CN114339926B

CN114339926B - Method for converting terminal operation mode, terminal, network access equipment and medium

Info

Publication number: CN114339926B
Application number: CN202011058771.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴昊; 谢芳
Original assignee: Jimi Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Jimi Software Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-30
Filing date: 2020-09-30
Publication date: 2023-04-28
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-30
Also published as: CN114339926A

Abstract

The application discloses a method for converting a terminal operation mode, 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 network access equipment, wherein the first message comprises parameters Frame Control and AP-Activated Link Set; transmitting a broadcast message or a probe request message in response to the 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 of STA Address and Update type. The method and the device realize that the AP controls and manages the terminal to be converted into the soft AP through the mode of controlling the frame interaction. Converting the multi-link terminal into soft AP can expand the capacity of the wireless network and can also share the load of the AP, and meanwhile, when the advantages are realized, no extra overhead is introduced to raise the deployment cost.

Description

Method for converting terminal operation mode, terminal, network access equipment and medium

Technical Field

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

Background

802.11be networks, also known as Extremely High Throughput (EHT) networks, enhance functionality through a range of system characteristics and mechanisms to achieve extremely high throughput. As the use of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) continues to grow, it is increasingly important to provide wireless data services in many environments, such as homes, businesses, and hotspots. In particular, video traffic will continue to be the dominant traffic type in many WLAN deployments. The throughput requirements of these applications are evolving due to the advent of 4k and 8k video (20 Gbps uncompressed rate). New high throughput, low latency applications such as virtual reality or augmented reality, gaming, remote offices, 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 delay requirements of these applications, users desire to support their applications over a WLAN with higher throughput, higher reliability, less delay and jitter, and higher power efficiency. Users desire improved integration with Time Sensitive Networks (TSNs) to support applications on heterogeneous ethernet and wireless LANs. The 802.11be network aims to ensure the competitiveness of WLAN by further improving the overall throughput and reducing the delay while ensuring backward compatibility and coexistence with legacy technology standards. 802.11 compatible devices operating in the 2.4GHz,5GHz and 6GHz frequency bands.

In an 802.11be network, non-AP terminals may be converted to APs for load balancing and coverage expansion.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to perform load balancing and expand coverage, the present application proposes an operation mode of controlling and managing the conversion from a non-AP terminal to an AP by using an AP through a control frame interaction mode, and refers to an AP converted by the non-AP terminal as a soft AP.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for switching a terminal operation mode, which is applied to a first terminal, and includes: receiving a first message sent by network access equipment, 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 equipment to indicate a first terminal to serve as a link used by a soft AP; a broadcast message or a probe request message in response to the second terminal is sent on the link indicated in AP-Activated Link Set.

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

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: and sending a second message to the network access equipment, wherein the second message comprises parameters Frame Control and 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 the first terminal to serve 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 parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, where the parameter SSID and the parameter BSSID are used to set an identifier of the terminal when the terminal is a soft AP, and the parameters Multi SSID supported and Multi BSSID supported are used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for switching a terminal operation mode, 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, and the soft AP information unit comprises a parameter soft APAddress and an Associated STAs, the parameter soft APAddress is used for representing an address of a terminal serving as a soft AP, and the Associated STAs are used for representing an address of a terminal connected with the terminal serving as the 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 equipment type of the first terminal as soft AP; and sending a first message to the 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 the network access equipment to indicate the first terminal to serve as a link used by a soft AP.

In one possible implementation, 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 representing an Address of a 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 a new addition, adding the value of the parameter STA Address to Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or adding a piece of information of associating the first terminal Address with 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 the soft AP information unit, or deleting information Associated with the STA Address of the first terminal Address in the soft AP information unit.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: and receiving a second message sent by the first terminal, wherein the second message comprises parameters Frame Control and 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 parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, where the parameter SSID and BSSID are used to set an identifier of the terminal when the terminal is a soft AP, and the parameters Multi SSID supported and Multi BSSID supported are used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

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

In one possible implementation manner, in the soft AP information unit, the first terminal as the 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, including: a first message receiving unit, configured to receive a first message sent by a network access device, where the first message includes a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, where the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used to set the network access device to indicate a first terminal to use as a link used by a soft AP; and a first message transmitting unit for transmitting a broadcast message or a probe request message in response to the second terminal on a link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set.

