like, or, alternatively,

the length is 3 bits, and the corresponding values are shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3

In some embodiments, the soft AP setup Request message may further include a parameter SSID, or a parameter SSID and a Multi SSID supported, wherein,

SSID: and the identifier is used for setting the multilink terminal to be used for identifying the multilink terminal when the multilink terminal is used as a soft AP.

Multi SSID supported: for indicating whether the multilink terminal uses multiple identities, e.g., a different SSID is set for each link. When this parameter is set to "use", the SSID parameter may contain multiple identification values.

Or, comprising the parameter BSSID, or the parameter BSSID and a Multi BSSID supported, wherein,

BSSID: and the identifier is used for setting the multilink terminal to be used for identifying the multilink terminal when the multilink terminal is used as a soft AP.

Multi BSSID supported: for indicating whether the multi-link terminal uses multiple identities, e.g., different BSSIDs are set for each link. When this parameter is set to "use", the BSSID parameter may contain a plurality of identification values.

S12, after receiving a soft AP setup Request message, the multilink network access device AP MLD determines whether the multilink terminal can operate as a soft AP or not according to a local strategy, if so, the multilink network access device AP MLD sets soft AP management information locally, wherein the soft AP management information comprises a soft AP information unit, and the soft AP information unit is shown in a table 4. The multilink terminal is added to a local soft AP information unit, or the multilink terminal is added to the local soft AP information unit, the device type of the multilink terminal is identified as a soft AP, and a parameter for identifying the device type of the multilink terminal can be set in the soft AP information unit or not, which is not limited in the application.

TABLE 4

soft AP Address	Associated STAs
		ADD_1	ADD_STA1,ADD_STA2
ADD_2	ADD_STA3,ADD_STA4

Wherein the content of the first and second substances,

soft APAddress: an address for indicating a terminal as a soft AP;

associated STAs: for indicating the address of the terminal connected to the terminal as the soft AP.

It should be noted that the addresses in the parameters soft address and Associated STAs are used to identify the terminal.

When the SSID parameter is included in the soft AP setup Request message, the soft AP information element is shown in table 5, for example. When the soft AP setup Request message includes the BSSID parameter, the soft AP information unit may replace the parameter SSID with the BSSID, similar to the case of including the SSID parameter.

TABLE 5

Soft AP Address	SSID	Associated STAs
			ADD_1	ABCDEF	ADD_STA1,ADD_STA2
ADD_2	GHIJKL	ADD_STA3,ADD_STA4

When the Multi SSID supported parameter is included in the soft AP setup Request message and the parameter value is "used", the soft AP information unit is, for example, table 6. When the soft AP setup Request message includes a Multi BSSID supported parameter, the soft AP information unit may replace the parameter SSID with the BSSID, similar to the case of including the Multi SSID supported parameter.

TABLE 6

Soft AP Address	SSID	Associated STAs
			ADD_1	ABCDEF_2.4	ADD_STA1,ADD_STA2
ADD_1	ABCDEF_5	ADD_STA5,ADD_STA6
			ADD_2	GHIJKL	ADD_STA3,ADD_STA4

And sends a soft AP setup Response message to the multilink terminal non-AP MLD. Illustratively, the soft AP setup Response message settings are shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7

Frame Control

Duration

Address1

Address2

Frame body

FCS

Wherein the content of the first and second substances,

frame Control: for indicating the type of message;

duration: for indicating the duration of a service related to the message type;

address 1: an address for indicating a sender of the message;

address 2: an address for indicating a message recipient;

FCS: checking the code;

the Frame body contains the parameters:

activated Link Set: for setting the AP MLD to indicate non-AP MLD as the link used by soft AP, illustratively, the setting may be,

the length is 2 bits, and the corresponding values are shown in Table 8.

TABLE 8

B2	B1	Description
			0	0	2.4GHz，5GHz
0	1	2.4GHz，6GHz
			1	0	Reserved
1	1	Reserved

Or the like, or, alternatively,

the length is 3 bits, and the corresponding values are shown in Table 9.

TABLE 9

B3	B2	B1	Description
				0	0	0	2.4GHz
0	0	1	5GHz
				0	1	0	6GHz
0	1	1	Reserved
				1	0	0	2.4GHz，5GHz
1	0	1	2.4GHz，6GHz
				1	1	0	Reserved
1	1	1	Reserved

S13, after receiving the soft AP setup Response message, the multilink terminal non-AP MLD starts to send a broadcast message (such as a Beacon frame) on the Link indicated in the Activated Link Set, or responds to a probe request message of other terminals.

