CN115278825A

CN115278825A - WiFi connection method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115278825A
Application number: CN202110478869.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王同波
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-30
Filing date: 2021-04-30
Publication date: 2022-11-01
Also published as: WO2022228190A1

Abstract

The application provides a WiFi connection method and a WiFi connection device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: receiving a detection request from a first Station (STA) in a state that a WiFi hotspot is opened by adopting a first WiFi protocol; determining a second WiFi protocol adopted by the first STA; judging whether the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol or not according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol; if the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting a first WiFi protocol, establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; and if the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting a second WiFi protocol. The scheme provided by the application can improve the success rate of the STA accessing the AP and reduce the problem of compatibility.

Description

WiFi connection method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a WiFi connection method and apparatus.

Background

A sixth generation Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) technology, i.e., wiFi6 technology, is a Wireless local area network technology created by the WiFi alliance under the IEEE 802.11 standard. Currently, most mobile phones support the WiFi6 technology and operate as a Station (STA) or an Access Point (AP) device.

Under the condition that the AP adopts the WiFi6 technology, the WiFi protocol version adopted by the STA may not support the WiFi6 technology, so that the STA may have a serious compatibility problem when accessing the AP, resulting in that the STA cannot establish a good communication connection with the AP. For example, in a scenario where a mobile phone is used as an AP and a notebook computer is used as an STA, many notebook computers cannot scan a hotspot turned on by the mobile phone at present after the mobile phone turns on a WiFi6 hotspot, and the notebook computers can scan the hotspot turned on by the mobile phone after the mobile phone turns on a WiFi 5 (WiFi 5) hotspot of the fifth generation.

At present, the compatibility problem can be solved by manually configuring the WiFi technology version or opening the maximum compatibility mode, so that the STA and the AP can establish a communication connection as much as possible. However, the above compatibility problem may still exist in the way of manually configuring the WiFi technology version, and the way of opening the maximum compatibility may cause the frequency band and protocol version available when the STA and the AP are connected to be greatly limited. Therefore, the compatibility problem in the above manner is poor in solution effect, and there may be problems that STA access fails, STA or AP performance is affected, and the like.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a WiFi connection method which is used for improving the success rate of access of an STA to an AP, reducing the problem of compatibility and reducing the influence on the performances of the STA and the AP.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method comprising:

receiving a detection request from a first Station (STA) in a state that a WiFi hotspot is opened by adopting a first WiFi protocol, wherein the detection request is used for requesting to establish WiFi connection with the AP; determining a second WiFi protocol adopted by the first STA; according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol, judging whether the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; and if the first STA does not support the establishment of the WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

In the method, when the AP establishes WiFi connection with the STA, the AP can determine the WiFi protocol supported by the STA according to the WiFi protocol adopted by the AP and the WiFi protocol adopted by the STA, so that the WiFi protocol adopted when the AP establishes WiFi connection with the STA is adjusted, the AP can establish WiFi connection with the STA by adopting the WiFi protocol compatible with the STA, the basic access function of the STA is further ensured, the success rate of accessing the STA to the AP is improved, the compatibility problem is reduced, and meanwhile, the performances of the STA and the AP are ensured to the greatest extent.

In one possible design, after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the method further includes: and when a detection request sent by a second STA is received, establishing WiFi connection with the second STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol, wherein the second STA is an STA which requests to establish WiFi connection with the AP after the first STA.

In the method, the AP adopts the second WiFi protocol to establish WiFi connection with the STA, and simultaneously adopts the second WiFi protocol to establish WiFi connection with the STA requesting access subsequently, so that the mode of working by adopting the lower-version WiFi protocol can be switched when the STA adopting the lower-version WiFi protocol accesses, and the basic access functions of the STAs are ensured.

In one possible design, after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the method further includes: notifying a third STA to communicate with the AP by adopting a second WiFi protocol, wherein the third STA is an STA which has established WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol before the first STA; or disconnecting the WiFi connection with the third STA, and establishing the WiFi connection with the third STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

In the method, after the AP establishes WiFi connection with the STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol, the STA which establishes WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol is informed to be switched to adopt the second WiFi protocol, so that the influence on the access function of the STA which is accessed to the AP before can be avoided after the AP switches the adopted WiFi protocol.

In one possible design, the probe request carries indication information indicating the second WiFi protocol; determining a second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA, including: acquiring the indication information from the detection request; determining the second WiFi protocol indicated by the indication information.

In the method, the AP can simply, conveniently and quickly determine the WiFi protocol adopted by the STA according to the indication information in the STA detection request, and further obtain the protocol capability of the STA.

In one possible design, the first WiFi protocol is a fifth generation WiFi protocol or a sixth generation WiFi protocol, and the second WiFi protocol is a fifth generation WiFi protocol or a sixth generation WiFi protocol.

In the method, because the current widely applied WiFi technical standard is the latest WiFi6 technology, the compatibility problem existing in the AP accessing process of the STA is mostly the compatibility problem between the WiFi6 technology and the WiFi 5 technology, therefore, the method provided by the application can be applied to the AP adopting the WiFi6 technology or the WiFi 5 technology, and the compatibility problem between the WiFi6 technology and the WiFi 5 technology is solved.

In one possible design, determining the second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA includes: determining a reference field contained in a message carrying the probe request, wherein the reference field is used for indicating whether the first STA supports a set version of a WiFi protocol; if the value of the reference field is a first value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is the WiFi protocol of the set version; and if the value of the reference field is a second value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is a WiFi protocol which is one version lower than the set version.

In the method, the AP can perform field analysis according to the message carrying the STA detection request, and can automatically identify the WiFi protocol adopted by the STA according to various field information so as to obtain the protocol capability of the STA.

In one possible design, the reference field includes at least one of: a target wake-up time request support field; a target wake-up time response support field; a broadcast target wake-up time field; a buffer status report holding field; an orthogonal frequency division multiple access random access support field; a supported channel bandwidth setting field; deleting the preamble receiving field; a low density parity check code field in the payload; a full bandwidth uplink multi-user multiple input multiple output field; a fractional bandwidth uplink multiple user multiple input multiple output field; receiving a field of a maximum constellation group by using a dual carrier modulation technology; a field is sent by a maximum constellation group of a dual carrier modulation technology; a multi-user beamformer field.

In one possible design, determining whether the first STA supports establishing a WiFi connection with the AP using the first WiFi protocol according to the first WiFi protocol and/or the second WiFi protocol includes: if the first WiFi protocol is the same as the second WiFi protocol in version, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, executing at least one connection process, and if the number of times of WiFi connection failure establishment with the first STA is less than a set threshold, determining that the first STA supports WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the number of times of WiFi connection establishment failure with the first STA exceeds the set threshold value, determining that the first STA does not support WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; wherein each connection process comprises the following steps: establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the database stores the device identifier of the first STA, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; otherwise, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; the database is used for storing the equipment identification of a target STA, and the target STA is an STA which does not support the WiFi connection established between the first WiFi protocol and the AP.

In the method, the AP can more accurately judge the access capability of the STA according to the WiFi protocol adopted by the AP and the WiFi protocol adopted by the STA, and the AP can determine the WiFi protocol adopted when the WiFi connection is established with the STA in various modes, so that the scheme has higher implementation flexibility and can adapt to the WiFi connection process in various different scenes.

In one possible design, after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the method further includes: storing the device identification of the first STA in the database.

In the method, the AP can supplement or update the information in the database according to the access result of the STA, can continuously enrich the content of the database, and ensures the accuracy of the content in the database.

In one possible design, the device identification of the first STA is a medium access control, MAC, address of the first STA.

In one possible design, the method further includes:

after establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol, communicating with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol or the second WiFi protocol; and after the second WiFi protocol is adopted to establish WiFi connection with the first STA, the second WiFi protocol is adopted to communicate with the first STA.

In the method, after WiFi connection is established between the AP and the STA, the AP and the STA can communicate with each other, wherein the WiFi protocol adopted when the AP and the STA communicate is the WiFi protocol adopted when the STA requests access, and normal communication between the STA and the AP can be ensured.

In one possible design, the first WiFi protocol is the highest version WiFi protocol that the AP supports, and the second WiFi protocol is the highest version WiFi protocol that the first STA supports.

In a second aspect, the present application provides an apparatus comprising:

a transceiver unit, configured to receive a probe request from a first station STA in a state where a WiFi hotspot is opened by using a first WiFi protocol, where the probe request is used to request a WiFi connection to be established with the AP; a processing unit, configured to determine a second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA; according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol, judging whether the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; and if the first STA does not support the establishment of the WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

In one possible design, after establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the processing unit is further to: and when a detection request sent by a second STA is received, establishing WiFi connection with the second STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol, wherein the second STA is an STA which requests to establish WiFi connection with the AP after the first STA.