In one 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, where 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 a new addition or a deletion, and when the second terminal is connected to the first terminal, the Update type is set to be newly 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 STA-Activated Link Set, where 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 wants to use a link as a soft AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the second message further includes parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, where the parameters SSID and BSSID are used to set an identifier of the terminal when the terminal is a soft AP, and the parameters Multi SSID supported and 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: a soft AP management message setting unit, configured to set a soft AP management message locally, where the soft AP management message includes a soft AP information unit, and the soft AP information unit includes a parameter soft AP address and an Associated sta, where the parameter soft AP address is used to indicate an address of a terminal that is a soft AP, and the Associated sta is used to indicate an address of a terminal connected to the terminal that is the 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 equipment type of the first terminal as soft AP; and the second message sending unit is used for sending a first message to the 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 the network access equipment to indicate the first terminal to serve as a link used by the soft AP.

In one possible implementation, the method 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 a parameter STA Address and an 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 configured to, if the parameter Update type indicates a new addition, add a value of the parameter STA Address to Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or add a piece of information Associated with 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 the soft AP information unit, or deleting information Associated with the STA Address of the first terminal 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 STA-Activated Link Set, where 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 wants to use a link as a soft AP.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a terminal comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein at least one program code, the at least one program code being loaded and executed by the processor to implement a method for switching modes of operation of the terminal as described in the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a network access device, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein at least one program code, the at least one program code being loaded and executed by the processor to implement a method for terminal operation mode conversion according to the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations 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, where the at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor, to implement a method for switching a terminal operation mode according to the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect or the possible implementation manners of the second aspect or the second aspect.

It should be noted that, the terminal in the third aspect and the fifth aspect of the present application are configured to perform the method provided in the first aspect, the network access device in the fourth aspect and the sixth aspect of the present application are configured to perform the method provided in the second aspect, and the computer readable storage medium in the seventh aspect of the present application is configured to perform the method provided in the first aspect or the second aspect, so that the same advantages as those of the method provided in the first aspect or the second aspect may be achieved, and embodiments of the present application are not repeated herein.

The method and the device realize that the AP controls and manages the terminal to be converted into the soft AP through the mode of controlling the frame interaction. Converting the multi-link terminal into soft AP can expand the capacity of the wireless network and can also share the load of the AP, and meanwhile, when the advantages are realized, no extra overhead is introduced to raise the deployment cost.

Drawings

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

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a terminal operation mode conversion method provided in 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 better understand the technical solutions in the present application, the following description will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, not all embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments herein without making any inventive effort, shall fall within the scope of the present application. Furthermore, while the disclosure has been presented in terms of an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it should be understood that various aspects of the disclosure can be practiced separately from the disclosure in a complete subject matter. The following embodiments and features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary," "for example," and the like are used to indicate by way of example, illustration, or description. 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 use of an example is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.

Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used herein should be given the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terms "first," "second," and the like, as used herein, do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one from another, and the corresponding terms may or may not have the same meaning. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that elements or items preceding the word are included in the element or item listed after the word and equivalents thereof, 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 solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following embodiment, the non-AP MLD represents a multi-link terminal, where the multi-link terminal includes a plurality of logic entities, each logic entity performs data transmission through a link, and each logic 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) denotes a service set identity and BSSID (Basic service set identifier) denotes a basic service set identity.

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

s11, the multi-link terminal non-AP MLD sends soft AP setup Request information to the multi-link network access equipment AP MLD. Illustratively, soft AP setup Request message settings are shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

Frame Control

Duration

Address1

Address2

Frame body

FCS

Wherein, the liquid crystal display device comprises a liquid crystal display device,

frame Control: for indicating the type of message;

duration: a duration for indicating a service associated with the message type;

address1: an address for indicating a sender of the message;

address2: an address for indicating a message recipient;

FCS: checking the code;

frame body contains 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 alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

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

TABLE 3 Table 3

/>

In some embodiments, the soft AP setup Request message may also contain a parametric SSID, or parametric SSID and Multi SSID supported, where,

SSID: for setting the identity of the multilink terminal for identifying it when acting as a soft AP.