S14, after other terminals are connected to the multilink terminal serving as the soft AP, the multilink terminal sends an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the AP MLD, wherein the message comprises:

STA Address: an address indicating a terminal connected to the multilink terminal which is a soft AP;

update type: illustratively, set to ADD, indicates a newly added terminal;

after other terminals are disconnected from the multilink terminal serving as the soft AP, the multilink terminal sends an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the AP MLD, wherein the message comprises:

update type: exemplarily, set to DELETE, indicating that the terminal is disconnected;

s15, after the AP MLD receives the AP-STA-NOTIFY message, if the value of the Update type is ADD, the value of the STA Address is added into Associated STAs information corresponding to the multilink terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or a piece of information of the first terminal Address and the STA Address association is added into the soft AP information unit; if the value of the Update type is DELETE, deleting the Address corresponding to the STA Address information in the Associated STAs information corresponding to the multilink terminal Address in the soft AP information unit, or deleting the information of the first terminal Address and the STA Address association in the soft AP information unit.

And S16, the AP MLD sends a DS-STA-Notify message to the server, the message is used for informing the server of the association relationship between the terminal and the AP MLD after the terminal is connected to the softAP managed by the AP MLD, and after the server receives the message, the server sends the service data of the terminal to the AP MLD.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of another terminal operation mode conversion method according to an embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the AP MLD initiates an operation of converting the terminal into the soft AP by the AP MLD according to the service requirement or the local policy, and the AP MLD sets a soft AP management message locally, where the soft AP management message includes a soft AP information unit, and the setting of the soft AP information unit is as in table 4, table 5, or table 6.

When the multi-link network access device AP MLD decides to convert a certain multi-link terminal non-AP MLD into soft AP, the method for converting the terminal operation mode comprises the following steps:

s21. the AP MLD adds the multilink terminal to a local soft AP information unit, or adds the multilink terminal to the local soft AP information unit, and marks the equipment type of the multilink terminal as a soft AP; and sends a soft AP setup Request message to the multilink terminal non-AP MLD, illustratively, the soft AP setup Request message settings are shown in Table 7.

S22, after receiving a soft AP setup Request message, the multilink terminal non-AP MLD can directly start to send a broadcast message (such as a Beacon frame) on a Link indicated in an Activated Link Set, or respond to a probe Request message of other terminals; the soft AP setup Response message may also be sent to the Multi-Link network access device AP MLD, for example, the setting of the soft AP setup Response message is shown in table 1, at this time, the non-AP MLD is selected as a Link that the soft AP wishes to use from a Link that the AP MLD indicates the non-AP MLD to use as the soft AP, in some embodiments, the soft AP setup Response message further includes a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or includes a parameter SSID and a Multi SSID supported, or includes a parameter BSSID and a Multi BSSID supported, and starts to send a broadcast message (e.g., Beacon frame) on the Link indicated in the Activated Link Set, or responds to a probe request (probe request) message of another terminal.

The following steps are the same as steps S14-S16 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and are not described again here.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a terminal, where the terminal is configured to implement the method for switching the operation mode of the terminal according to any embodiment shown in fig. 1-2, and the method can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions, for example, a first message receiving unit, a first message transmitting unit, and the like.

The first message receiving unit is used for receiving a first message sent by a network access device, wherein the first message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting the network access device to indicate that a first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP; and the first message sending unit is used for sending a broadcast message or responding to a detection request message of the second terminal on the Link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set.

After a terminal except the first terminal is connected to or disconnected from the first terminal serving as a soft AP, the first message sending unit is further configured to send an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the network access device, where the AP-STA-NOTIFY message includes a parameter STA Address and an Update type, the parameter STA Address is used to indicate an Address of the terminal connected to the first terminal serving as the soft AP, the parameter Update type is used to indicate addition or deletion, when the second terminal is connected to the first terminal, the Update type is set to be added, and when the second terminal is disconnected from the first terminal, the Update type is set to be deleted.

In some embodiments, the first message sending unit is further configured to send a second message to the network access device, where the second message includes a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used to indicate that the first terminal is a Link that the soft AP wants to use. Optionally, the second message further includes a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or includes a parameter SSID and a Multi SSID supported, or includes a parameter BSSID and a Multi BSSID supported, where the parameter SSID and the BSSID are both used to set an identifier for the terminal to identify when the terminal is a soft AP, and the parameter Multi SSID supported and the Multi BSSID supported are both used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a network access device, where the network access device is configured to implement the method for switching the terminal operation mode according to any embodiment shown in fig. 1-2, and the method may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions, for example, a soft AP management message setting unit, a second message transmission unit, and the like.