In one possible design, after establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the processing unit is further to: notifying a third STA to communicate with the AP by adopting a second WiFi protocol, wherein the third STA is an STA which has established WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol before the first STA; or disconnecting the WiFi connection with the third STA, and establishing the WiFi connection with the third STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

In one possible design, the probe request carries indication information indicating the second WiFi protocol; when determining the second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA, the processing unit is specifically configured to: acquiring the indication information from the detection request; determining the second WiFi protocol indicated by the indication information.

In a possible design, when the processing unit determines that the second WiFi protocol is adopted by the first STA, the processing unit is specifically configured to: determining a reference field contained in a message carrying the probe request, wherein the reference field is used for indicating whether the first STA supports a set version of a WiFi protocol; if the value of the reference field is a first value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is the WiFi protocol of the set version; and if the value of the reference field is a second value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is a WiFi protocol which is one version lower than the set version.

In one possible design, the reference field includes at least one of: a target wake-up time request support field; a target wake-up time response support field; a broadcast target wake-up time field; a buffer status report holding field; an orthogonal frequency division multiple access random access support field; a supported channel bandwidth setting field; deleting the preamble receiving field; a low density parity check code field in the payload; a full bandwidth uplink multi-user multiple input multiple output field; a fractional bandwidth uplink multiple user multiple input multiple output field; receiving a field of a maximum constellation group by using a dual-carrier modulation technology; a field is sent by a maximum constellation group of a dual carrier modulation technology; a multi-user beamformer field.

In a possible design, when the processing unit determines, according to the first WiFi protocol and/or the second WiFi protocol, whether the first STA supports establishing a WiFi connection with the AP by using the first WiFi protocol, the processing unit is specifically configured to: if the first WiFi protocol is the same as the second WiFi protocol in version, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, executing at least one connection process, and if the number of times of WiFi connection failure establishment with the first STA is less than a set threshold, determining that the first STA supports WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the number of times of WiFi connection establishment failure with the first STA exceeds the set threshold, determining that the first STA does not support WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; wherein each connection process comprises the following steps: establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the database stores the device identifier of the first STA, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; otherwise, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; the database is used for storing the equipment identification of a target STA, and the target STA is an STA which does not support the WiFi connection established between the first WiFi protocol and the AP.

In one possible design, the processing unit, after establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, is further configured to: storing the device identification of the first STA in the database.

In one possible design, the processing unit is further configured to:

In a third aspect, the present application provides an apparatus comprising a transceiver, a memory, and a processor; the transceiver is used for receiving signals from other devices except the device and transmitting the signals to the processor or sending the signals from the processor to other devices except the device; the memory is used for storing programs; the processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory to implement the method described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when run on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform a method as described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions which, when run on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform the method as described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect.

For the beneficial effects of the second aspect to the fifth aspect, please refer to the description of the beneficial effects of the first aspect, and the description is not repeated here.

Drawings

Fig. 1a is a distribution statistical chart of the number of devices accessing a hotspot under different WiFi hotspot frequencies according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 1b is a distribution statistical chart of device types accessing to a hotspot at different WiFi hotspot frequencies according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2a is a schematic diagram of a mobile phone interface for manually configuring a WiFi technology version;

FIG. 2b is a schematic diagram of a phone interface configured for maximum compatibility;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional method for an STA to access an AP;

fig. 4a is an exemplary diagram of a Beacon frame message broadcast by an AP;

FIG. 4b is an exemplary diagram of another Beacon frame message broadcast by the AP;

fig. 5a is a schematic diagram of a hardware architecture of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5b is a schematic diagram of a software architecture of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a WiFi connection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a format of an HE capability information field according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a WiFi connection method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a WiFi connection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating another WiFi connection method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of an apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implying any number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature.

For ease of understanding, an explanation of concepts related to the present application is given by way of example for ease of understanding.

1) Station (STA): also referred to as wireless workstations, a STA refers to devices connected in a wireless network that may communicate with other devices inside the wireless network or outside the wireless network through an access point.

In the embodiment of the present application, the STA may be an electronic device supporting WiFi connection. The electronic Device may also be referred to as a terminal Device, or a terminal, including but not limited to a Mobile Phone (Mobile Phone), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a palmtop computer, a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a wearable Device (e.g., a Smart watch, a Smart bracelet, a pedometer, etc.), a vehicle-mounted Device (e.g., an automobile, a bicycle, an electric vehicle, an airplane, a ship, a train, a high-speed rail, etc.), a Virtual Reality (VR) Device, an Augmented Reality (AR) Device, a wireless terminal in Industrial Control (Industrial Control), a Smart Home Device (e.g., a refrigerator, a television, an air conditioner, an electric meter, etc.), a Smart robot, a plant Device, a wireless terminal in unmanned Driving (Self Driving), a wireless terminal in Remote Medical Surgery (Remote), a wireless terminal in Smart Grid, a wireless terminal in Smart security (Transportation), a wireless terminal in Smart City (City), a wireless terminal in a Smart balloon, a wireless terminal in a Home, a drone, a hot balloon, etc.

For example, the electronic device of the embodiment of the present application includes, but is not limited to, a mount

Or other operating system.

2) Access Point (AP): also called as an access node, a wireless access point or a hotspot, etc., which are devices for accessing the STA to a wireless network; the AP can implement communication between a wireless network and a wired network, and is a core device for establishing a wireless local area network.

The AP may be an access point in a WiFi system, or may also be a module or Unit that completes a part of functions of the access point, for example, it may be a Centralized Unit (CU), or a Distributed Unit (DU); but also routers, bridges, wireless gateways, etc. The application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the AP.

In this embodiment, the AP may be a router, or may be other electronic devices having a WiFi access function.

3) Beacon (Beacon) frame: the Beacon frame is sent by the AP in a timed broadcast for informing the presence of the AP. During the process of establishing communication connection between the STA and the AP, the STA can determine the existence of the AP by scanning the Beacon frame. In addition, the STA may also Probe whether the AP exists by actively transmitting a Probe Request (Probe Request) at the time of scanning.

It should be understood that "at least one" in the embodiments of the present application means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated object, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may indicate: a alone, both A and B, and B alone, where A, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

In the embodiment of the present application, the protocol adopted by the WiFi6 technical standard is the WiFi6 protocol, and therefore, the "WiFi6 technical standard" may be considered to be equivalent to the "WiFi6 protocol". For convenience of description, hereinafter, the "WiFi6 technical standard" or the "WiFi6 protocol" is simply referred to as "WiFi 6", and the "WiFi 5 technical standard" or the "WiFi 5 protocol" is simply referred to as "WiFi 5".

When the current STA accesses the AP, a severe compatibility problem may be caused due to different WiFi protocol versions adopted by the STA and the AP, so that the STA cannot successfully establish a connection with the AP. For example, wiFi6 mobile phone products are gradually popularized, when a mobile phone adopts WiFi6, the opened hotspot may be based on WiFi6, but many current notebook computers still adopt an old WiFi technical standard such as WiFi 5, so that when the notebook computers access to the WiFi6 hotspot opened by the mobile phone, there may be a serious compatibility problem, which may result in a possible access failure.

Fig. 1a is a distribution statistical chart of the number of devices accessing a hotspot at different WiFi hotspot frequencies. As shown in fig. 1a, according to the experimental statistical result, the statistical percentage of the WiFi hotspot accessing to one device reaches 85% in the 2.4GHz band; under the frequency band of 5GHz, the statistical percentage of the WiFi hotspot accessing one device reaches 96%, and the fact that the WiFi hotspot accessing one device is larger is known. In addition, in the frequency bands that can be used when the device accesses the WiFi hotspot at present, the advantage of the 5GHz frequency band is more obvious compared with the 2.4GHz frequency band, so that the user may expect to exert better performance of the device by accessing the WiFi hotspot through the 5GHz frequency band.

Fig. 1b is a distribution statistical chart of device types accessing a hotspot at different WiFi hotspot frequencies. As shown in fig. 1b, the proportion of Personal Computers (PCs) using a 5GHz frequency band to access a hot spot accounts for 13% of the total number of devices, and there are few PCs capable of supporting WiFi6, so that there is a high risk of compatibility problem when the PCs access the WiFi6 hot spot.

In summary, more and more devices supporting the WiFi6 hotspot currently exist, but there are many STA devices that do not support WiFi6, so it is necessary to solve the compatibility problem when the STA device that does not support WiFi6 connects with the AP device that supports WiFi 6. For this reason, there are two main processing methods at present:

the first processing mode is as follows: the WiFi technology version is configured manually.

For example, when a mobile phone is used as the AP, as shown in fig. 2a, a control switch that supports the sixth generation technical standard is added to a hotspot configuration interface of the mobile phone, and a user can set the version of the WiFi technical standard adopted by the mobile phone by operating the control switch. When a user turns on the control switch, the mobile phone is set to be in a WiFi6 mode, and can be connected with an accessed STA based on WiFi 6; when the user closes the control switch, the mobile phone is set to the WiFi 5 mode, and can be connected with the accessed STA based on WiFi 5.