Multi SSID supported: for indicating whether the multi-link 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 a plurality of identification values.

Or, contains the parameter BSSID, or the parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, wherein,

BSSID: for setting the identity of the multilink terminal for identifying it when acting as a soft AP.

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

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

TABLE 4 Table 4

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

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

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

It should be noted that, the addresses in the parameter soft APAddress and Associated STAs are used to identify the terminal.

When the SSID parameter is contained in the soft AP setup Request message, the soft AP information element is shown in table 5, for example. When the BSSID parameter is included in the soft AP setup Request message, the soft AP information element is similar to when the SSID parameter is included, and the parameter SSID is replaced by the BSSID.

TABLE 5

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

When Multi SSID supported parameters are included in the soft AP setup Request message and the parameter value is "used", the soft AP information element is shown in table 6. When Multi BSSID supported parameters are included in the soft AP setup Request message, the soft AP information element is similar to when Multi SSID supported parameters are included, and the parameter SSID is replaced by BSSID.

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 soft AP setup Response a message to the multi-link terminal non-AP MLD. Illustratively, soft AP setup Response message settings are shown in table 7.

TABLE 7

Frame Control

Duration

Address1

Address2

Frame body

FCS

frame Control: for indicating the type of message;

duration: a duration for indicating a service associated with the message type;

Address1: an address for indicating a sender of the message;

address2: an address for indicating a message recipient;

FCS: checking the code;

frame body contains parameters:

activated Link Set: the link used to set the AP MLD to indicate that the non-AP MLD is used as a soft AP may be, for example,

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 alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the corresponding values are shown in Table 9 as having a length of 3 bits.

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 multi-link terminal non-AP MLD starts to send a broadcast message (such as a Beacon frame) on the link indicated in Activated Link Set, or responds to a probe request (probe request) message of other terminals.

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

STA Address: an address for representing a terminal connected to a multi-link terminal as a soft AP;

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

after the other terminal disconnects from the multi-link terminal as soft AP, the multi-link terminal sends an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the AP MLD, which includes:

update type: illustratively, set as DELETE, signifying that the terminal is disconnected;

s15, after receiving the AP-STA-NOTIFY message, if the Update type value is ADD, the AP MLD ADDs the value of STA Address to Associated STAs information corresponding to the multilink terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or ADDs information of associating the first terminal Address with the STA Address in the soft AP information unit; if the Update type is DELETE, deleting the Address corresponding to the STA Address information in the Associated STAs information corresponding to the multi-link terminal Address in the soft AP information unit, or deleting the information Associated with the STA Address from the first terminal Address in the soft AP information unit.

S16, the AP MLD sends a DS-STA-Notify message to the server, after the message is used for the terminal to be connected to the softAP managed by the AP MLD, the AP MLD informs the server of the association relationship between the terminal and the AP MLD, and after the server receives the message, the service data of the terminal is sent 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 multi-link network access device AP MLD initiates the operation of converting the terminal into the softAP by the AP MLD according to the service requirement or the local policy, and the AP MLD locally sets a soft AP management message, where the soft AP management message includes a soft AP information unit, and the setting of the soft AP information unit is shown 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 terminal operation mode conversion method comprises the following steps:

s21, the AP MLD adds the multi-link terminal into a local soft AP information unit, or adds the multi-link terminal into the local soft AP information unit, and identifies the equipment type of the multi-link terminal as soft AP; and sends soft AP setup Request a message to the multi-link terminal non-AP MLD, with soft AP setup Request message settings as shown in table 7, for example.

S22, after receiving the soft AP setup Request message, the multi-link terminal non-AP MLD can directly start to send a broadcast message (such as a Beacon frame) on a link indicated in Activated Link Set, or respond to a probe request (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, where the link that the non-AP MLD wants to use as a soft AP is selected from the links that the AP MLD indicates that the non-AP MLD uses as a soft AP, and in some embodiments, the soft AP setup Response message further includes a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or includes parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, and starts sending a broadcast message (such as Beacon frame) on the link indicated in Activated Link Set, or responds to a probe request (probe request) message of another terminal.

