CN115243390A

CN115243390A - Data communication method, baseband chip and terminal equipment

Info

Publication number: CN115243390A
Application number: CN202210865598.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周萍
Original assignee: Zeku Technology Shanghai Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Zeku Technology Shanghai Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2022-07-21
Filing date: 2022-07-21
Publication date: 2022-10-25

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a data communication method, which is applied to a baseband chip, wherein the baseband chip comprises a driving layer, a firmware layer and a hardware layer; the firmware layer sends a first time schedule to the driving layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with the target equipment; when a sending instruction corresponding to target equipment is received at a first moment, a driving layer schedules a corresponding second time schedule according to a first time to transmit a data packet carried by the sending instruction; wherein the second time schedule is used for indicating the data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer.

Description

Data communication method, baseband chip and terminal equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of chip design, and in particular, to a data communication method, a baseband chip, and a terminal device.

Background

Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) is also known as Wi-Fi Awareness (Wi-Fi Aware). The NAN device may perform data communication with a plurality of neighbor NAN devices after joining the NAN network. In order to ensure smooth data communication between two devices, two NAN devices negotiate a periodic available time window (AW), and only during the AW period, the two NAN devices perform data communication.

However, time scheduling of data communication between devices by AW may, on the one hand, lead to increased power consumption due to reception of data packets delivered by upper layers during non-AW periods; on the other hand, the data packet transmission process, the channel access processing and the like occupy the AW time, and the AW utilization rate is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a data communication method, a baseband chip and terminal equipment, which can improve the effective utilization rate of AW and reduce the equipment power consumption to the maximum extent.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application is realized as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data communication method, where the data communication method is applied to a baseband chip, and the baseband chip includes a driver layer, a firmware layer, and a hardware layer; the method comprises the following steps:

the firmware layer sends a first time schedule to the driver layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with a target device;

and when a sending instruction corresponding to the target equipment is received at a first time, the driving layer transmits a data packet carried by the sending instruction according to a second time schedule corresponding to the first time schedule, wherein the second time schedule is used for indicating the data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a baseband chip, where the baseband chip includes a driver layer, a firmware layer, and a hardware layer;

the firmware layer is used for sending a first time schedule to the driving layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with a target device;

the driving layer is used for transmitting a data packet carried by a sending instruction according to a second time schedule corresponding to the first time schedule when the sending instruction corresponding to the target equipment is received at a first time; wherein the second time schedule is used to indicate a data transfer time between the driver layer and the firmware layer.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, where the terminal device is configured with the baseband chip according to the second aspect, and the terminal device is configured to implement the method according to the first aspect.

The embodiment of the application provides a data communication method, a baseband chip and terminal equipment, wherein the data communication method is applied to the baseband chip, and the baseband chip comprises a driving layer, a firmware layer and a hardware layer; the firmware layer sends a first time schedule to the driving layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with the target equipment; when a sending instruction corresponding to target equipment is received at a first moment, a driving layer schedules a corresponding second time schedule according to a first time to transmit a data packet carried by the sending instruction; wherein the second time schedule is used for indicating the data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the driver layer maintains a second time schedule (DAW) on the basis of the first time schedule (AW) used by the firmware layer, and the second time schedule can indicate the data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer, so that when the driver layer sends a data packet to the firmware layer according to the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, the driver layer can ensure that the firmware layer sends the data packet to the target device at the start time of the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, the power consumption generated by early awakening a chip is reduced, and the utilization rate of the data transmission period is improved; the firmware layer can also be ensured to stop the packet sending processing before the end time of the data receiving and sending period indicated by the first time schedule, so that the problem that the data packet cannot be successfully received by the target device is solved, and the defect of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing is overcome. That is to say, in the data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, since the driver layer can maintain the DAW generated based on the AW and control the transmission timing of the data packet by using the DAW, the effective utilization rate of the AW can be improved, and the power consumption of the device can be reduced to the greatest extent.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a NAN cluster;

FIG. 2 is a first timing diagram of data communication;

FIG. 3 is a timing diagram of data communication;

fig. 4 is a first flowchart illustrating an implementation of a data communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an implementation flow of a data communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a first timing diagram corresponding to a data communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a timing diagram illustrating a second timing diagram corresponding to the data communication method according to the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the driving chip;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a configuration of the terminal device.

Detailed Description

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. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are illustrative of the relevant application and are not limiting of the application. It should be noted that, for the convenience of description, only the parts related to the related applications are shown in the drawings.

Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) is also known as Wi-Fi Awareness (Wi-Fi Aware). Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a NAN cluster, and as shown in fig. 1, a NAN network and a set of all devices (devices) in the network may be described using a cluster (cluster). After joining the NAN network, the NAN device may perform data communication with a plurality of neighbor NAN devices, and the double arrows in the diagram represent the mutual communication between two NAN devices.

In order to enable the two NAN devices to successfully perform data communication, the two NAN devices negotiate a periodic available time window (available window, AW), and only during the AW period, the two NAN devices perform data communication, but cannot receive and transmit data during the non-AW period.

Fig. 2 is a schematic timing diagram of data communication, as shown in fig. 2, and as shown in the timing diagram of the following figure, time occupied by a dark gray square is used to represent a common available time window AW negotiated by device1 (device 1) and device2 (device 2), an arrow represents data communication of device1 and device2 over the air interface (air), and success of data interaction can be guaranteed only by data exchange performed by two NAN devices during a periodic AW period.

It is understood that in the embodiment of the present application, each NAN device may be divided into three layers, namely, a Driver (Drv) layer, a Firmware (FW) layer, and a Hardware (Hardware, HW) layer. The Driver layer is a Wi-Fi Driver layer and is responsible for sending instructions and data sent by the upper layer to the FW layer and forwarding the data from the FW layer to the upper layer; the FW layer is a firmware layer, is positioned between the Driver layer and the HW layer, is responsible for managing and scheduling and is used for sending data from the Driver layer to the HW layer and sending data from the HW layer to the Driver layer; the HW layer is a hardware layer and is responsible for channel access and data transceiving to the air interface, specifically, sending data from the FW layer to the air interface and sending data received from the air interface to the FW layer.

Fig. 3 is a timing diagram of data communication, as shown in fig. 3, at a time t (t refers to a timestamp), one of the two NAN devices may be used as a Transmit (TX) device, that is, a TX device, and the other device may be used as a Receive (RX) device, that is, an RX device, in the timing diagram of the TX device transmitting data to the RX device shown in fig. 3, the TX device transmits data to the RX device only during an AW period, and the RX device cannot Receive data during a non-AW period.