However, in this method, when the control switch is in the off state, a plurality of STAs access the AP only according to the WiFi 5 specification, and the connection cannot be established with the AP in consideration of the optimal performance of the STAs, and when the control switch is in the on state, the above compatibility problem may still occur, which may cause the STA to fail to access the AP.

The second processing mode: the AP opens maximum compatibility.

For example, when a mobile phone is used as the AP, as shown in fig. 2b, a control switch for turning on maximum compatibility is added in a hot spot configuration interface of the mobile phone, and a user can set the mobile phone to turn on maximum compatibility by operating the control switch. When the user opens the control switch, the mobile phone is opened to be maximally compatible, so that the STA can be ensured to be successfully connected with the AP.

However, this method may cause the frequency band and protocol version available for the STA to access to be greatly limited, for example, when the hot spot frequency of the mobile phone is 2.4GHz, only the 802.11n protocol (the mainstream protocol standard supported by the wireless router product) is supported, and when the hot spot frequency is 5GHz, the 802.11ax protocol is supported, where the version of the 802.11ax protocol is higher than that of the 802.11n protocol. After the maximum compatibility is opened, the mobile phone hotspot supports the 2.4GHz hotspot frequency and only supports the 802.11n protocol, but the protocol version supported by the STA may be higher than the 802.11n protocol, so that the frequency band and the protocol version available when the STA receives the mobile phone hotspot are limited, and the performance of the STA and the AP and the connection communication effect between the STA and the AP are affected.

In summary, the compatibility problem of the above processing methods is poor in solution effect, and there may be problems that STA access fails, and STA or AP performance is affected.

In view of this, the present application provides a WiFi connection method, which is used to flexibly control the communication connection between the STA and the AP, ensure that the STA can successfully access the AP, and reduce the influence on the performance of the STA and the AP as much as possible.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional method for an STA to access an AP. Referring to fig. 3, after the AP turns on the WiFi hotspot, the Beacon frame is periodically broadcast so that the STA can discover the WiFi hotspot. When the STA accesses the WiFi hotspot, the existing WiFi hotspot can be determined by scanning a Beacon frame or sending a detection request. If the STA successfully scans the Beacon frame broadcast by the AP or receives a Probe Response (Probe Response) returned by the AP after sending a Probe request, the STA may automatically perform a connection procedure with the AP, and may perform communication after establishing a connection with the AP. If the STA cannot scan the Beacon frame broadcasted by the AP or cannot receive the probe response from the AP, the STA cannot successfully access the AP.

The reason causing the compatibility problem can be determined by grabbing Beacon frames of AP broadcasts corresponding to different WiFi hotspots and performing comparative analysis. Specifically, fig. 4a is an exemplary diagram of a Beacon frame packet broadcast by an AP, and fig. 4b is an exemplary diagram of another Beacon frame packet broadcast by an AP. In fig. 4a, the AP uses WiFi6, and in fig. 4b, the AP uses WiFi 5. When scanning the Beacon frame broadcast by the AP, the STA using WiFi 5 cannot scan the Beacon frame shown in fig. 4a, but can scan the Beacon frame shown in fig. 4 b. As can be known from comparison of the captured messages shown in fig. 4a and 4b, the WiFi hotspot name opened by the AP corresponding to fig. 4a is LAN111, and the WiFi hotspot name opened by the AP corresponding to fig. 4b is p30p, and the difference between the Beacon frames broadcast by the two APs mainly lies in the High Efficiency (HE) field marked by the dashed-line frame in fig. 4a, and it can be determined that the WiFi6 is adopted by the corresponding WiFi hotspot LAN111 according to the field, and the STA adopting WiFi 5 does not support WiFi6, so that the STA adopting WiFi 5 cannot analyze and identify the Beacon frame based on WiFi6 broadcast by the AP when scanning a hotspot, and the STA considers that the Beacon frame broadcast by the AP cannot be scanned, and thus cannot accurately and timely determine the existence of the WiFi6 hotspot LAN 111. If it is required to ensure that the STA can access the AP, it is required to ensure that the WiFi technical standards adopted by the STA and the AP are consistent as much as possible.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the AP may determine the access state or protocol capability information of the accessed STA, and then adjust the connection establishment mode between the AP and the STA according to the access state or protocol capability information of the STA, so as to consider both the high performance of the WiFi6 hotspot and the basic access function of the STA using WiFi 5, and solve the compatibility problem.

For example, fig. 5a shows a hardware architecture diagram of an electronic device. As shown in fig. 5a, the electronic device 500 may include a processor 510, an external memory interface 520, an internal memory 521, a usb interface 530, a charging management module 540, a power management module 541, a battery 542, an antenna 1, a wireless communication module 560, an audio module 570, a speaker 570A, a receiver 570B, a microphone 570C, a headset interface 570D, a sensor module 580, a button 590, a motor 591, an indicator 592, a camera 593, a display screen 594, and the like.

Optionally, the electronic device 500 may further comprise an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 550, a sim interface 595, etc.

It is to be understood that the electronic device shown in fig. 5a is merely an example and does not constitute a limitation of the electronic device, and that the electronic device may have more or fewer components than shown in the figures, may combine two or more components, or may have a different configuration of components. The various components shown in fig. 5a may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software, including one or more signal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits.

Processor 510 may include one or more processing units, such as: processor 510 may include an Application Processor (AP), a modem processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), an Image Signal Processor (ISP), a controller, a memory, a video codec, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a baseband processor, and/or a Neural-Network Processing Unit (NPU), among others. The different processing units may be separate devices or may be integrated into one or more processors. The controller may be, among other things, a neural center and a command center of the electronic device 500. The controller can generate an operation control signal according to the instruction operation code and the timing signal to complete the control of instruction fetching and instruction execution.

A memory may also be provided in processor 510 for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in processor 510 is a cache memory. The memory may hold instructions or data that have just been used or recycled by processor 510. If the processor 510 needs to use the instruction or data again, it can be called directly from the memory. Avoiding repeated accesses reduces the latency of the processor 510, thereby increasing the efficiency of the system.

The execution of the WiFi connection method provided in this embodiment of the application may be controlled or invoked by the processor 510 to complete other components, for example, invoke the processing program of this embodiment of the application stored in the internal memory 521 to control the wireless communication module 560 to perform data communication to other electronic devices, so as to implement WiFi connection and subsequent communication. The processor 510 may include different devices, for example, when the CPU and the GPU are integrated, the CPU and the GPU may cooperate to execute the WiFi connection method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, part of the algorithm in the WiFi connection method is executed by the CPU, and another part of the algorithm is executed by the GPU, so as to obtain faster processing efficiency.

The display screen 594 is used to display images, video, and the like. The display screen 594 includes a display panel. The display panel may adopt a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, AMOLED), a flexible light-emitting diode (FLED), a miniature, a Micro-oeld, a quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED), and the like. In some embodiments, the electronic device 500 may include 1 or N display screens 594, N being a positive integer greater than 1. The display screen 594 may be used to display information input by or provided to the user, as well as various Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). For example, the display screen 594 may display a photograph, a video, a web page, or a file, etc.

In this embodiment, the display screen 594 may be an integrated flexible display screen, or may be a tiled display screen formed by two rigid screens and a flexible screen located between the two rigid screens. After the processor 510 executes the WiFi connection method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the processor 510 may control the display screen 594 to display the related result.

The cameras 593 (front camera or rear camera, or one camera may be both front camera and rear camera) are used to capture still images or video.

The internal memory 521 may be used to store computer-executable program code, including instructions. The processor 510 executes various functional applications of the electronic device 500 and data processing by executing instructions stored in the internal memory 521. The internal memory 521 may include a program storage area and a data storage area. Wherein, the storage program area can store the codes of the operating system, the application programs (such as WiFi connection function, wiFi communication function, etc.), etc. The storage data area may store data created during the use of the electronic device 500 (e.g., information, data, etc. that need to be interacted between devices when performing the WiFi connection method provided by the embodiment of the present application), and the like.

The internal memory 521 may further store one or more computer programs corresponding to the algorithm of the WiFi connection method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The one or more computer programs stored in the internal memory 521 and configured to be executed by the one or more processors 510 include instructions that may be used to perform the steps in the following embodiments.

In addition, the internal memory 521 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may further include a nonvolatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, a flash memory device, a universal flash memory (UFS), and the like.

Of course, the algorithm code of the WiFi connection method provided in the embodiment of the present application may also be stored in the external memory. In this case, the processor 510 may execute the code of the WiFi connection algorithm stored in the external memory through the external memory interface 520.

The sensor module 580 may include a fingerprint sensor, a touch sensor, a pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an ambient light sensor, an air pressure sensor, a bone conduction sensor, and the like.

Optionally, the electronic device 500 may be an STA, and the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 550, the SIM interface 595, and the like may not be included in the electronic device 500, so that the wireless communication function of the electronic device 500 may be implemented by the antenna 1, the wireless communication module 560, the modem processor, the baseband processor, and the like.