The subsequent steps are the same as steps S14-S16 in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, and will not be described again here.

The embodiment of the application also provides a terminal, which is used for realizing the method for converting the terminal operation modes related to any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 1-2, and the method can be realized by hardware or can be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. 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.

A first message receiving unit, configured to receive a first message sent by a network access device, where the first message includes a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, where the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used to set the network access device to indicate a first terminal to use as a link used by a soft AP; and a first message transmitting unit for transmitting a broadcast message or a probe request message in response to the second terminal on a link indicated in the AP-Activated Link Set.

The first message sending unit is further configured to send an AP-STA-NOTIFY message to the network access device after the terminal other than the first terminal is connected to or disconnected from the first terminal as the soft AP, where the AP-STA-NOTIFY message includes parameters STA Address and Update type, where the parameter STA Address is used to indicate an Address of the terminal connected to the first terminal as the soft AP, and the parameter Update type is used to indicate a new addition or deletion, and when the second terminal is connected to the first terminal, the Update type is set to be newly 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 STA-Activated Link Set, where 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 wants to use the link as a soft AP. Optionally, the second message further includes a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or includes parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, where the parameter SSID and the parameter BSSID are used to set an identifier of the terminal when the terminal is used as a soft AP, and the parameters Multi SSID supported and Multi BSSID supported are used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identifiers.

The embodiment of the application also provides a network access device, which is used for realizing the method for converting the terminal operation mode related to any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 1-2, and the method can be realized by hardware or can be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. 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 transmitting unit, and the like.

A soft AP management message setting unit, configured to set a soft AP management message locally, where the soft AP management message includes a soft AP information unit, and the soft AP information unit includes a parameter soft AP address and an Associated sta, where the parameter soft AP address is used to indicate an address of a terminal that is a soft AP, and the Associated sta is used to indicate an address of a terminal connected to the terminal that is the 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 equipment type of the first terminal as soft AP; and the second message sending unit is used for sending a first message to the 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 the network access equipment to indicate the first terminal to serve as a link used by the 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 a parameter STA Address and an Update type, where 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 a new addition or deletion; the soft AP management message setting unit is further configured to add the value of the parameter STA Address to Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or add a piece of information Associated with the STA Address in the first terminal Address in the soft AP information unit, if the parameter Update type indicates a new addition; 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 the soft AP information unit, or deleting information Associated with the STA Address of the first terminal 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 STA-Activated Link Set, where 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 wishes to use.

The embodiment of the application also provides a terminal, which comprises a processor and a memory, wherein at least one program code is stored in the memory, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the processor to realize the method for converting the operation mode of the terminal according to any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 1-2.

The embodiment of the application also provides a network access device, which comprises a processor and a memory, wherein at least one program code is stored in the memory, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the processor to realize the method for converting the terminal operation mode according to any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 1-2.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium having at least one program code stored therein, where the at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor to implement a method for converting a terminal operation mode 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 number of each process does not mean that the sequence of execution is sequential, and some or all of the steps may be executed in parallel or sequentially, where the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its functions and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on 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 solution. 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 will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described system, apparatus and module may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, for example, multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, i.e., may be located in one place, or may be distributed over a plurality of network elements. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each module may exist alone physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in 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 may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device or a terminal device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: u disk, removable hard disk, ROM, RAM) disk or optical disk, etc.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in 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 or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The character "/" herein generally indicates that the associated object is an "or" relationship.

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

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or some of the steps in implementing the methods of the above embodiments may be implemented by a program to instruct related hardware, where the program may be stored in a readable storage medium of a device, where the program includes all or some of the steps when executed, where the storage medium includes, for example: FLASH, EEPROM, etc.

The foregoing is merely 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 think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to 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, applied to a first terminal, comprising:

receiving a first message sent by network access equipment, 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 equipment to indicate a first terminal to serve as a link used by a soft AP;

a broadcast message or a probe request message in response to the second terminal is sent on the link indicated in AP-Activated Link Set.

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

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

3. A method of switching modes of operation of a terminal according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

and sending a second message to the network access equipment, wherein the second message comprises parameters Frame Control and 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 the first terminal to serve as a link which the soft AP wants to use.

