CN115567923A

CN115567923A - Method, device, equipment and storage medium for establishing multi-connection

Info

Publication number: CN115567923A
Application number: CN202210997593.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴昊; 尹蕾
Original assignee: Yibin Jimi Photoelectric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Yibin Jimi Photoelectric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-19
Filing date: 2022-08-19
Publication date: 2023-01-03

Abstract

The invention discloses a method, a device, equipment and a storage medium for establishing multi-connection. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal sends a first message to a first access point to request to establish multi-connection; the first access point sends an access point adding request message to the second access point according to the indication in the first message; the second access point sends an access point adding response message to the first access point; the first access point builds a second message responding to the first message according to the information in the response message of the added access point and sends the second message to the terminal; the terminal sends a connection request message to a second access point according to the second message to request for establishing connection; the second access point sends a connection response message to the terminal. The invention establishes multi-connection for the terminal through the access point according to the request of the terminal, realizes the connection of the multi-link terminal and a plurality of access points, and solves the problem of high data receiving and transmitting complexity caused by the security keys for the connection and data transmission of the terminal and the plurality of access points.

Description

Method, device, equipment and storage medium for establishing multi-connection

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, a device, and a storage medium for establishing multiple connections.

Background

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

In view of the high throughput and stringent real-time latency requirements of these applications, users expect higher throughput, higher reliability, less latency and jitter, and higher power efficiency when supporting their applications over a WLAN. The 802.11be system is intended to ensure the competitiveness of WLAN by further increasing the overall throughput and reducing latency, while ensuring backward compatibility and coexistence with legacy technology standards. 802.11 compatible devices operating in the 2.4GHz,5GHz and 6GHz bands.

Disclosure of Invention

In the 802.11be system, a multi-link terminal is introduced, so that the terminal has the capability of simultaneously transmitting and receiving data on a plurality of links. When an existing multi-link terminal needs to operate using multi-link, it must be connected to an access point that also supports multi-link, and it is only able to establish multiple links on the same access point for data transmission. In view of the above, the present invention provides a method, an apparatus, a device and a storage medium for establishing multiple connections, so that a multiple connection terminal can establish connections with multiple access points.

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for establishing multiple connections, including:

a first access point receives a first message sent by a terminal, wherein the first message indicates a request for establishing multi-connection and comprises an identifier of a candidate access point;

the first access point sends an access point adding request message to a second access point indicated by the identifier of the candidate access point according to the indication requesting to establish the multi-connection in the first message, and requests the second access point to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal, wherein the access point adding request message contains the identifier of the terminal and the requested operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection, and is used for the second access point to determine whether to agree to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal;

the first access point receives an access point adding response message sent by the second access point, wherein the access point adding response message indicates the identification of the terminal and whether the request is approved;

and the first access point sends a second message responding to the first message to the terminal, if the addition access point response message indicates an agreement request, the first access point takes the second access point as a multi-connection access point of the terminal, and the second message indicates agreement to establish the multi-connection and the identification of the multi-connection access point and is used for indicating the terminal to establish the connection with the access point indicated by the identification of the multi-connection access point.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further includes terminal authentication information;

the first access point sends the terminal authentication information to the second access point after including the terminal authentication information in the access point adding request message, the second access point authenticates the terminal, generates second access point authentication information or a first key according to the terminal authentication information when agreeing to the request, and includes the second access point authentication information or the first key in the access point adding response message, wherein the first key is generated according to the second access point authentication information;

when the response message of adding the access point contains the second access point authentication information, the first access point generates a second secret key according to the second access point authentication information, and the second secret key or the second access point authentication information is contained in the second message and is sent to the terminal, the second secret key is used for data encryption and decryption of the terminal in multi-connection operation, the second access point authentication information is used for the terminal to obtain a third secret key according to the second access point authentication information, the third secret key is used for data encryption and decryption of the terminal in multi-connection operation, and the third secret key, the second secret key and the first secret key are the same;