Optionally, the electronic device 500 may be an AP, and the electronic device 500 may include an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 550, a SIM interface 595, and the like, so that the wireless communication function of the electronic device 500 may be implemented by the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 550, the wireless communication module 560, a modem processor, a baseband processor, and the like.

The antennas 1 and 2 are used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in the electronic device 500 may be used to cover a single or multiple communication bands, such as a 2.4GHz band or a 5GHz band. Different antennas can also be multiplexed to improve the utilization of the antennas. For example: the antenna 2 may be multiplexed as a diversity antenna of the wireless local area network. In other embodiments, the antenna may be used in conjunction with a tuning switch.

The mobile communication module 550 may provide a solution including 2G/3G/4G/5G wireless communication applied on the electronic device 500. The mobile communication module 550 may include at least one filter, a switch, a power amplifier, a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), and the like. The mobile communication module 550 can receive the electromagnetic wave from the antenna 2, and filter, amplify, etc. the received electromagnetic wave, and transmit the electromagnetic wave to the modem processor for demodulation. The mobile communication module 550 may also amplify the signal modulated by the modem processor, and convert the signal into electromagnetic wave through the antenna 2 to radiate the electromagnetic wave. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 550 may be disposed in the processor 510. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 550 may be disposed in the same device as at least some of the modules of the processor 510. In the embodiment of the present application, the mobile communication module 550 may also be used for information interaction with other electronic devices.

The modem processor may include a modulator and a demodulator. The modulator is used for modulating a low-frequency baseband signal to be transmitted into a medium-high frequency signal. The demodulator is used for demodulating the received electromagnetic wave signal into a low-frequency baseband signal. The demodulator then passes the demodulated low frequency baseband signal to a baseband processor for processing. The low frequency baseband signal is processed by the baseband processor and then transferred to the application processor. The application processor outputs a sound signal through an audio device (not limited to the speaker 570A, the receiver 570B, etc.) or displays an image or video through the display screen 594. In some embodiments, the modem processor may be a stand-alone device. In other embodiments, the modem processor may be separate from the processor 510, and may be located in the same device as the mobile communication module 550 or other functional modules.

The wireless communication module 560 may provide a solution for wireless communication applied to the electronic device 500, including Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) (e.g., wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks), bluetooth (bluetooth, BT), global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), frequency Modulation (FM), near Field Communication (NFC), infrared (IR), and the like. The wireless communication module 560 may be one or more devices integrating at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 560 receives electromagnetic waves via the antenna 5, performs frequency modulation and filtering processing on electromagnetic wave signals, and transmits the processed signals to the processor 510. The wireless communication module 560 may also receive a signal to be transmitted from the processor 510, frequency modulate it, amplify it, and convert it into electromagnetic waves via the antenna 5 to radiate it. In this embodiment, the wireless communication module 560 is configured to establish a communication connection with other electronic devices for data interaction. For example, when the electronic device 500 is acting as a STA, the wireless communication module 560 may be configured to access the AP and transmit messages and data to the AP during the access procedure, or receive instructions or data from the AP, etc. For another example, when the electronic device 500 is used as an AP, the wireless communication module 560 may be configured to establish a WiFi connection with the STA requesting access, and receive messages and data from the STA or send instructions or data to the STA during the access process.

In addition, the electronic device 500 may implement an audio function through the audio module 570, the speaker 570A, the receiver 570B, the microphone 570C, the headphone interface 570D, the application processor, and the like. Such as music playing, recording, etc. The electronic device 500 may receive key 590 inputs, generating key signal inputs related to user settings and function control of the electronic device 500. Electronic device 500 may utilize motor 591 to generate a vibration alert (e.g., an incoming call vibration alert). Indicator 592 in electronic device 500 may be an indicator light that may be used to indicate a charging status, a charge change, or may be used to indicate a message, notification, or the like.

The SIM card interface 595 in the electronic device 500 is used to connect a SIM card. The SIM card may be inserted into the SIM card interface 595 or removed from the SIM card interface 595 to make contact with and separate from the electronic device 500.

In this embodiment, the electronic device 500 shown in fig. 5a may be used as an AP or an STA.

It should be appreciated that the electronic device 500 shown in fig. 5a is only one example in actual practice, and that the electronic device 500 may have more or fewer components than shown in the figures, may combine two or more components, or may have a different configuration of components. The various components shown in the figures may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software, including one or more signal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits.

Illustratively, the software system of the electronic device 500 may employ a hierarchical architecture, an event-driven architecture, a microkernel architecture, a microservice architecture, or a cloud architecture. The embodiment of the invention takes an Android system with a layered architecture as an example, and exemplarily illustrates a software structure of an electronic device.

The layered architecture divides the software into several layers, each layer having a clear role and division of labor. The layers communicate with each other through a software interface. As shown in fig. 5b, the software architecture can be divided into four layers, which are an application layer, an application framework layer (FWK), an android runtime and system library, and a Linux kernel layer from top to bottom.

The application layer is the top layer of the operating system and includes native applications of the operating system, such as cameras, galleries, calendars, bluetooth, music, video, information, and so on. An application program, referred to as an Application (APP), according to an embodiment of the present application is a software program capable of implementing one or more specific functions. Generally, a plurality of applications may be installed in an electronic device. For example, a camera application, a mailbox application, a smart home control application, and the like. The application mentioned below may be a system application installed when the electronic device is shipped from a factory, or may be a third-party application downloaded from a network or acquired from another electronic device by a user during use of the electronic device.

Of course, for a developer, the developer may write an application and install it into the layer. In a possible implementation manner, the Application program may be developed using Java language, and is completed by calling an Application Programming Interface (API) provided by an Application framework layer, and a developer may interact with a bottom layer (e.g., a kernel layer, etc.) of the operating system through the Application framework layer to develop its own Application program.

The application framework layer provides an Application Programming Interface (API) and a programming framework for the application program of the application layer. The application framework layer may include some predefined functions. The application framework layer may include a window manager, content provider, view system, phone manager, resource manager, notification manager, and the like.

The window manager is used for managing window programs. The window manager can obtain the size of the display screen, judge whether a status bar exists, lock the screen, intercept the screen and the like.

The content provider is used to store and retrieve data and make it accessible to applications. The data may include information such as files (e.g., documents, videos, images, audio), text, and so forth.

The view system includes visual controls such as controls that display text, pictures, documents, etc. The view system may be used to build applications. The interface in the display window may be composed of one or more views. For example, the display interface including the short message notification icon may include a view for displaying text and a view for displaying pictures.

The phone manager is used to provide communication functions of the electronic device. The notification manager enables the application to display notification information in the status bar, can be used to convey notification-type messages, can disappear automatically after a short dwell, and does not require user interaction.

The android runtime includes a core library and a virtual machine. And the android runtime is responsible for scheduling and managing the android system.

The core library of the android system comprises two parts: one part is a function which needs to be called by Java language, and the other part is a core library of the android system. The application layer and the application framework layer run in a virtual machine. Taking Java as an example, the virtual machine executes Java files of the application layer and the application framework layer as binary files. The virtual machine is used for performing the functions of object life cycle management, stack management, thread management, safety and exception management, garbage collection and the like.

The system library may include a plurality of functional modules. For example: surface managers, media libraries, three-dimensional graphics processing libraries (e.g., openGL ES), two-dimensional graphics engines (e.g., SGL), and the like. The surface manager is used to manage the display subsystem and provide a fusion of two-dimensional and three-dimensional layers for multiple applications. The media library supports a variety of commonly used audio, video format playback and recording, and still image files, among others. The media library may support a variety of audio-video encoding formats, such as: MPEG4, H.564, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, etc. The three-dimensional graphic processing library is used for realizing three-dimensional graphic drawing, image rendering, synthesis, layer processing and the like. The two-dimensional graphics engine is a two-dimensional drawing engine.

The Kernel layer provides core system services of the operating system, such as security, memory management, process management, network protocol stack, and driver model, which are implemented based on the Kernel layer. The kernel layer also acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and software stacks. The layer has many drivers associated with the electronic device, the main drivers are: display driving; a keyboard driver as an input device; flash drive based on memory technology equipment; driving a camera; audio driving; driving by Bluetooth; a WiFi drive, etc.

It should be understood that the functional service described above is only an example, and in practical applications, the electronic device may also be divided into more or less functional services according to other factors, or may divide the functions of the respective services in other manners, or may not divide the functional services, but operate as a whole.

The method provided by the present application is described in detail below with reference to specific examples.

Referring to fig. 6, a WiFi connection method provided in the embodiment of the present application includes:

s601: the method comprises the steps that an AP receives a detection request from a first station STA in a state that a WiFi hotspot is opened by adopting a first WiFi protocol, wherein the detection request is used for requesting to establish WiFi connection with the AP.