4. A method of switching modes of operation of a terminal according to claim 3, characterized in that the second message further comprises a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or comprises parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, both of which are used to set the identity of the terminal when it is a soft AP, and both of which parameters Multi SSID supported and Multi BSSID supported are used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identities.

5. A method for switching operation modes of a terminal, which is applied to network access equipment, 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, and the soft AP information unit comprises a parameter soft APAddress and an Associated STAs, the parameter soft APAddress is used for representing an address of a terminal serving as a soft AP, and the Associated STAs are used for representing an address of a terminal connected with the terminal serving as the 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 equipment type of the first terminal as soft AP;

and sending a first message to the 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 the network access equipment to indicate the first terminal to serve as a link used by a soft AP.

6. The method for switching a terminal operation mode 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 representing an Address of a 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 a new addition, adding the value of the parameter STA Address to Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or adding a piece of information of associating the first terminal Address with 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 the soft AP information unit, or deleting information Associated with the STA Address of the first terminal Address in the soft AP information unit.

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

and receiving a second message sent by the first terminal, wherein the second message comprises parameters Frame Control and 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 according to claim 7, wherein the second message further includes a parameter SSID or a parameter BSSID, or includes parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or parameters BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, the parameters SSID and BSSID being used to set the identity of the terminal when it is a soft AP, and the parameters MultiSSID supported and Multi BSSID supported being used to indicate whether the terminal uses multiple identities.

9. A method for switching operation modes of a terminal according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the soft AP information unit further comprises a parameter SSID or BSSID, and the parameter SSID and BSSID are used for setting the identity of the terminal when the terminal is used as a soft AP.

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

11. A terminal, comprising:

a first message receiving unit, configured to receive a first message sent by a network access device, where the first message includes a parameter Frame Control and an AP-Activated Link Set, where the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate a type of the message, and the parameter AP-Activated Link Set is used to set the network access device to indicate a first terminal to use as a link used by a soft AP;

and a first message transmitting unit for transmitting a broadcast message or a probe request message in response to the second terminal on a 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, the AP-STA-NOTIFY message including parameters STA Address and Update type, the parameter STA Address being used to indicate an Address of a terminal connected to the first terminal as a soft AP, the parameter Update type being used to indicate a new addition or a deletion, the Update type being set to the new addition when the second terminal is connected to the first terminal, and the Update type being set to the deletion when the second terminal is disconnected from the first terminal.

13. A terminal according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the first message sending unit is further configured to send a second message to the network access device, where the second message contains parameters Frame Control and STA-Activated Link Set, where the parameter Frame Control is used to indicate the type of message, and where the parameter STA-Activated Link Set is used to indicate the link that the first terminal wishes to use as a soft AP.

14. A terminal according to claim 13, characterized in that the second message further comprises parameters SSID and Multi SSID supported, or BSSID and Multi BSSID supported, for setting the identity of the terminal when it is a soft AP, and parameters MultiSSID supported and Multi BSSID supported for indicating whether the terminal uses multiple identities.

15. A network access device, comprising:

a soft AP management message setting unit, configured to set a soft AP management message locally, where the soft AP management message includes a soft AP information unit, and the soft AP information unit includes a parameter soft AP address and an Associated sta, where the parameter soft AP address is used to indicate an address of a terminal that is a soft AP, and the Associated sta is used to indicate an address of a terminal connected to the terminal that is the 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 equipment type of the first terminal as soft AP;

and the second message sending unit is used for sending a first message to the 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 the network access equipment to indicate the first terminal to serve as a link used by the 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 the first terminal, 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 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 configured to, if the parameter Update type indicates a new addition, add a value of the parameter STA Address to Associated STAs information corresponding to the first terminal Address in a soft AP information unit, or add a piece of information Associated with 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 the soft AP information unit, or deleting information Associated with the STA Address of the first terminal 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 STA-Activated Link Set, where 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 wants to use the link as a soft AP.

18. A terminal comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory has stored therein at least one program code that is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method of terminal operation mode conversion of any of claims 1-4.

19. A network access device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory has stored therein at least one program code that is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method of terminal operation mode conversion of any of claims 5-10.

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