Currently, the Driver layer of TX device receives data from the upper layers at any time, e.g., packet #1 outside AW, packet #2, packet #3 during AW; the Driver layer transmits a packet to the FW layer immediately after receiving the packet, and the time required for the Driver layer to transmit a data packet to the FW layer is delay _ drv _ FW; after receiving the data packet of the Driver layer, the FW layer may determine whether the current time is in the AW period according to a stored AW time schedule (schedule), so as to determine whether to send the data packet to the RX device over the air interface (air). For example, the data packet #1 is not scheduled to be transmitted until the start time of AW, but is not scheduled to be transmitted until the start time of AW, and is transmitted to the air interface after the channel access time channel _ access _ time, so that the RX device receives the data packet. During AW, data packet #2 and data packet #3 from the Driver layer are immediately scheduled and transmitted by the FW layer, and are also transmitted to the air interface after passing through channel _ access _ time. However, only the data packet #1 and the data packet #2 can be successfully received by the RX device, and the data packet #3 fails to be transmitted, i.e., the RX device cannot successfully receive the data packet #3. This is because the time at which the packet #3 is completely transmitted falls outside the AW, i.e., the end time of the transmission time (Tx _ time) of the packet #3 is later than the end time of the AW. Wherein Tx _ time may be determined by the following equation:

Tx_time＝channel_access_time+pkt_duration (1)

the pkt _ duration refers to the time required for the hardware layer to transmit a packet, and may be determined by the length of the packet and the transmission rate.

It should be noted that, in the conventional data communication method, during non-AW period, the Wi-Fi chip will be woken up because the FW layer receives the data packet from the Driver layer, but the FW layer cannot send the data packet, because the data packet is stored, the Wi-Fi chip will remain in the woken state until the data packet is sent out during AW period, and then will not go to sleep. It can be seen that waking up the Wi-Fi chip during non-AW can increase power consumption to some extent, since the device can neither transmit nor receive data during non-AW.

On the other hand, the conventional data communication method also has a problem of low effective utilization rate of AW, because the backoff time (backoff time) of the first data packet transmitted during AW is time-consuming, and thus the channel access time channel _ access _ time is relatively long, and especially when the environmental interference is severe, a longer backoff time (or channel _ access _ time) is required, so that for limited AW, especially for the case that the negotiated window time of AW is small, the backoff time of the first data packet may reduce the occupied time of data transmitted per unit time, and thus the effective utilization rate of AW is reduced.

On the other hand, in a common data communication method, the FW layer generally stops sending data packets to the Rx device at the time when AW ends, and a last data Packet before AW ends may not be successfully received by the Rx device because the time for completing sending falls outside an AW window, so that a Packet Error Rate (PER) is increased, and retransmission processing of the data packets, which is generated due to the fact that the data packets cannot be successfully received by the Rx device, further increases power consumption of the terminal device.

Therefore, the common data communication method has the problems of large power consumption and low AW utilization rate.

In order to solve the above problem, in the embodiment of the present application, the driver layer maintains a second time schedule (DAW) on the basis of the first time schedule (AW) used by the firmware layer, where the second time schedule may indicate a data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer, so that when the driver layer sends a data packet to the firmware layer according to a data transmission cycle indicated by the second time schedule, the driver layer can ensure that the firmware layer sends the data packet to the target device at exactly the start time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, thereby reducing power consumption generated by waking up the chip too early and improving utilization rate of the data transmission cycle; the firmware layer can also be ensured to stop the packet sending processing before the end time of the data receiving and sending period indicated by the first time schedule, so that the problem that the data packet cannot be successfully received by the target device is solved, and the defect of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing is overcome. That is to say, in the data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the driver layer can maintain the DAW generated based on the AW and control the transmission timing of the data packet using the DAW, so that the effective utilization rate of the AW can be improved and the power consumption of the device can be reduced to the greatest extent.

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.

An embodiment of the present application provides a data communication method, which may be applied to a baseband chip. The baseband chip may include a driver layer, a firmware layer, and a hardware layer. The driving layer is mainly responsible for sending instructions and data sent by the upper layer to the firmware layer and forwarding the data from the firmware layer to the upper layer; the firmware layer is arranged between the driver layer and the hardware layer and is responsible for managing, scheduling and sending data from the driver layer to the hardware layer, and meanwhile sending data from the hardware layer to the driver layer; the hardware layer is mainly responsible for channel access, sending data from the firmware layer to the air interface and sending data received from the air interface to the firmware layer.

Fig. 4 is a first schematic flow chart of an implementation process of the data communication method according to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 4, the method for performing data communication by using a baseband chip may include the following steps:

step 101, a firmware layer sends a first time schedule to a driver layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with the target device.

In an embodiment of the application, the firmware layer may first send the first time schedule to the driver layer. The first time schedule is used for determining an available window AW corresponding to the target device, that is, the first time schedule may be used for indicating a data transceiving time with the target device.

It is to be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, a communication connection may be established with the target device in advance, so that the corresponding first time schedule may be determined through the communication connection with the target device.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device may belong to the same NAN cluster, where data communication may be performed between the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device, and in order to ensure successful data communication between the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device, the two devices may establish a communication connection in advance and negotiate a periodic available window AW, that is, establish a corresponding first time schedule table.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, the first time schedule is used to indicate a data transceiving time between the baseband chip and the target device, that is, the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device may perform data communication only within a data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, and may not perform data communication outside the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, that is, the two NAN devices may perform data communication only during an AW period, and may not transceive data during a non-AW period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first time schedule negotiated and determined with the target device may be stored in a firmware layer of the baseband chip, and the firmware layer may send the first time schedule to the driver layer, so that the driver layer may know the data transceiving time for the firmware layer to perform the data transceiving process.

102, when a sending instruction corresponding to target equipment is received at a first time, a driving layer transmits a data packet carried by the sending instruction according to a second time scheduling table corresponding to first time scheduling; the second time schedule is used for indicating data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer.

In the embodiment of the application, when the sending instruction corresponding to the target device is received at the first time, the driving layer may transmit the data packet carried by the sending instruction according to the second time schedule, so that the firmware layer and the hardware layer may send the data packet to the target device according to the first time schedule. The second time schedule is used for indicating data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer, and the second time schedule can be generated for the driver layer according to the first time schedule, preset transmission time, channel access time and preset packet sending time.

That is, in the embodiment of the present application, after the firmware layer transmits the first time schedule to the driver layer, the driver layer may generate the second time schedule according to the first time schedule, the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet transmission time. Wherein the second time schedule may be used to indicate a data transfer time between the driver layer and the firmware layer.

It is understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the second time schedule is used to determine a Driver's Availability Window (DAW) corresponding to the target device, that is, the second time schedule may be used to indicate a data transmission time between the Driver layer and the firmware layer.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device may establish a communication connection in advance and negotiate a periodic available window AW, that is, establish a corresponding first time schedule, and based on the first time schedule, the driver layer of the baseband chip may establish a corresponding second time schedule for indicating data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer. Therefore, the data packets can be ensured to be sent to the firmware layer only in the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, and the data packets can not be sent to the firmware layer except the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, so that the two NAN devices of the terminal device and the target device can be ensured to carry out data communication only in the AW period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the preset transmission time may be determined by a time required for the driver layer to transmit a data packet to the firmware layer. The preset transmission time may be directly determined by the driver layer, or may be obtained by the driver layer from the firmware layer. On the other hand, the preset transmission time may be preset for the driver layer and/or the firmware layer, or may be determined in real time for the driver layer and/or the firmware layer.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the channel access time may be determined by a time required for the hardware layer to perform channel access. The channel access time may be directly determined by the driver layer, or may be obtained by the driver layer from the firmware layer. On the other hand, the channel access time may be preset for the driver layer and/or the firmware layer, or may be determined in real time for the driver layer and/or the firmware layer based on the network environment.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the preset packet sending time may be determined by time required by the hardware layer to send a data packet. The preset packet sending time can be directly determined by the driver layer or acquired by the driver layer from the firmware layer. On the other hand, the preset packet sending time may be preset by the driver layer and/or the firmware layer, or may be determined in real time by the driver layer and/or the firmware layer based on the length and sending rate of the data packet.