In the embodiment of the application, the AP can work by default by adopting a first WiFi protocol after opening the WiFi hotspot, when the STA requests to access, the AP firstly determines whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol, if so, the AP can establish connection with the STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol, otherwise, the AP can further determine a connection establishment mode with the STA according to the protocol capabilities of the AP and the STA.

In the embodiment of the application, the STA may send probe request information to the AP to request access to the AP, so as to establish WiFi connection with the AP and then perform communication.

Optionally, the first WiFi protocol may be WiFi 5 or WiFi 6. For example, the first WiFi protocol may be the current latest version of WiFi protocol, i.e., wiFi 6.

It should be noted that the STA supporting the first WiFi protocol in the embodiment of the present application means that the STA is not compatible with the first WiFi protocol, and may successfully establish a WiFi connection with the AP without an access failure problem caused by incompatibility of the WiFi protocols under the condition that the AP adopts the first WiFi protocol.

S602: the AP determines a second WiFi protocol adopted by the first STA.

In the embodiment of the present application, as an optional implementation manner, when determining whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol, the AP may first determine the second WiFi protocol used by the STA, and then determine whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol by comparing versions of the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol.

As another alternative, the AP may refer to a result of a previous access procedure of the STA, and if the AP uses the first WiFi protocol and the STA successfully accesses the previous access procedure, it is determined that the STA supports using the first WiFi protocol, otherwise, the STA is considered not to support using the first WiFi protocol. The information may be stored in a database, and the AP may determine whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol by querying the database when the STA requests access.

As will be described in detail below.

In this embodiment, the AP may determine whether the STA supports (adopts) the first WiFi protocol according to at least one of the following manners:

in the first mode, the AP determines whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol according to indication information carried in a probe request sent by the STA.

In this way, a probe request sent by the STA to the AP may carry indication information for indicating a second WiFi protocol adopted by the STA, where the probe request is used to request access to the AP, that is, to establish a WiFi connection with the AP. After receiving the probe request of the STA, the AP may determine the second WiFi protocol used by the STA according to the obtained indication information, and then determine whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol. Or, the probe request sent by the STA to the AP may carry indication information directly indicating whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol, and the AP may directly and quickly determine whether the STA supports the WiFi protocol currently adopted by the AP according to the received probe request.

And secondly, the AP determines whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol according to the reference information in the message carrying the detection request sent by the STA.

The reference information includes HE capability information, manufacturer identification and other information in a probe request message sent by the STA. The vendor identification may be a vendor specific Organization Unique Identifier (OUI) type, namely, vendor specific OUI type. The HE capability information includes HE MAC Layer capability information and HE Physical Layer (PHY) Layer capability information.

Specifically, based on the method for the STA to access the AP shown in fig. 3, when the STA establishes a connection with the AP, a probe Request or connection Request (Association Request) message sent by the STA to the AP includes an HE capability information field, and a format of the HE capability information field is shown in fig. 7. The HE capability information field includes HE MAC layer capability field information and HE PHY layer capability information fields. Further, subfields included in the HE MAC layer capability information field and the HE PHY layer capability information field may be used as reference information for determining whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol.

Specifically, the reference field and the value of the reference field included in the HE capability information field may be used to indicate whether the WiFi protocol adopted by the STA is a certain WiFi protocol of a set version, so the AP may determine whether the STA supports the WiFi protocol of the set version according to the value of the reference field in the message carrying the STA detection request. For example, if the AP determines that the value of the reference field is the first value, it may determine that the second WiFi protocol is the WiFi protocol of the set version; if it is determined that the value of the reference field is the second value, it may be determined that the second WiFi protocol is a WiFi protocol lower by one version than the set version.

For example, the set version of WiFi protocol may be WiFi6, the first value may be 1, and the second value may be 0. The AP determines that the STA adopts WiFi6 when determining that the value of the reference field is 1, and determines that the STA adopts WiFi 5 when determining that the value of the reference field is 0.

In some embodiments of the present application, when the WiFi protocol of the set version is WiFi6, the reference information includes at least one of the following reference fields in the HE MAC layer capability information field:

target Wake Time (TWT) request support (TWT request suprot) field: for identifying whether a TWT transmit request (TWT transmit request) is supported;

TWT response support (TWT response Supprot) field: for identifying whether a TWT receive-and-answer terminal (TWT RX response) is supported;

broadcast TWT (Broadcast TWT) field: for identifying whether a broadcast TWT functionality is supported;

buffer Status Report (BSR) Support field (BSR Support): the method is used for identifying whether a cache state is supported or not and can also be used for the bandwidth allocation negotiation of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA);

OFDMA Random Access (RA) Support field (OFDMA RA Support): for identifying whether OFDMA random access functionality is supported.

The relevant explanation of the above fields can be referred to the following table 1.

Table 1 selected reference field in HE MAC capability field

In some embodiments of the present application, the reference information further includes at least one of the following reference fields in the HE PHY layer capability information field:

supported Channel bandwidth setting (Supported Channel Width Set): the bandwidth type used for indicating the supported bandwidth types of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, including whether the 5GHz band supports 160MHz or 80+80MHz bandwidth;

puncture Preamble Rx (truncated Preamble Rx): for identifying whether deletion preambles are supported and the type of preamble deletion;

DPC Coding In Payload (LDPC Coding In Payload): for identifying whether LDPC coding is supported;

full Bandwidth (Full Bandwidth) uplink (uplink, UL) Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (ULMU-MIMO) field: for identifying whether UL MU-MIMO is supported;

partial Bandwidth (primary UL MU-MIMO Full Bandwidth): for identifying whether UL MU-MIMO in OFDMA is supported;

dual Carrier Modulation (DCM) maximum Constellation group (Max Constellation) Tx: for identifying whether the Tx supports DCM and the type of DCM supported;

DCM maximum constellation group RX: for identifying whether Rx supports DCM and the type of DCM supported;

multi-User (Muti-User, MU) Beamformer (Beamformer): for identifying whether a beamformer is supported, it is Single-User (SU) supported.

The following table 2 can be referred to for the related explanation of the above fields.

Table 2 selected reference fields in HE PHY capability field

When determining whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol, the AP may determine according to the at least one reference field provided in table 1 and/or table 2, specifically, when determining that at least one field has a value of 1 in the at least one reference field provided in table 1 and/or table 2, the AP determines that the STA supports the first WiFi protocol.

According to the mode, the AP can accurately identify the protocol capability of the STA according to the related messages in the access process of the STA, and further accurately determine whether the currently adopted WiFi protocol needs to be adjusted.

And in the third mode, the AP determines whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol or not by inquiring a local or cloud database.

Specifically, the AP may set a database in a local or cloud, where the database is configured to store information of an STA accessing the AP, and the information of the STA includes information of a device identifier of the STA, protocol capability, and the like, for example, the database may store information of a device identifier of the STA, whether the STA supports a first WiFi protocol, a latest WiFi protocol supported by the STA, and the like, where the device identifier of the STA is used to identify the STA, and for example, the device identifier of the STA may be information of a Medium Access Control (MAC) address of the STA, a device model capable of uniquely identifying the STA, and the like.

The information in the database may be initially set by the user. Subsequently, when a certain STA accesses, the AP may write the STA's information into the database.

For example, in a mode that the AP operates using the first WiFi protocol, if the STA fails to access the AP, the AP may write the MAC address of the STA into the database and mark that the STA does not support the first WiFi protocol; if the STA successfully accesses the AP, the AP can write the MAC address of the STA into the database and mark that the STA supports the first WiFi protocol, namely the STA has no problem on WiFi6 compatibility.

For another example, if the AP determines the STA information and writes the STA information into the database, and the history information of the STA is already stored in the database, the AP may update the history information of the STA in the database by using the newly determined STA information. If the AP can determine the maximum protocol capability of the STA, that is, the latest WiFi protocol that the STA can support, the AP may write the MAC address of the STA and the latest WiFi protocol version that the STA can support into the database and store them.

By the mode, the AP can quickly and accurately determine whether the accessed STA can be connected with the AP adopting a certain WiFi protocol according to the information in the database, and further determine whether the adopted WiFi protocol needs to be adjusted when the STA is connected.

Optionally, the AP may also combine the foregoing partial manners to determine whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol, for example, the AP may first determine, by using the foregoing second manner, the WiFi protocol used by the STA requesting access, and if the WiFi protocol is the same as the first WiFi protocol version, the AP may subsequently establish WiFi connection with the STA by using the first WiFi protocol, otherwise, the AP may query, by using the foregoing third manner, the protocol capability of the STA from the database to determine whether the STA can establish WiFi connection with the STA by using the first WiFi protocol, so as to more accurately determine whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol.

Based on the various modes provided above, the AP may select a mode of determining the STA protocol capability according to actual scene requirements or user requirements, and the scheme implementation flexibility is strong.

S603: and the AP judges whether the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol or not according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol.

Wherein, the AP may determine whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol in at least one of the following manners:

1) And if the first WiFi protocol is the same as the second WiFi protocol in version, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol.