The system comprises a soft AP management message setting unit, a soft AP management message processing unit and a soft AP management message processing unit, wherein the soft AP management message setting unit is used for locally setting a soft AP management message, the soft AP management message comprises a soft AP information unit, the soft AP information unit comprises parameters soft APAddress and Associated STAs, the parameters soft APAddress is used for representing the address of a terminal serving as a soft AP, and the Associated STAs are used for representing the address of the terminal connected with the terminal serving as a soft AP; adding the first terminal into a local soft AP information unit, or adding the first terminal into the local soft AP information unit, and identifying the device type of the first terminal as a soft AP; and the second message sending unit is used for sending a first message to the first terminal, wherein the first message comprises parameters of Frame Control and AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter of Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter of AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting a network access device to indicate that the first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP.

In some embodiments, the network access device further includes a second message receiving unit, configured to receive an AP-STA-NOTIFY message sent by the first terminal, where the AP-STA-NOTIFY message includes parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used to indicate an Address of a terminal connected to the first terminal as a soft AP, and the parameter Update type is used to indicate addition or deletion; the soft AP management message setting unit is also used for adding the value of the parameter STA Address into Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in the soft AP information unit if the parameter Update type indicates addition, or adding information Associated with the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit; and if the parameter Update type indicates deletion, deleting an Address corresponding to the parameter STA Address information in Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or deleting information related to the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit.

Optionally, the second message receiving unit is further configured to receive a second message sent by the first terminal, where the second message includes a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used to Set the first terminal as a Link that the soft AP desires to use.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a terminal, which includes a processor and a memory, where at least one program code is stored in the memory, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the processor, so as to implement the method for switching operation modes of a terminal according to any embodiment shown in fig. 1-2.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a network access device, which includes a processor and a memory, where the memory stores at least one program code, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the processor, so as to implement the method for switching operation modes of a terminal according to any embodiment shown in fig. 1-2.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where at least one program code is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the method for switching operation modes of a terminal according to any of the embodiments shown in fig. 1-2.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, some or all of the steps may be executed in parallel or executed sequentially, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

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

It can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the system, the apparatus and the module described above may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

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

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

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

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device or a terminal device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: u disk, removable hard disk, ROM, RAM) magnetic or optical disk, or the like.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the examples of this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

The word "if" or "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "when … …" or "in response to a determination" or "in response to a detection", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if determined" or "if detected (a stated condition or event)" may be interpreted as "when determined" or "in response to a determination" or "when detected (a stated condition or event)" or "in response to a detection (a stated condition or event)", depending on the context.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps in the method for implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a program, which may be stored in a storage medium readable by a device and includes all or part of the steps when executed, such as: FLASH, EEPROM, etc.

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

Claims

1.A method for switching operation modes of a terminal is applied to a first terminal, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

receiving a first message sent by a network access device, wherein the first message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting the network access device to indicate that a first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP;

and sending a broadcast message or responding to a probe request message of the second terminal on the Link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set.

2. The method for switching operation mode of terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

the method comprises the steps of sending an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to a network access device, wherein the AP-STA-NOTIFY message comprises parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used for indicating the Address of a terminal connected to a first terminal serving as a soft AP, the parameter Update type is used for indicating addition or deletion, when a second terminal is connected to the first terminal, the Update type is set to be added, and when the second terminal is disconnected with the first terminal, the Update type is set to be deleted.

3. The method for switching operation mode of terminal according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

and sending a second message to the network access device, wherein the second message comprises a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used for indicating that the first terminal is used as a Link which the soft AP wants to use.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the second message further comprises parameter SSID or parameter BSSID, or comprises parameter SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameter BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, wherein the parameter SSID and BSSID are both used for setting an identifier for the terminal to identify when the terminal is used as soft AP, and the parameter Multi SSID supported and Multi BSSID supported are both used for indicating whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

5.A method for switching operation modes of a terminal is applied to a network access device, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

locally setting a soft AP management message, wherein the soft AP management message comprises a soft AP information unit, the soft AP information unit comprises parameters soft APAddress and Associated STAs, the parameters soft APAddress is used for representing the address of a terminal serving as a soft AP, and the Associated STAs are used for representing the address of a terminal connected with the terminal serving as a soft AP;

adding the first terminal into a local soft AP information unit, or adding the first terminal into the local soft AP information unit, and identifying the device type of the first terminal as a soft AP;

and sending a first message to a first terminal, wherein the first message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting a network access device to indicate that the first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP.