That is, in an embodiment of the present application, the firmware layer may send at least one of the following information to the driver layer: the method comprises the steps of presetting transmission time, channel access time and packet sending time. That is, at least one of the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet sending time may be synchronized from the firmware layer to the driver layer.

Of course, the driver layer may also store at least one of the following information in advance: the method comprises the steps of presetting transmission time, channel access time and packet sending time. I.e., at least one of the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet transmission time, may also be determined and stored by the driver layer.

For example, one embodiment is: the preset transmission time and the channel access time are synchronized to a driving layer by a firmware layer, and the preset packet sending time is determined by the driving layer. Yet another embodiment is: the preset transmission time is synchronized to the driving layer by the firmware layer, and the preset packet sending time and the channel access time are determined by the driving layer. The other implementation mode is as follows: the preset transmission time, the channel access time and the preset packet sending time are synchronized to the driving layer from the firmware layer. Yet another embodiment is: the preset transmission time, the channel access time and the preset packet sending time are all determined and stored by the driving layer.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, when the second time schedule is generated according to the first time schedule, the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet sending time, the driving layer may first determine, according to the first time schedule, a first start time and a first end time of each data transceiving cycle with the target device; then, the driving layer may determine a second start time of each data transmission period according to a preset transmission time, a channel access time, and a first start time of each data transceiving period; meanwhile, the driving layer can determine a second end time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, the preset packet sending time and the first end time of each data transceiving period; finally, the driving layer may further generate a second time schedule according to the second start time and the second end time of each data transmission cycle.

That is, in the embodiment of the present application, after acquiring the first time schedule corresponding to the target device, the driver layer may determine each data transceiving cycle for data communication with the target device based on the first time schedule. Then, for the first start time and the first end time of each data transceiving cycle, using time parameters related to data communication, such as preset transmission time, channel access time, preset packet sending time, and the like, the first start time and the first end time are adjusted to different degrees, so as to obtain a second start time corresponding to the first start time and a second end time corresponding to the first end time, and finally, each data transmission cycle corresponding to each data transceiving cycle can be obtained according to the second start time and the second end time, so that a corresponding second time schedule table can be generated based on each data transmission cycle.

When the second time schedule is generated, the driving layer may determine a second start time of each data transmission cycle in the second time schedule according to preset transmission time, channel access time, and a first start time of each data transceiving cycle; the driving layer can also determine a second ending time of each data transmission cycle in the second time schedule according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, the preset packet sending time and the first ending time of each data transceiving cycle.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, when the driving layer determines the second starting time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the first starting time of each data transceiving period, the driving layer may first perform an addition operation on the preset transmission time and the channel access time to obtain a first advance time; and then, according to the first advance time and the first starting time of each data transceiving period, determining the second starting time of each data transmission period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, in consideration of time parameters such as a channel access time required by a hardware layer to perform channel access processing during data communication, a preset transmission time for a driver layer to transmit data to a firmware layer, and the like, the driver layer may select to transmit a data packet to the firmware layer before a first start time of one data transceiving cycle indicated by a first time schedule, that is, to perform transmission of the data packet in advance, and therefore when determining a second time schedule, it is necessary to determine a specific time to start in advance, that is, a first advance time, according to the preset transmission time and the channel access time.

For example, in an embodiment of the present application, the first advance time may be represented as start _ margin _ drv, the preset transmission time may be represented as delay _ drv _ fw, and the channel access time may be represented as channel _ access _ time, and then the first advance time start _ margin _ drv may be obtained by calculating the following formula:

start_margin_drv＝delay_drv_fw+channel_access_time (2)

further, a second start time corresponding to the first start time may be determined according to the first advance time, where the first start time is denoted as Taw1, and the second start time is denoted as Tdaw1, and then the second start time Tdaw1 may be obtained by the following formula:

Tdaw1＝Taw1-start_margin_drv (3)

further, in the embodiment of the present application, when determining the second end time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, the preset packet sending time, and the first end time of each data transceiving period, the driving layer may first perform addition operation on the preset transmission time and the preset reserved time to obtain a second advance time; and then, determining a second ending time of each data transmission period according to the second advance time and the first ending time of each data transceiving period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, in consideration of time parameters such as a channel access time required by a hardware layer to perform channel access processing during data communication, a preset transmission time for a driver layer to transmit data to a firmware layer, and a preset packet sending time required by the hardware layer to transmit data, the driver layer may select not to transmit a data packet to the firmware layer before a first end time of one data transceiving cycle indicated by a first time schedule, that is, to end transmission of the data packet in advance, so when determining a second time schedule, it is necessary to determine a specific time for ending in advance, that is, a second advance time, according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet sending time.

For example, in an embodiment of the present application, the second advance time may be represented as end _ margin _ drv, the preset transmission time may be represented as delay _ drv _ fw, the channel access time may be represented as channel _ access _ time, and the preset packet sending time may be represented as pkt _ duration, and then the second advance time end _ margin _ drv may be obtained by calculating according to the following formula:

end_margin_drv＝delay_drv_fw+channel_access_time+pkt_duration (4)

and then, a second ending time corresponding to the first ending time can be determined according to the second advance time, where the first ending time is denoted as Taw2, and the second ending time is denoted as Tdaw2, then the second ending time Tdaw2 can be obtained by the following formula:

Tdaw2＝Taw2-end_margin_drv (5)

it is understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, based on the establishment of the second time schedule completed by the first time schedule, the driver layer may transmit the data packets to the firmware layer according to the data transmission cycle indicated by the second time schedule.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, when the driver layer transmits the data packet to the firmware layer according to the second time schedule, the driver layer may select the second start time Tdaw1 before the first start time Taw1 of one data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule to transmit the data packet to the firmware layer, after the preset transmission time delay _ drv _ fw, the firmware layer receives the data packet, and after the channel access processing is completed through the channel access time channel _ access _ time, the firmware layer and the hardware layer may transmit the data packet at the first start time Taw 1.

Therefore, based on the second time scheduling table established by the first time scheduling table, when the driving layer transmits data to the firmware layer according to the second time scheduling table, the driving layer can not transmit the data packet to the firmware layer too early, increase of power consumption caused by early awakening of a chip is avoided, and transmission opportunity can be controlled, so that the data packet can be transmitted to target equipment just at the first starting moment indicated by the first time scheduling table, waste of AW time is reduced, and data receiving and transmitting efficiency is improved.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, when the driver layer transmits the data packet to the firmware layer according to the second time schedule, the driver layer may select that the data packet is no longer transmitted to the firmware layer at the second end time Tdaw2 before the first end time Taw2 of one data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, so as to ensure that all the data packets transmitted to the target device can be successfully received. This is because if the driver layer transmits the data packet to the firmware layer after the second end time Tdaw2, considering the preset transmission time delay _ drv _ fw from the driver layer to the firmware layer, the channel access time channel _ access _ time for performing the channel access processing, and the preset packet sending time pkt _ duration for the hardware layer to send the complete data packet to the target device, a time when the data packet is completely sent may fall outside the data sending and receiving period indicated by the first time schedule, that is, an end time of the sending time of the data packet is later than an end time of AW, so that the data packet cannot be successfully received by the target device.