2) And if the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol.

When the AP combines the two methods, the AP may establish WiFi connection with the STA using a WiFi protocol used when the STA requests access, thereby ensuring that the STA can successfully access, and meanwhile, for the case where multiple STAs request access, the AP may dynamically adjust the WiFi protocol used when establishing WiFi connection with the STA according to the WiFi protocol used by each STA.

3) If the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, executing at least one connection process, and if the number of WiFi connection failure establishing times with the first STA is smaller than a set threshold value, determining that the first STA supports WiFi connection establishing with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the number of times of WiFi connection establishment failure with the first STA exceeds the set threshold value, determining that the first STA does not support WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; wherein each connection process comprises the following steps: and establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol.

In this way, the STA sends a probe request to the AP to request access to the AP, but when a probe response returned by the AP is not received, the STA may repeatedly send the probe request to the AP to request access to the AP in a short period of time according to a user operation, so that the AP directly establishes WiFi connection with the STA by using the first WiFi protocol after receiving the probe request for the first time, and if the connection is failed to be established and the AP receives the probe request of the STA again, the AP may establish WiFi connection with the STA by using the first WiFi protocol each time the probe request is received within a set period of time after the probe request is received for the first time until the connection is successfully established or the number of times of connection establishment failures within the set period of time exceeds the set threshold. When the AP determines that the connection is successfully established, the first STA is determined to support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, and when the AP determines that the number of times of connection establishment failure in a set time period exceeds the set threshold value, the first STA is determined not to support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol.

4) If the database stores the equipment identification of the first STA, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; otherwise, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; the database is used for storing the equipment identification of a target STA, and the target STA is an STA which does not support WiFi connection established with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol.

S604: if the AP determines that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, the AP establishes WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; and if the first STA does not support the establishment of the WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

The AP can determine whether the STA supports the first WiFi protocol or not according to the first WiFi protocol adopted by the AP and the second WiFi protocol adopted by the STA, and then can determine the mode of establishing WiFi connection with the STA, so that the WiFi connection with the STA can be established by adopting the WiFi protocol supported by the STA.

In the above embodiment, the AP may default to the latest WiFi protocol after the hotspot is turned on, support the hotspot function of the latest technical standard, and may ensure high performance advantages, and in a scenario where the STA cannot connect due to a compatibility problem, the AP may automatically switch to a lower-version WiFi protocol, or dynamically adjust the WiFi protocol used by the hotspot according to the protocol capability of the STA, so as to ensure a basic access function of the STA, solve the compatibility problem, and ensure the performance of the STA and the AP to the maximum extent.

The WiFi connection method provided in the present application is exemplarily described below with reference to specific examples.

Based on the introduction in the above embodiment, as an executable scheme, when the STA fails to access the AP due to compatibility problems, the STA may request access to the AP multiple times in a short time, the AP may default to operate in a mode using a first WiFi protocol, and when the STA requests access each time, if STA access authentication and association failure occurs, the STA access failure times are accumulated by 1, and when the recorded access failure times reach a set threshold, the AP switches to a mode using a second WiFi protocol to operate, connects to the STA, and may connect to other STAs accessed later using the second WiFi protocol, and meanwhile, the AP may notify the STA accessed before to switch to communication using the second WiFi protocol. Subsequently, when the AP determines that the connected STAs all support the first WiFi protocol, or determines that there is no connected STA, the AP may switch back to the mode operating with the first WiFi protocol.

The version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, and the second WiFi protocol is the latest version of WiFi protocol supported by the STA.

Specifically, after the AP opens the hotspot, the AP may default to work with the first WiFi protocol, and when an STA that does not support the first WiFi protocol accesses, start monitoring access state information of the STA, and count whether the STA successfully connects according to a state of scan access of the STA, if it is determined that the STA fails to connect, add 1 to the number of access failures of the STA, and if it is determined that the STA succeeds in accessing, clear the number of recorded access failures of the STA, so as to re-record the number of access failures of the STA when accessing next time. And the AP records the access failure times of the STA when the STA accesses each time until the access failure times reach a failure threshold value, and the AP switches to a mode adopting a second WiFi protocol to work.

In this embodiment, as an optional implementation manner, when the AP switches to the mode using the second WiFi protocol to operate, if there is an STA that has already established a connection with the AP using the first WiFi mode, the AP may notify the connected STA to switch to use the first WiFi protocol to communicate with the AP. Further, when the STA is switched to communicate with the AP in the first WiFi mode, if there is a compatibility problem, for example, one of the AP and the connected STA cannot receive or recognize a message of the other, the AP cuts off the communication connection with the connected STA to achieve disassociation, and then the STA accesses the AP again in the second WiFi protocol. As another optional implementation, when the AP switches to the mode using the second WiFi protocol to operate, if there is an STA that has already established a connection with the AP using the first WiFi mode, the AP may directly disconnect the communication connection with the connected STA to achieve disassociation, and then the STA accesses the AP again using the second WiFi protocol.

In the method, after the AP opens the hot spot, the AP defaults to support the hot spot function adopting the first WiFi protocol, and in a scene that STA equipment cannot be connected due to compatibility problems, the AP automatically switches the hot spot adopting the first WiFi protocol into the WiFi hot spot adopting the second WiFi protocol, so that high performance of the WiFi hot spot adopting the first WiFi protocol and a basic access function of the STA adopting the second WiFi protocol can be realized at the same time, and the compatibility problem is solved.

The specific implementation flow of the above scheme can refer to the following example one.

In the following example one, the WiFi connection method is described by taking the first WiFi protocol adopted by the AP as WiFi6, and the latest WiFi protocol that the sta can support is WiFi 5 or WiFi 6.

Example one

Referring to fig. 8, a flow of a WiFi connection method provided in an embodiment of the present application may include:

s801: the AP opens the WiFi hotspot and works by adopting a WiFi6 protocol.

S802: the AP determines whether the STA adopts the WiFi6 protocol, if so, performs step S803, otherwise, performs step S804.

When the STA requests to access the AP, the AP determines whether the STA requesting to access adopts the WiFi6 protocol, and specifically may obtain the WiFi protocol adopted by the STA according to the three ways provided in the above embodiment to determine whether the STA adopts the WiFi6 protocol, which is not described herein again.

S803: and the AP establishes connection with the STA by adopting a WiFi6 protocol, and communicates with the STA by adopting the latest version of WiFi protocol supported by the STA after the connection is established.

S804: and the AP establishes connection with the STA by adopting a WiFi6 protocol.

When determining that the STA does not adopt the WiFi6 protocol, the AP may first attempt to establish a connection with the STA by using the WiFi6 protocol, and if the connection is successfully established, the AP may communicate with the STA by using the WiFi protocol that the STA can support, and if the connection is failed to be established, the AP may perform subsequent processing for adjusting the WiFi protocol.

S805: the AP determines whether the connection with the STA is successfully established, if so, performs step S806, otherwise, performs step S807.

S806: the AP adopts the latest version WiFi protocol supported by the STA to communicate with the STA.

S807: and the AP adds 1 to the number of times of connection failure establishment with the STA.

S808: the AP determines whether the number of connection failures established with the STA reaches a set threshold, if so, performs step S809, otherwise, performs step S804.

S809: and the AP is switched to work by adopting a WiFi 5 protocol, and establishes connection with the STA by adopting the WiFi 5 protocol and communicates with the STA by adopting the WiFi 5 protocol after establishing the connection.

Optionally, if the AP determines that the STA is the first STA accessing the AP, the AP switches to the WiFi 5 protocol, and then the subsequent STAs all access the WiFi 5 protocol. And if the AP determines that the STA is not the first STA accessed to the AP, the AP informs the STA accessed to the AP before to switch to the communication by adopting the WiFi 5 protocol.

As an alternative implementation, the AP may respectively send a WiFi protocol switching indication to each STA that previously accesses the AP to instruct the STAs to interact with the AP by using signaling, data, and the like based on the WiFi 5 protocol.

As another optional embodiment, the AP may notify, in a manner of sending a broadcast message, that the STA accessing the AP before is switched to communicate using the WiFi 5 protocol, and if the STA receiving the broadcast message uses the WiFi6 protocol, the STA may be switched to the WiFi 5 protocol, so as to interact with the AP using signaling, data, and the like based on the WiFi 5 protocol, and if the STA receiving the broadcast message uses the WiFi 5 protocol, the STA may ignore the broadcast message.

After the AP notifies that the STA accessed to the AP is switched to adopt the WiFi 5 protocol for communication, if the STA after the WiFi protocol is switched has compatibility problem when communicating with the AP, the AP cuts off the connection with the STA, the STA can determine that the WiFi protocol currently adopted by the AP is WiFi 5 according to the previous received WiFi protocol switching instruction or broadcast message from the AP, and the STA adopts the WiFi 5 protocol to resend the detection request to the AP, thereby reestablishing the connection with the AP.