6. The method for switching operation mode of terminal according to claim 5, further comprising:

receiving an AP-STA-NOTIFY message sent by a first terminal, wherein the AP-STA-NOTIFY message comprises parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used for indicating the Address of the terminal connected to the first terminal serving as a soft AP, and the parameter Update type is used for indicating addition or deletion;

if the parameter Update type indicates addition, adding the value of the parameter STA Address into Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or adding information related to the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit; and if the parameter Update type indicates deletion, deleting an Address corresponding to the parameter STA Address information in Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or deleting information related to the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit.

7. The method for switching operation mode of terminal according to claim 5 or 6, further comprising:

and receiving a second message sent by the first terminal, wherein the second message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used for setting a Link which the soft AP wants to use.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second message further comprises parameter SSID or parameter BSSID, or comprises parameter SSID and Multi SSID supported, or comprises parameter BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, the parameter SSID and BSSID are used for setting an identifier for the terminal to identify when the terminal is a soft AP, and the parameter SSID supported and Multi BSSID supported are used for indicating whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

9. The method for switching operation mode of terminal according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said soft AP information element further comprises parameter SSID or BSSID, said parameter SSID and BSSID are used for setting identification used by terminal as soft AP for identifying it.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein in the soft AP information unit, the first terminal as a soft AP corresponds to a plurality of identifiers, and each identifier corresponds to a parameter Associated STAs.

11. A terminal, comprising:

the first message receiving unit is used for receiving a first message sent by a network access device, wherein the first message comprises a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting the network access device to indicate that a first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP;

and the first message sending unit is used for sending a broadcast message or responding to a detection request message of the second terminal on the Link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set.

12. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein the first message sending unit is further configured to send an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the network access device, where the AP-STA-NOTIFY message includes parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used to indicate an Address of a terminal connected to the first terminal as a soft AP, the parameter Update type is used to indicate addition or deletion, when the second terminal is connected to the first terminal, the Update type is set to be added, and when the second terminal is disconnected from the first terminal, the Update type is set to be deleted.

13. The terminal according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the first message sending unit is further configured to send a second message to the network access device, where the second message includes a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used to indicate that the first terminal is a Link that the soft AP desires to use.

14. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the second message further comprises parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, the parameters SSID and BSSID being used to set an identifier for the terminal to identify when the terminal is a soft AP, and the parameters Multi SSID supported and Multi BSSID supported being used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

15.A network access device, comprising:

the system comprises a soft AP management message setting unit, a soft AP management message processing unit and a soft AP management message processing unit, wherein the soft AP management message setting unit is used for locally setting a soft AP management message, the soft AP management message comprises a soft AP information unit, the soft AP information unit comprises parameters soft APAddress and Associated STAs, the parameters soft APAddress is used for representing the address of a terminal serving as a soft AP, and the Associated STAs are used for representing the address of the terminal connected with the terminal serving as a soft AP; adding the first terminal into a local soft AP information unit, or adding the first terminal into the local soft AP information unit, and identifying the device type of the first terminal as a soft AP;

and the second message sending unit is used for sending a first message to the first terminal, wherein the first message comprises parameters of Frame Control and AP-Activated Link Set, the parameter of Frame Control is used for indicating the type of the message, and the parameter of AP-Activated Link Set is used for setting a network access device to indicate that the first terminal is used as a Link used by a soft AP.

16. The network access device of claim 15, further comprising:

a second message receiving unit, configured to receive an AP-STA-NOTIFY message sent by a first terminal, where the AP-STA-NOTIFY message includes parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address is used to indicate an Address of a terminal connected to the first terminal as a soft AP, and the parameter Update type is used to indicate addition or deletion;

the soft AP management message setting unit is further used for adding the value of the parameter STA Address into Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit if the parameter Update type indicates addition, or adding information Associated with the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit; and if the parameter Update type indicates deletion, deleting an Address corresponding to the parameter STA Address information in Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or deleting information related to the first terminal Address and the STA Address in the soft AP information unit.

17. The network access device of claim 16, wherein the second message receiving unit is further configured to receive a second message sent by the first terminal, where the second message includes a parameter Frame Control and a STA-Activated Link Set, the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used to indicate that the first terminal is a Link that the soft AP desires to use.

18. A terminal, characterized in that the terminal comprises a processor and a memory, in which at least one program code is stored, which is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method for operation mode conversion of a terminal according to any of claims 1-4.

19. A network access device, characterized in that it comprises a processor and a memory, in which at least one program code is stored, which is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method for terminal operation mode conversion according to any of claims 5-10.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored therein at least one program code, which is loaded and executed by a processor, to implement the method of operation mode conversion of a terminal according to any of claims 1-10.