Therefore, based on the second time schedule established by the first time schedule, the driving layer stops sending the data packet to the firmware layer in advance when transmitting data to the firmware layer according to the second time schedule, so that the condition that the data packet receiving fails due to the fact that the time when the data packet is sent is not within the AW is avoided, the packet error rate is effectively reduced, and the problem that the power consumption of the terminal equipment is increased due to the retransmission processing of the data packet is solved.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the driving layer receives a sending instruction issued by the upper layer at a first time, where the sending instruction carries a data packet to be sent, and the sending instruction is used to instruct to send the data packet to the target device.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the driver layer has completed establishing the second time schedule based on the first time schedule, and therefore, corresponding to the sending instruction received at the first time, the driver layer may transmit the data packet carried by the sending instruction to the firmware layer according to the data transmission cycle indicated by the second time schedule, so that the firmware layer can send the data packet to the target device according to the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule.

Further, in this embodiment of the present application, when the driver layer transmits the data packet carried by the transmission instruction according to the second time schedule, it may first determine whether the first time instant at which the transmission instruction is received is within the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, that is, first determine whether the first time instant belongs to any data transmission period in the second time schedule. If the first time belongs to one data transmission period in the second time schedule, the driver layer may be allowed to send the data packet to the firmware layer at the first time, and thus, the driver layer may directly send the data packet to the firmware layer in the belonging data transmission period.

Further, in this embodiment of the present application, when the driver layer transmits the data packet carried by the transmission instruction according to the second time schedule, it may first determine whether the first time instant at which the transmission instruction is received is within the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, that is, first determine whether the first time instant belongs to any data transmission period in the second time schedule. If the first time does not belong to any data transmission period in the second time schedule, it may be determined that the driver layer is not allowed to send the data packet to the firmware layer at the first time, and therefore, the driver layer needs to store the data packet first, and meanwhile, the driver layer may determine a first data transmission period after the first time in the second time schedule as a target data transmission period for sending the data packet, and then the driver layer may transmit the data packet to the firmware layer at a third start time of the next target data transmission period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, if the data packet is transmitted to the firmware layer at the first time when the first time does not belong to the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, one possibility is that the time when the firmware layer receives the data packet does not belong to the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, and this may cause a problem of power consumption increase due to early wake-up of the chip.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, when the first time does not belong to the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, if the data packet is transmitted to the firmware layer at the first time, another possibility is that the time when the firmware layer receives the data packet although belongs to the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, but the end time when the firmware layer and the hardware layer complete the transmission of the data packet falls outside the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, so that the target device cannot successfully receive the data packet, and at this time, power consumption may also be increased to a certain extent by performing retransmission processing due to transmission failure.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, when the first time does not belong to the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, if the data packet is transmitted to the firmware layer at the first time, it is still another possibility that the time at which the firmware layer receives the data packet belongs to the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, but the firmware layer and the hardware layer do not complete the channel access processing yet, and therefore the data packet needs to be transmitted after the channel access time elapses, which occupies a limited time of the data transceiving period, thereby reducing the utilization rate of AW, and affecting the data communication efficiency.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the driving layer transmits the data packet to the firmware layer according to the second time schedule, so that the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced to the greatest extent on the basis of fully improving the utilization rate of the AW.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an implementation flow of a data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 5, the method for performing data communication by using a baseband chip may further include the following steps:

step 201, when receiving the data packet corresponding to the target device transmitted by the driving layer at the second time, the firmware layer determines a third ending time of the current data transceiving cycle according to the first time schedule.

In the embodiment of the application, when the firmware layer receives the data packet which is transmitted by the driver layer and needs to be sent to the target device at the second time, the firmware layer may determine the end time of the current data transceiving cycle to which the firmware layer belongs according to the first time schedule negotiated with the target device, that is, determine the third end time.

It is to be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, since the driver layer transmits data to the firmware layer based on the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, the second time when the firmware layer receives the data packet belongs to one data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, that is, the second time is within the current data transceiving period.

Step 202, if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, the firmware layer stops sending the data packet to the target device.

In the embodiment of the application, after determining the third ending time of the current data transceiving cycle to which the firmware layer belongs according to the first time schedule, the firmware layer may further determine a size relationship between a time difference between the second time and the third ending time and a preset reserved time, and then select a transmission time for transmitting the data packet to the target device according to the size relationship between the second time and the third ending time.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the preset reserved time may be obtained by calculating the channel access time and the preset packet sending time.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the preset reserved time may be represented as end _ margin, the channel access time may be represented as channel _ access _ time, and the preset packet sending time may be represented as pkt _ duration, and then the preset reserved time end _ margin may be obtained by calculating according to the following formula:

end_margin＝channel_access_time+pkt_duration (6)

as can be seen, the preset reserved time is the sum of the channel access time and the preset packet sending time, that is, the preset reserved time represents the time required for performing the channel access processing and the data sending processing when sending data.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, it may be considered that the time remaining in the current data transceiving cycle is not enough to completely transmit the complete data packet, and therefore the firmware layer may choose to stop transmitting the data packet to the destination device.

It is understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, in a case that, for a data packet received at the second time, in a case that a time difference between the second time and the third end time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, if the firmware layer still transmits the data packet to the target device, after the channel access time and the preset packet transmission time, the end time of completing the transmission of the complete data packet by the firmware layer and the hardware layer may fall outside the current data transceiving cycle, so that the target device may not successfully receive the data packet. Therefore, when the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, the firmware layer stops the transmission processing of the data packet, and the problem of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing after transmission failure is solved.

And 203, if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is greater than the preset reserved time, the firmware layer sends a data packet to the target device at the second time.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, if the time difference between the second time and the third end time is greater than the preset reserved time, it may be considered that the remaining time of the current data transceiving cycle can ensure that the complete data packet is completely transmitted, and therefore the firmware layer may directly transmit the data packet to the target device at the second time.

In summary, in the embodiments of the present application, in steps 101 to 103, and in the data communication method proposed in steps 201 to 203, on one hand, the driver layer may maintain one DAW time schedule based on the AW time schedule, i.e., construct a second time schedule based on the first time schedule, and may choose to transmit the data packet to the firmware layer within the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, and not allow the data packet to be transmitted to the firmware layer outside the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule. Even if the driving layer receives the data packet sent by the upper layer outside the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, the data packet is not transmitted to the firmware layer, so that the chip is not awakened too early. And according to the second time schedule, sending a data packet to the firmware layer before the first starting time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, correspondingly, the firmware layer does not schedule the data packet at the starting time of the AW, but schedules the data packet in advance by a period of time, namely sending the data packet by a channel access time (channel _ access _ time) scheduling packet before the first starting time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, so that the firmware layer can send the data packet just at the first starting time, namely, a chip is waken up just at the first starting time, the occupation of the AW by the channel access processing and data packet transmission process is reduced, and further, on the basis of improving the utilization rate of the AW, the power consumption is reduced to the maximum extent.