For the actual execution of the above steps, reference may be made to the description related to the above embodiments, and repeated descriptions are omitted.

In the above embodiment, the AP adopts the maximum protocol capability, that is, the WiFi6 protocol capability, when the STA access authentication and association fail, accumulates the STA connection failure times, and when the times reach the threshold, the AP backs off to the hotspot state using the WiFi 5, so that the AP can dynamically adjust the protocol capability according to the access success rate of the STA, thereby ensuring the basic access function of the STA.

Based on the introduction in the above embodiment, as another executable scheme, when the AP accesses the STA each time, if it is determined that the STA supports the first WiFi protocol according to the protocol capability information of the STA, the AP establishes a connection with the STA by using the first WiFi protocol, and after the connection with the STA is successfully established, communicates with the STA by using the first WiFi protocol; if the STA is determined not to support the first WiFi protocol according to the protocol capability information of the STA, the AP determines that the STA supports the latest WiFi protocol, namely the second WiFi protocol, then establishes connection with the STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol, and communicates with the STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol after the connection with the STA is successfully established.

In the method, when an STA accessed to an AP supports a first WiFi protocol, the AP can adopt the first WiFi protocol to connect and respond with the STA; when the STA accessed to the AP does not support the first WiFi protocol, the AP can adopt a second WiFi protocol which can be supported by the STA to connect and respond with the STA, and the WiFi protocol adopted by the AP can be dynamically adjusted, so that the protocol capability of the AP for starting a WiFi hotspot changes along with the difference of the protocol capability of the STA, each STA accessed to the AP can access the AP by adopting the latest protocol capability supported by the STA, the compatibility problem is solved, and the performance of the AP and the STA is not influenced.

The specific implementation flow of the above scheme can refer to the following example two.

Example two

As shown in fig. 9, in this example, after the AP starts the WiFi hotspot, the AP defaults to operate in a mode of using a WiFi6 protocol, and when the STA device initiates scanning access, the AP may extract a WiFi6 compatibility key impact factor according to scanning access information from the STA, where the impact factor includes a reference field in the probe request and the connection request described in the above embodiments. The AP may determine whether the STA supports the WiFi6 protocol according to the extracted WiFi6 compatibility key impact factor, and if it is determined that the STA does not support the WiFi6 protocol, the AP may further query the database according to access information (for example, a probe request shown in the figure) from the STA, and determine the maximum access capability of the STA, that is, the latest WiFi protocol version that is compatible when the STA can establish a connection with the AP. And then the AP can adjust the adopted WiFi protocol according to the maximum access capability supported by the STA, and then respond to the STA by adopting the adjusted WiFi protocol. Specifically, for an STA having a compatibility problem with the WiFi6 hotspot, the AP may respond using the WiFi 5 protocol, and for an STA having no compatibility problem with the WiFi6 hotspot, the AP may respond using the WiFi6 protocol. The database can be queried through a local database or cloud data information, and the AP can also refresh the local or cloud database according to the feedback of the access condition of the STA.

Referring to fig. 10, a flow of a WiFi connection method provided in an embodiment of the present application may include:

s1001: and the AP opens the WiFi hotspot and works by adopting a WiFi6 protocol.

S1002: the AP determines whether the STA adopts the WiFi6 protocol, if so, performs step S1003, otherwise, performs step S1004.

When the STA requests to access the AP, the AP determines whether the STA requesting access uses the WiFi6 protocol according to the probe request from the STA, and specifically, the WiFi protocol used by the STA may be obtained according to the three ways provided in the foregoing embodiments to determine whether the STA uses the WiFi6 protocol, which is not described herein again.

S1003: and the AP establishes connection with the STA by adopting a WiFi6 protocol, and communicates with the STA by adopting the latest version of WiFi protocol supported by the STA after the connection is established.

S1004: the AP determines the protocol capabilities of the STA by querying a database.

The AP determines whether the STA is compatible with the first WiFi protocol by querying the database, and may refer to the method in the foregoing embodiment, which is not repeated here.

S1005: the AP determines whether the STA supports the access by adopting the WiFi6 protocol, if so, step S1003 is executed, and if not, step S1006 is executed.

S1006: and the AP establishes connection with the STA by adopting a WiFi 5 protocol, and communicates with the STA by adopting the WiFi 5 protocol after establishing the connection.

In the above embodiment, when the AP starts the WiFi hotspot, the maximum protocol capability, that is, the WiFi6 protocol capability, is adopted, and when the STA accesses, the AP may dynamically adjust the protocol capability adopted by the WiFi hotspot according to the authentication access information and the association result of the STA, and interact with the corresponding STA, thereby ensuring the optimal performance of the STA access and avoiding the compatibility problem that may exist in the STA access process.

Based on the above embodiments and the same concept, the present application further provides an apparatus, as shown in fig. 11, where the apparatus 1100 may include: a transceiving unit 1101 and a processing unit 1102;

the transceiver unit 1101 is configured to receive a probe request from a first station STA in a state where a WiFi hotspot is opened by using a first WiFi protocol, where the probe request is used to request to establish a WiFi connection with the AP; the processing unit 1102 is configured to determine a second WiFi protocol adopted by the first STA; according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol, judging whether the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; and if the first STA does not support the establishment of the WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

In one possible design, after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to: and when a detection request sent by a second STA is received, establishing WiFi connection with the second STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol, wherein the second STA is an STA which requests to establish WiFi connection with the AP after the first STA.

In one possible design, after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to: notifying a third STA to communicate with the AP by adopting a second WiFi protocol, wherein the third STA is an STA which has established WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol before the first STA; or disconnecting the WiFi connection with the third STA, and establishing the WiFi connection with the third STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

In one possible design, the probe request carries indication information indicating the second WiFi protocol; when determining the second WiFi protocol used by the first STA, the processing unit 1102 is specifically configured to: acquiring the indication information from the detection request; determining the second WiFi protocol indicated by the indication information.

In one possible design, when the processing unit 1102 determines that the second WiFi protocol adopted by the first STA is specifically configured to: determining a reference field contained in a message carrying the probe request, wherein the reference field is used for indicating whether the first STA supports a set version of a WiFi protocol; if the value of the reference field is a first value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is the WiFi protocol of the set version; and if the value of the reference field is a second value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is a WiFi protocol which is one version lower than the set version.

In one possible design, the reference field includes at least one of: a target wake-up time request support field; a target wake-up time response support field; a broadcast target wake-up time field; a buffer status report holding field; an orthogonal frequency division multiple access random access support field; a supported channel bandwidth setting field; deleting the preamble receiving field; a low density parity check code field in the payload; a full bandwidth uplink multi-user multiple input multiple output field; a fractional bandwidth uplink multiuser multiple-input multiple-output field; receiving a field of a maximum constellation group by using a dual-carrier modulation technology; a field is sent by a maximum constellation group of a dual carrier modulation technology; a multi-user beamformer field.

In a possible design, when the processing unit 1102 determines, according to the first WiFi protocol and/or the second WiFi protocol, whether the first STA supports establishing a WiFi connection with the AP by using the first WiFi protocol, specifically configured to: if the first WiFi protocol is the same as the second WiFi protocol in version, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, executing at least one connection process, and if the number of times of WiFi connection failure establishment with the first STA is less than a set threshold, determining that the first STA supports WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the number of times of WiFi connection establishment failure with the first STA exceeds the set threshold, determining that the first STA does not support WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; wherein each connection process comprises the following steps: establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or if the database stores the device identifier of the first STA, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; otherwise, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; the database is used for storing the equipment identification of a target STA, and the target STA is an STA which does not support the WiFi connection established between the first WiFi protocol and the AP.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to, after establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol: storing the device identification of the first STA in the database.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1102 is further configured to:

As an implementation, the transceiving unit 1101 may be an interface circuit of the apparatus 1100, configured to receive data from other apparatuses, for example, receive a message or data from an STA. When the apparatus 1100 is implemented in the form of a chip, the transceiving unit 1101 may be an interface circuit of the chip for receiving data from or transmitting data to other chips or apparatuses.

The processing unit 1102 may be a processor or a controller, such as a general purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processing (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, etc. described in connection with the disclosure herein. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors in combination, a DSP and a microprocessor in combination, or the like.

The division of the unit in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, and in addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processor, may also exist alone physically, or may also be integrated in one unit by two or more units. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

Only one or more of the various elements in fig. 11 may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. The software or firmware includes, but is not limited to, computer program instructions or code and may be executed by a hardware processor. The hardware includes, but is not limited to, various integrated circuits such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

Based on the above embodiments and the same concept, the embodiments of the present application further provide an apparatus for implementing the WiFi connection method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the apparatus 1200 may be an AP, or may be a chip or a chip system in the AP.

In some embodiments of the present application, the apparatus 1200 may also be an electronic device, or a chip, an integrated circuit, or the like, capable of executing the WiFi connection method provided in the present application.