On the other hand, in the data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the time for the firmware layer to stop transmitting the data packet is no longer the first end time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, that is, the firmware layer does not select to stop transmitting the data packet according to the end time of the AW, but stops the packet transmitting process a certain time before the end time of the AW, where it may be selected to allow the data packet to be transmitted to the hardware layer before the preset reserved time (end _ margin) before the first end time, and not allow the data packet to be transmitted to the hardware layer after the preset reserved time (end _ margin) before the first end time, so that the packet error rate may be reduced, and the power consumption generated by the retransmission process may be further reduced.

The embodiment of the application provides a data communication method, which is applied to a baseband chip, wherein the baseband chip comprises a driving layer, a firmware layer and a hardware layer; the firmware layer sends a first time schedule to the driving layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with the target equipment; when a sending instruction corresponding to target equipment is received at a first moment, a driving layer schedules a corresponding second time schedule according to a first time to transmit a data packet carried by the sending instruction; wherein the second time schedule is used for indicating the data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the driver layer maintains a second time schedule (DAW) on the basis of the first time schedule (AW) used by the firmware layer, and the second time schedule can indicate the data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer, so that when the driver layer sends a data packet to the firmware layer according to the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, the driver layer can ensure that the firmware layer sends the data packet to the target device at the start time of the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, the power consumption generated by early awakening a chip is reduced, and the utilization rate of the data transmission period is improved; the firmware layer can also be ensured to stop the packet sending processing before the end time of the data receiving and sending period indicated by the first time schedule, so that the problem that the data packet cannot be successfully received by the target device is solved, and the defect of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing is overcome. That is to say, in the data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, since the driver layer can maintain the DAW generated based on the AW and control the transmission timing of the data packet by using the DAW, the effective utilization rate of the AW can be improved, and the power consumption of the device can be reduced to the greatest extent.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, a data communication method is provided in another embodiment of the present application, where the data communication method may be applied to a baseband chip. The baseband chip may include a Driver layer (Driver layer), a firmware layer (FW layer), and a hardware layer (HW layer). The Driver layer is mainly responsible for sending instructions and data sent by the upper layer to the FW layer and forwarding the data from the FW layer to the upper layer; the FW layer is positioned between the Driver layer and the hardware layer and is responsible for managing, scheduling and sending data from the Driver layer to the hardware layer, and simultaneously sending data from the hardware layer to the Driver layer; the hardware layer is mainly responsible for channel access, sending data from the FW layer to the air interface and sending data received from the air interface to the FW layer.

In order to solve the problem of power consumption increase caused by waking up a chip during non-AW periods, the problem of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing due to the fact that a last data packet may not be successfully received, and the problem of low AW utilization rate in the related art, a data communication method provided by the embodiment of the application mainly includes the following aspects:

in one aspect, the Driver layer maintains a DAW time schedule (second time schedule) that describes the package time window on the Driver layer. The Driver layer sends a data packet to the FW layer in the DAW period, and the Driver layer does not send the data packet to the FW layer in the non-DAW period. DAW is a new time schedule generated based on the AW table (first time schedule) updated to the Driver layer by the FW layer.

On the other hand, during the non-DAW period, even if the Driver layer receives the data packet from the upper layer, the Driver layer does not send the data packet to the FW layer, so that the chip is not awakened early, but the Driver layer is selected to start sending the data packet to the FW layer and awaken the chip for data transmission in advance of the start of AW by a certain time (e.g. the first advance time start _ margin _ drv).

It is understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the Driver layer does not transfer the data packet to the FW layer when receiving the data packet sent by the upper layer outside the data transfer period (i.e., during the non-DAW period) indicated by the second time schedule, so that the Driver layer does not wake up the chip prematurely. And according to the second time schedule, sending the data packet to the FW layer before the first starting time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, thereby reducing the occupation of the AW in the data packet transmission process, and reducing the power consumption to the maximum extent on the basis of improving the utilization rate of the AW.

In yet another aspect, the FW layer no longer schedules packets for transmission at the AW start time, but chooses to schedule packets for transmission some time ahead (e.g., channel access time channel _ access _ time).

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, since the Driver layer sends the data packet to the FW layer before the first start time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule according to the second time schedule, and correspondingly, the FW layer does not schedule the data packet at the start time of the AW, but schedules the data packet in advance by a period of time, that is, schedules the data packet at a channel access time (channel _ access _ time) before the first start time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, so that the FW layer can send the data packet just at the first start time, that is, wake up the chip just at the first start time, reduce occupation of channel access processing on the AW, and further improve utilization rate of the AW.

That is, in the embodiment of the present application, for the first packet transmitted during the AW, the FW layer does not transmit a packet to the air interface at the start time of the AW, but transmits the packet at the time of channel _ access _ time before the start of the AW, so that the first packet has already completed channel access at the start time of the AW, and the channel access time of the first packet does not occupy the AW, thereby increasing the effective utilization rate of the AW.

In yet another aspect, the FW layer stops the packet transmission no longer at the AW end time, but stops the packet transmission to the HW layer a certain time before the AW end time (e.g., the preset preparation time end _ margin), and the Driver layer also stops the packet transmission to the FW layer a certain time before the AW end time (e.g., the second advance time end _ margin _ drv).

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, since the FW layer does not select to stop sending the data packet according to the end time of the AW, but stops sending the data packet for a period of time before the end time of the AW, for example, it may select to allow sending the data packet to the hardware layer before the preset reserved time (end _ margin) before the first end time, and not allow sending the data packet to the hardware layer after the preset reserved time (end _ margin) before the first end time, so that the packet error rate may be reduced, and the power consumption caused by the retransmission processing may be further reduced.

That is to say, in the embodiment of the present application, the FW layer no longer stops transmitting packets to the target device (e.g., rx device) at the AW end time, but stops transmitting packets to the Rx device a certain time (e.g., end _ margin) before the AW end, and the Driver layer stops transmitting packets to the FW layer at the DAW end time, so that it is avoided that the last packet cannot be received by the Rx device before the AW end time, the PER is reduced, and the power consumption for packet retransmission due to reception failure is also saved.

Fig. 6 is a timing diagram first corresponding to the data communication method according to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, at a terminal device (Tx device) configured with a baseband chip, a Driver layer needs to store a second time schedule (DAW) generated based on a first time schedule (AW) of an FW layer. Firstly, tx device and a target device (Rx device) negotiate AW, after AW negotiates, the FW layer sends the negotiated AW schedule to a Driver layer, and the Driver layer generates DAW based on AW, wherein the starting time (Tdaw 1) of DAW can be determined by the starting time (Taw 1) of AW and a first lead time (start _ margin _ drv) as the above formula (3); and the end time (Tdaw 2) of DAW may be determined by the end time (Taw 2) of AW and the second advance time (end _ margin _ drv) as in equation (5) above.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the start _ margin _ drv may be determined by the preset transmission time (delay _ drv _ fw) and the channel access time (channel _ access _ time), as in the above formula (2); the end _ margin _ drv may be determined by a preset transmission time (delay _ drv _ fw), a channel access time (channel _ access _ time), and a preset packet transmission time (pkt _ duration), as in the above formula (4).

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, for the Tx device, the Driver layer receives a data packet, for example, the data packet #1, during a non-DAW period, and does not send the data packet to the FW layer any more immediately, but stores the data packet on the Driver layer first until the Driver layer sends the data packet to the FW layer at a start time of the DAW, after a delay _ drv _ FW time, the FW layer receives the mobile phone packet and then immediately schedules and sends the mobile phone packet to the air interface, where a time difference between the time and an AW start time is channel _ access _ time, and the HW layer sends the mobile phone packet to the RX device after performing channel access processing, that is, the sending time of the data packet is just the start time of the aww. The problem of power consumption increase caused by chip awakening in a non-AW period is solved, and the defect of low AW utilization rate is overcome.

Fig. 7 is a timing diagram ii corresponding to the data communication method according to the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, for a problem that a last data packet may not be successfully received by an RX device before an AW is ended, in the embodiment of the present application, for a Tx device, an FW layer may choose to stop transmitting packets to an HW layer in advance of a period (e.g., a preset reserved time end _ margin) before the AW is ended during an AW period. end _ margin refers to the time required to successfully send a packet (received by the Rx device) before the AW ends, where end _ margin can be determined by the channel _ access _ time and pkt _ duration, as in equation (6) above.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, for the Tx device, after receiving the data packet sent by the upper layer, the Driver layer may first determine whether to send the data packet to the FW layer. If the time of receiving the data packet is in the DAW period, immediately sending the data packet to the FW layer by the Driver layer; if the time of receiving the data packet is not DAW, for example, if the time of receiving the data packet #3 is during AW, the Driver layer stores the data packet first and transmits the data packet in the next DAW window, for example, although the time of receiving the data packet #3 is during AW, during non-DAW, the data packet #3 is not transmitted to the FW layer by the Driver layer during the current AW, but is delayed to be transmitted in the next DAW window, so that the data packet #3 can be ensured to be successfully received by Rx device.

The embodiment of the application provides a data communication method, wherein a driving layer maintains a second time schedule (DAW) on the basis of a first time schedule (AW) used by a firmware layer, and the second time schedule can indicate data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer, so that when the driving layer sends a data packet to the firmware layer according to a data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, the firmware layer can be ensured to send the data packet to a target device at the start moment of a data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, power consumption generated by a chip which is awakened too early is reduced, and the utilization rate of the data transmission period is improved; the firmware layer can also be ensured to stop the packet sending processing before the ending time of the data receiving and sending period indicated by the first time scheduling table, so that the problem that the data packet cannot be successfully received by the target equipment is solved, and the defect of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing is overcome. That is to say, in the data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the driver layer can maintain the DAW generated based on the AW and control the transmission timing of the data packet using the DAW, so that the effective utilization rate of the AW can be improved and the power consumption of the device can be reduced to the greatest extent.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of the present application provides a baseband chip, and fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a driver chip, and as shown in fig. 8, a baseband chip 10 may include a driver layer 11, a firmware layer 12, and a hardware layer 13. The driving layer is mainly responsible for sending instructions and data sent by the upper layer to the firmware layer and forwarding the data from the firmware layer to the upper layer; the firmware layer is arranged between the driver layer and the hardware layer and is responsible for managing, scheduling and sending data from the driver layer to the hardware layer and sending data from the hardware layer to the driver layer; the hardware layer is mainly responsible for channel access, and sending data from the firmware layer to the air interface and sending data received from the air interface to the firmware layer.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the firmware layer is configured to send the first time schedule to the driver layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with the target device.

It is to be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, a communication connection may be established with the target device in advance, so that the corresponding first time schedule may be determined through the communication connection with the target device. The first time schedule is used for determining an available window AW corresponding to the target device, that is, the first time schedule may be used for indicating a data transceiving time with the target device.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device may belong to the same NAN cluster, where data communication may be performed between the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device, and in order to ensure successful data communication between the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device, the two devices may establish a communication connection in advance and negotiate a periodic available window AW, that is, establish a corresponding first time schedule.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, the first time schedule is used to indicate a data transceiving time between the baseband chip and the target device, that is, the terminal device configured with the baseband chip and the target device may perform data communication only within a data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, and may not perform data communication outside the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, that is, the two NAN devices may perform data communication only during an AW period, and may not perform data transceiving during a non-AW period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first time schedule negotiated and determined with the target device may be stored in a firmware layer of the baseband chip, and the firmware layer may send the first time schedule to the driver layer, so that the driver layer can know the data transceiving time when the firmware layer performs the data transceiving process.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the driver layer is configured to generate a second time schedule according to the first time schedule, a preset transmission time, a channel access time, and a preset packet sending time; wherein the second time schedule is used for indicating data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the driver layer is further configured to determine a first start time and a first end time of each data transceiving cycle with the target device according to the first time schedule; determining a second starting time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time and the first starting time of each data transceiving period; determining a second ending time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, the preset packet sending time and the first ending time of each data transceiving period; and generating the second time schedule according to the second starting time and the second ending time of each data transmission period.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the driver layer is further configured to perform an addition operation on the preset transmission time and the channel access time to obtain a first advance time; and determining a second starting time of each data transmission period according to the first advance time and the first starting time of each data transceiving period.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the driver layer is further configured to perform an addition operation on the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet sending time to obtain a second advance time; and determining a second ending time of each data transmission period according to the second advance time and the first ending time of each data transceiving period.

It is to be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the second time schedule is used to determine the available window DAW at the driver layer end corresponding to the target device, that is, the second time schedule may be used to indicate the data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, based on the first time schedule, the driver layer of the baseband chip may establish a corresponding second time schedule for indicating a data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer. Therefore, the data packets can be ensured to be sent to the firmware layer only in the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, and the data packets cannot be sent to the firmware layer except the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, so that the two NAN devices of the terminal device and the target device can be ensured to carry out data communication only in the AW period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the preset transmission time may determine a time required for the driver layer to transmit a data packet to the firmware layer. The preset transmission time may be directly determined by the driver layer, or may be obtained by the driver layer from the firmware layer. On the other hand, the preset transmission time may be preset for the driver layer and/or the firmware layer, or may be determined in real time for the driver layer and/or the firmware layer.

Of course, the driver layer may also store at least one of the following information in advance: presetting transmission time, channel access time and packet sending time. I.e., at least one of the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet transmission time, may also be determined and stored by the driver layer.