Illustratively, the apparatus 1200 includes a transceiver 1201, a memory 102, and at least one processor 1203. The processor 1203 is coupled with the transceiver 1201, and the coupling in this embodiment is an indirect coupling or a communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form, so as to exchange information between the devices, units or modules.

Specifically, the transceiver 1201 may be a circuit, a bus, a communication interface, or any other module that can be used for information interaction, and may be used for receiving or transmitting information.

Optionally, the memory 1202 is coupled to the transceiver 1201 and the processor 1203 for storing program instructions.

The processor 1203 is configured to invoke the program instructions stored in the memory 1202, so that the apparatus 1200 executes the steps executed by the AP in the WiFi connection method provided in the embodiment of the present application, thereby implementing that the AP establishes a WiFi connection with the STA requesting access.

The transceiver 1201 is for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals and is coupled to a receiver and a transmitter of the communication device 900. The transceiver 1201 communicates with a communication network and other communication devices, such as an Ethernet (Ethernet), a Radio Access Technology (RAN), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), etc., through Radio frequency signals. In a specific implementation, the communication protocol supported by the transceiver 1201 at least includes a WiFi protocol, and may further include: 2G/3G, long Term Evolution (LTE), 5G New Radio (NR), etc.

In particular implementations, the memory 1202 may include high-speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state storage devices. The memory 1202 may store an operating system (hereinafter referred to simply as a system), such as an embedded operating system like ANDROID, IOS, WINDOWS, or LINUX. The memory 1202 may be used for storing the implementation programs of the embodiments of the present application. The memory 1202 may also store a network communication program that may be used to communicate with one or more additional devices, one or more user devices, one or more network devices.

The processor 1203 may be a general purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more ics for controlling the execution of programs in accordance with the present invention.

In some embodiments of the present application, the transceiver 1201, the memory 1202, and the processor 1203 may be connected to each other through a communication line 1204; the communication line 1204 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The communication lines 1204 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 12, but that does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

It should be noted that fig. 12 is only one implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, and in practical applications, the apparatus 1200 may also include more or less components, which is not limited herein.

The methods provided in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network appliance, a user device, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.).

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. A wireless fidelity (WiFi) connection method is applied to an Access Point (AP), and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

receiving a detection request from a first Station (STA) in a state that a WiFi hotspot is opened by adopting a first WiFi protocol, wherein the detection request is used for requesting to establish WiFi connection with the AP;

determining a second WiFi protocol adopted by the first STA;

according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol, judging whether the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol;

if the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; and if the first STA does not support the establishment of the WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the method further comprises:

and when a detection request sent by a second STA is received, establishing WiFi connection with the second STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol, wherein the second STA is an STA which requests to establish WiFi connection with the AP after the first STA.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the method further comprises:

notifying a third STA to communicate with the AP by adopting a second WiFi protocol, wherein the third STA is an STA which has established WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol before the first STA; or

And disconnecting the WiFi connection with the third STA, and establishing the WiFi connection with the third STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the probe request carries indication information for indicating the second WiFi protocol; determining a second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA, comprising:

acquiring the indication information from the detection request;

determining the second WiFi protocol indicated by the indication information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first WiFi protocol is a fifth-generation WiFi protocol or a sixth-generation WiFi protocol, and the second WiFi protocol is a fifth-generation WiFi protocol or a sixth-generation WiFi protocol.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein determining the second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA comprises:

determining a reference field contained in a message carrying the probe request, wherein the reference field is used for indicating whether the first STA supports a set version of a WiFi protocol;

if the value of the reference field is a first value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is the WiFi protocol of the set version; and if the value of the reference field is a second value, determining that the second WiFi protocol is a WiFi protocol which is one version lower than the set version.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the reference field comprises at least one of:

a target wake-up time request support field; a target wake-up time response support field; a broadcast target wake-up time field; a buffer status report holding field; an orthogonal frequency division multiple access random access support field; a supported channel bandwidth setting field; deleting the preamble receiving field; a low density parity check code field in the payload; a full bandwidth uplink multi-user multiple input multiple output field; a fractional bandwidth uplink multiple user multiple input multiple output field; receiving a field of a maximum constellation group by using a dual-carrier modulation technology; a field is sent by a maximum constellation group of a dual carrier modulation technology; a multi-user beamformer field.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein determining whether the first STA supports establishing a WiFi connection with the AP using the first WiFi protocol according to the first WiFi protocol and/or the second WiFi protocol comprises:

if the first WiFi protocol is the same as the second WiFi protocol in version, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or

If the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or

If the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, executing at least one connection process, and if the number of times of WiFi connection failure establishment with the first STA is less than a set threshold value, determining that the first STA supports WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the number of times of WiFi connection establishment failure with the first STA exceeds the set threshold, determining that the first STA does not support WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; wherein each connection process comprises the following steps: establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or

If the database stores the equipment identifier of the first STA, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; otherwise, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; the database is used for storing the equipment identification of a target STA, and the target STA is an STA which does not support WiFi connection established with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein after establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the method further comprises:

storing the device identification of the first STA in the database.

10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein the device identification of the first STA is a medium access control, MAC, address of the first STA.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising:

after establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol, communicating with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol or the second WiFi protocol;

and after the second WiFi protocol is adopted to establish WiFi connection with the first STA, the second WiFi protocol is adopted to communicate with the first STA.

12. The method of any of claims 1-11, wherein the first WiFi protocol is a highest version WiFi protocol supported by the AP, and wherein the second WiFi protocol is a highest version WiFi protocol supported by the first STA.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver unit, configured to receive a probe request from a first station STA in a state where a WiFi hotspot is opened by using a first WiFi protocol, where the probe request is used to request a WiFi connection to be established with the AP;

a processing unit, configured to determine a second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA; according to the first WiFi protocol and the second WiFi protocol, judging whether the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; and if the first STA does not support the establishment of the WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol, establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the second WiFi protocol.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein after establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the processing unit is further configured to:

15. The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein after establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, the processing unit is further configured to:

16. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the probe request carries indication information for indicating the second WiFi protocol; when determining the second WiFi protocol employed by the first STA, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

acquiring the indication information from the detection request;

determining the second WiFi protocol indicated by the indication information.

17. The apparatus according to any of claims 13-16, wherein the first WiFi protocol is a fifth generation WiFi protocol or a sixth generation WiFi protocol, and the second WiFi protocol is a fifth generation WiFi protocol or a sixth generation WiFi protocol.

18. The apparatus according to any of claims 13 to 17, wherein the processing unit, when determining that the second WiFi protocol is adopted by the first STA, is specifically configured to:

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the reference field comprises at least one of:

a target wake-up time request support field; a target wake-up time response support field; a broadcast target wake-up time field; a buffer status report holding field; an orthogonal frequency division multiple access random access support field; a supported channel bandwidth setting field; deleting the preamble receiving field; a low density parity check code field in the payload; a full bandwidth uplink multiuser multiple-input multiple-output field; a fractional bandwidth uplink multiple user multiple input multiple output field; receiving a field of a maximum constellation group by using a dual-carrier modulation technology; a field is sent by a maximum constellation group of a dual carrier modulation technology; a multi-user beamformer field.

20. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein the processing unit, when determining, according to the first WiFi protocol and/or the second WiFi protocol, whether the first STA supports establishing a WiFi connection with the AP using the first WiFi protocol, is specifically configured to:

If the version of the first WiFi protocol is higher than that of the second WiFi protocol, executing at least one connection process, and if the number of times of WiFi connection failure establishment with the first STA is less than a set threshold value, determining that the first STA supports WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; if the number of times of WiFi connection establishment failure with the first STA exceeds the set threshold value, determining that the first STA does not support WiFi connection establishment with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; wherein each connection process comprises the following steps: establishing a WiFi connection with the first STA by adopting the first WiFi protocol; or

If the database stores the equipment identification of the first STA, determining that the first STA does not support the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; otherwise, determining that the first STA supports the establishment of WiFi connection with the AP by adopting the first WiFi protocol; the database is used for storing the equipment identification of a target STA, and the target STA is an STA which does not support the WiFi connection established between the first WiFi protocol and the AP.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing unit, after establishing the WiFi connection with the first STA using the second WiFi protocol, is further configured to:

storing the device identification of the first STA in the database.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 or 21, wherein the device identification of the first STA is a medium access control, MAC, address of the first STA.

23. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 22, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

24. The apparatus of any of claims 13-23, wherein the first WiFi protocol is a highest version WiFi protocol supported by the AP, and wherein the second WiFi protocol is a highest version WiFi protocol supported by the first STA.

25. An apparatus comprising a transceiver, a memory, and a processor;

the transceiver is used for receiving signals from other devices except the device and transmitting the signals to the processor or sending the signals from the processor to other devices except the device;

the memory is used for storing programs;

the processor is configured to execute a program stored in the memory to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

26. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a computer program which, when run on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

27. A computer program product, comprising a computer program or instructions which, when run on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.