It is understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, after acquiring the first time schedule corresponding to the target device, the driver layer may determine, based on the first time schedule, each data transceiving cycle for data communication with the target device. Then, for the first start time and the first end time of each data transceiving cycle, time parameters related to data communication, such as preset transmission time, channel access time, preset packet sending time, and the like, may be used to adjust the first start time and the first end time to different degrees, so as to obtain a second start time corresponding to the first start time and a second end time corresponding to the first end time, and finally, each data transmission cycle corresponding to each data transceiving cycle may be obtained according to the second start time and the second end time, so as to generate a corresponding second time schedule based on each data transmission cycle.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, in consideration of time parameters such as a channel access time required by a hardware layer to perform channel access processing during data communication, a preset transmission time for a driver layer to send data to a firmware layer, and a preset packet sending time required by the hardware layer to send data, the driver layer may select that a data packet is not transmitted to the firmware layer before a first end time of one data transceiving cycle indicated by a first time schedule, that is, transmission of the data packet is ended in advance, and therefore when a second time schedule is determined, a specific time to be ended in advance, that is, a second advance time, needs to be determined according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet sending time.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, when the driver layer sends a data packet to the firmware layer according to the second time schedule, the driver layer may select that the data packet is no longer transmitted to the firmware layer at the second end time Tdaw2 before the first end time Taw2 of one data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, so as to ensure that all the data packets sent to the target device can be successfully received. This is because if the driver layer transmits the data packet to the firmware layer after the second end time Tdaw2, considering the preset transmission time delay _ drv _ fw from the driver layer to the firmware layer, the channel access time channel _ access _ time for performing the channel access processing, and the preset packet sending time pkt _ duration for the hardware layer to send the complete data packet to the target device, a time when the data packet is completely sent may fall outside the data sending and receiving period indicated by the first time schedule, that is, an end time of the sending time of the data packet is later than an end time of AW, so that the data packet cannot be successfully received by the target device.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the driver layer is further configured to transmit a data packet carried by the sending instruction according to the second time schedule when the sending instruction corresponding to the target device is received at a first time, so that the firmware layer and the hardware layer send the data packet to the target device according to the first time schedule.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the driver layer is further configured to store the data packet if the first time does not belong to any data transmission cycle in the second time schedule, and determine a first data transmission cycle in the second time schedule after the first time as a target data transmission cycle corresponding to the data packet; and transmitting the data packet to the firmware layer at a third starting moment of the target data transmission period.

Further, in an embodiment of the application, the driver layer is further configured to transmit the data packet to the firmware layer at the first time if the first time belongs to one data transmission cycle in the second time schedule.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the driving layer receives, at a first time, a sending instruction issued by an upper layer, where the sending instruction carries a data packet to be sent, and the sending instruction is used to instruct to send the data packet to a target device.

Further, in this embodiment of the present application, when the driver layer transmits the data packet carried by the transmission instruction according to the second time schedule, it may first determine whether the first time instant at which the transmission instruction is received is within the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, that is, first determine whether the first time instant belongs to any data transmission period in the second time schedule. If the first time belongs to a data transmission period in the second time schedule, the driver layer may be allowed to send the data packet to the firmware layer at the first time, and thus, the driver layer may directly send the data packet to the firmware layer in the data transmission period to which the driver layer belongs. If the first time does not belong to any data transmission period in the second time schedule, it may be determined that the driver layer is not allowed to send the data packet to the firmware layer at the first time, and therefore, the driver layer needs to store the data packet first, and at the same time, the driver layer may determine the first data transmission period after the first time in the second time schedule as a target data transmission period for sending the data packet, and then the driver layer may transmit the data packet to the firmware layer at a third starting time of the next target data transmission period.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, if the data packet is transmitted to the firmware layer at the first time when the first time does not belong to the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, one possibility is that the time when the firmware layer receives the data packet does not belong to the data transceiving period indicated by the first time schedule, and this may cause a problem of power consumption increase due to early wake-up of the chip. Another possibility is that although the time when the firmware layer receives the data packet belongs to the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, the end time when the firmware layer and the hardware layer complete the transmission of the data packet falls outside the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, so that the target device cannot successfully receive the data packet, and at this time, the power consumption is increased to some extent when the retransmission processing is performed due to the transmission failure. Still another possibility is that the time when the firmware layer receives the data packet belongs to the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, but the firmware layer and the hardware layer do not complete the channel access processing, and therefore the data packet needs to be sent after the channel access time elapses, which occupies the limited time of the data transceiving cycle, thereby reducing the utilization rate of AW and affecting the data communication efficiency.

Further, in an embodiment of the present application, the firmware layer is further configured to determine, when receiving a data packet corresponding to the target device and transmitted by the driver layer at a second time, a third ending time of a current data transceiving cycle according to the first time schedule; if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, stopping sending the data packet to the target device; if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is greater than the preset reserved time, the data packet is sent to the target device at the second time; and the preset reserved time is the sum of the channel access time and the preset packet sending time.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the preset reserved time may be obtained by calculating the channel access time and the preset packet sending time. The preset reserved time is the sum of the channel access time and the preset packet sending time, namely the preset reserved time represents the time required for carrying out channel access processing and data sending processing when data is sent.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, it may be considered that the time remaining in the current data transceiving cycle is not enough to completely transmit the complete data packet, and therefore the firmware layer may choose to stop transmitting the data packet to the target device.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, in a case that, for a data packet received at the second time, a time difference between the second time and the third end time is less than or equal to a preset reserved time, if the firmware layer still transmits the data packet to the target device, after the channel access time and the preset packet transmission time, the end time of completing the transmission of the complete data packet by the firmware layer and the hardware layer may fall outside the current data transceiving cycle, so that the target device may not successfully receive the data packet. Therefore, when the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, the firmware layer stops the transmission processing of the data packet, and the problem of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing after transmission failure is solved.

Further, in this embodiment of the application, if the time difference between the second time and the third end time is greater than the preset reserved time, it may be considered that the time remaining in the current data transceiving cycle can ensure that the complete data packet is completely transmitted, and therefore the firmware layer may directly transmit the data packet to the target device at the second time.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device, and as shown in fig. 9, a terminal device 20 may be configured with a baseband chip 10, and the baseband chip 10 may include a driver layer 11, a firmware layer 12, and a hardware layer 13. The driving layer is mainly responsible for sending instructions and data sent by the upper layer to the firmware layer and forwarding the data from the firmware layer to the upper layer; the firmware layer is arranged between the driver layer and the hardware layer and is responsible for managing, scheduling and sending data from the driver layer to the hardware layer, and meanwhile sending data from the hardware layer to the driver layer; the hardware layer is mainly responsible for channel access, sending data from the firmware layer to the air interface and sending data received from the air interface to the firmware layer.

In summary, according to the baseband chip and the terminal device configured with the baseband chip provided in the embodiments of the present application, on one hand, the driver layer may maintain a DAW time schedule based on the AW time schedule, that is, construct a second time schedule based on the first time schedule, and may select to transmit a data packet to the firmware layer within a data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, and not allow the data packet to be transmitted to the firmware layer outside the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule. Even if the driving layer receives the data packet sent by the upper layer outside the data transmission period indicated by the second time schedule, the data packet is not transmitted to the firmware layer, so that the chip is not awakened too early. And according to the second time schedule, sending a data packet to the firmware layer before the first starting time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, correspondingly, the firmware layer does not schedule the data packet at the starting time of the AW, but schedules the data packet in advance by a period of time, namely sending the data packet by a channel access time (channel _ access _ time) scheduling packet before the first starting time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, so that the firmware layer can send the data packet just at the first starting time, namely, a chip is waken up just at the first starting time, the occupation of the AW by the channel access processing and data packet transmission process is reduced, and further, on the basis of improving the utilization rate of the AW, the power consumption is reduced to the maximum extent.

On the other hand, in the data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the time for the firmware layer to stop sending the data packet is no longer the first end time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, that is, the firmware layer does not select to stop sending the data packet according to the end time of the AW, but stops sending the data packet a period of time before the end time of the AW, where it may be selected to allow sending the data packet to the hardware layer before the preset reserved time (end _ margin) before the first end time, and not allow sending the data packet to the hardware layer after the preset reserved time (end _ margin) before the first end time, so that the packet error rate may be reduced, and power consumption generated by retransmission processing may be further reduced.

The embodiment of the application provides a baseband chip and terminal equipment configured with the baseband chip, wherein the baseband chip comprises a driving layer, a firmware layer and a hardware layer; the firmware layer sends a first time schedule to the driver layer; the first time schedule is used for indicating data transceiving time with the target equipment; when a sending instruction corresponding to target equipment is received at a first moment, a driving layer schedules a corresponding second time schedule according to a first time to transmit a data packet carried by the sending instruction; wherein the second time schedule is used for indicating the data transmission time between the driving layer and the firmware layer. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the driver layer maintains a second time schedule (DAW) on the basis of the first time schedule (AW) used by the firmware layer, and the second time schedule can indicate the data transmission time between the driver layer and the firmware layer, so that when the driver layer sends a data packet to the firmware layer according to the data transmission cycle indicated by the second time schedule, the driver layer can ensure that the firmware layer sends the data packet to the target device at the start time of the data transceiving cycle indicated by the first time schedule, thereby reducing the power consumption generated by early awakening the chip and improving the utilization rate of the data transmission cycle; the firmware layer can also be ensured to stop the packet sending processing before the end time of the data receiving and sending period indicated by the first time schedule, so that the problem that the data packet cannot be successfully received by the target device is solved, and the defect of power consumption increase caused by retransmission processing is overcome. That is to say, in the data communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, since the driver layer can maintain the DAW generated based on the AW and control the transmission timing of the data packet by using the DAW, the effective utilization rate of the AW can be improved, and the power consumption of the device can be reduced to the greatest extent.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of a hardware embodiment, a software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of implementations of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks for implementing the flowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A data communication method is applied to a baseband chip, and the baseband chip comprises a driving layer, a firmware layer and a hardware layer; the method comprises the following steps:

when a sending instruction corresponding to the target equipment is received at a first time, the driving layer transmits a data packet carried by the sending instruction according to a second time schedule corresponding to the first time schedule; wherein the second time schedule is used to indicate a data transfer time between the driver layer and the firmware layer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after the firmware layer sends the first time schedule to the driver layer, the method further comprises:

the driving layer determines a first starting time and a first ending time of each data transceiving cycle between the driving layer and the target device according to the first time schedule;

the driving layer determines a second starting time of each data transmission period according to preset transmission time, channel access time and the first starting time of each data transceiving period;

the driving layer determines a second ending time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, the preset packet sending time and the first ending time of each data transceiving period;

and the driving layer generates the second time schedule according to the second starting time and the second ending time of each data transmission cycle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining, by the driving layer, the second start time of each data transmission period according to a preset transmission time, a channel access time, and the first start time of each data transceiving period comprises:

the driving layer carries out addition operation on the preset transmission time and the channel access time to obtain a first advance time;

and the driving layer determines a second starting time of each data transmission period according to the first advance time and the first starting time of each data transceiving period.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining, by the driving layer, the second ending time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, the preset packet sending time, and the first ending time of each data transceiving period comprises:

the driving layer carries out addition operation on the preset transmission time, the channel access time and the preset packet sending time to obtain a second advance time;

and the driving layer determines a second ending time of each data transmission period according to the second advance time and the first ending time of each data transceiving period.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when receiving a sending instruction corresponding to the target device at a first time, the driver layer transmits a data packet carried by the sending instruction according to a second time schedule corresponding to the first time schedule, including:

if the first time does not belong to any data transmission period in the second time schedule, the driving layer stores the data packet, and simultaneously determines a first data transmission period in the second time schedule after the first time as a target data transmission period corresponding to the data packet;

and the driving layer transmits the data packet to the firmware layer at a third starting moment of the target data transmission period.

6. The method according to claims 1 to 4, wherein when receiving a sending instruction corresponding to the target device at a first time, the driver layer transmits a data packet carried by the sending instruction according to a second time schedule corresponding to the first time schedule, including:

and if the first time belongs to one data transmission period in the second time schedule, the driving layer transmits the data packet to the firmware layer at the first time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a data packet corresponding to the target device transmitted by the driving layer is received at a second moment, the firmware layer determines a third ending moment of a current data transceiving cycle according to the first time schedule;

if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, the firmware layer stops sending the data packet to the target device;

and if the time difference between the second moment and the third ending moment is greater than the preset reserved time, the firmware layer sends the data packet to the target device at the second moment.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4,7,

the preset reserved time is the sum of the channel access time and the preset packet sending time.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the first time schedule through a communication connection with the target device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

the firmware layer sends at least one of the following information to the driver layer: the preset transmission time, the channel access time and the preset packet sending time.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

the drive layer stores in advance at least one of the following information: the preset transmission time, the channel access time and the preset packet sending time.

12. A baseband chip is characterized by comprising a driving layer, a firmware layer and a hardware layer;

13. The baseband chip according to claim 12,

the driving layer is further used for determining a first starting time and a first ending time of each data transceiving cycle between the driving layer and the target device according to the first time schedule; determining a second starting time of each data transmission period according to preset transmission time, channel access time and the first starting time of each data transceiving period; determining a second ending time of each data transmission period according to the preset transmission time, the channel access time, the preset packet sending time and the first ending time of each data transceiving period; and generating the second time schedule according to the second starting time and the second ending time of each data transmission period.

14. The baseband chip of claim 13, wherein said baseband chip is characterized in that

The driving layer is further configured to perform addition operation on the preset transmission time and the channel access time to obtain a first advance time; and determining a second starting time of each data transmission period according to the first advance time and the first starting time of each data transceiving period.

15. The baseband chip according to claim 13,

the driving layer is further configured to perform addition operation on the preset transmission time, the channel access time, and the preset packet sending time to obtain a second advance time; and determining a second ending time of each data transmission period according to the second advance time and the first ending time of each data transceiving period.

16. The baseband chip according to any one of claims 12 to 15,

the driving layer is further configured to store the data packet if the first time does not belong to any data transmission cycle in the second time schedule, and determine a first data transmission cycle in the second time schedule after the first time as a target data transmission cycle corresponding to the data packet; and transmitting the data packet to the firmware layer at a third starting moment of the target data transmission period.

17. The baseband chip according to any one of claims 12 to 15,

the driver layer is further configured to transmit the data packet to the firmware layer at the first time if the first time belongs to one data transmission cycle in the second time schedule.

18. The baseband chip according to claim 12,

the firmware layer is further configured to determine a third ending time of the current data transceiving cycle according to the first time schedule when receiving a data packet corresponding to the target device transmitted by the driver layer at a second time; if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is less than or equal to the preset reserved time, stopping sending the data packet to the target device; if the time difference between the second time and the third ending time is greater than the preset reserved time, the data packet is sent to the target device at the second time;

and the preset reserved time is the sum of the channel access time and the preset packet sending time.

19. A terminal device, characterized in that it is equipped with a baseband chip according to any of claims 12-18, and in that it is configured to implement a method according to any of claims 1 to 11.