and when the response message of the added access point contains the first key, the first access point contains the first key in the second message and sends the second message to the terminal for the data encryption and decryption of the multi-connection operation of the terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further indicates a mode of multi-connection of the terminal;

if the first access point supports the multi-connection mode of the terminal, determining the multi-connection mode of the access point according to the multi-connection mode of the terminal, and including the determined multi-connection mode of the access point in the access point adding request message to be sent to the second access point, so that the second access point determines whether to agree to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal;

and if the access point adding response message indicates agreement to the request, the access point adding response message also indicates the access point multi-connection mode confirmed by the second access point, and the first access point includes the terminal multi-connection mode corresponding to the access point multi-connection mode confirmed by the second access point in the second message and sends the second message to the terminal for data transmission of multi-connection operation of the terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further includes operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested, and the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the add access point request message is set according to the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the first message; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and if the access point adding response message indicates that the request is agreed, the access point adding response message also comprises operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection confirmed by the second access point, and the first access point comprises the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection confirmed by the second access point in a second message and sends the second message to the terminal for data transmission between the terminal and the second access point.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for establishing multiple connections, including:

a terminal sends a first message to a first access point to request to establish multi-connection, wherein the first message comprises an identifier of a candidate access point and is used for indicating the first access point to send an access point adding request message to a second access point indicated by the identifier of the candidate access point so as to request the second access point to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal;

a terminal receives a second message which is sent by a first access point and responds to a first message, wherein the second message indicates whether to approve the establishment of multi-connection, and when the second message indicates that the establishment of multi-connection is approved, the second message contains the identification of the multi-connection access point;

if the second message indicates that the establishment of the multi-connection is agreed, the terminal sends a connection request message to a third access point indicated by the identifier of the multi-connection access point, wherein the connection request message is used for indicating the third access point to determine whether to establish the connection with the terminal according to the connection request message and an access point adding request message sent by the first access point;

and the terminal receives a connection response message sent by the third access point, wherein the connection response message indicates whether the request is approved or not.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further includes terminal authentication information, which is used for the first access point to include the terminal authentication information in an access point adding request message and send the terminal authentication information to the second access point, and the second access point generates second access point authentication information or a first key according to the terminal authentication information when agreeing to serve as a multi-connection access point of the terminal, and includes the second access point authentication information or the first key in an access point adding response message and sends the second access point authentication information or the first key to the first access point, wherein the first key is generated according to the second access point authentication information;

when the second message indicates agreement to establish multi-connection, the second message further includes the second access point authentication information or the first key or a second key generated by the first access point according to the second access point authentication information, wherein the second key is the same as the first key;

when the second message contains the first key or the second key, the terminal encrypts and decrypts the data of the multi-connection operation according to the first key or the second key contained in the second message;

and when the second message contains the second access point authentication information, the terminal obtains a third secret key according to the second access point authentication information, and encrypts and decrypts data of multi-connection operation according to the third secret key, wherein the third secret key is the same as the first secret key.

In a possible implementation manner, the obtaining, by the terminal, a third key according to the authentication information of the second access point includes:

the terminal generates a third key according to the authentication information of the second access point; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the terminal generates terminal security encryption information according to the second access point authentication information, and sends the terminal security encryption information contained in the connection request message to a third access point, so that the third access point generates a third key according to the terminal security encryption information when agreeing to establish connection with the terminal, and sends the third key contained in the connection response message to the terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further indicates a requested terminal multi-connection mode, which is used for determining the access point multi-connection mode according to the requested terminal multi-connection mode when the first access point supports the requested terminal multi-connection mode, and including the determined access point multi-connection mode in the access point adding request message and sending the determined access point multi-connection mode to the second access point;

when the second message indicates agreement to establish multi-connection, the second message also indicates an acknowledged terminal multi-connection mode, and the acknowledged terminal multi-connection mode is determined by the first access point according to the access point multi-connection mode acknowledged by the second access point when the second access point agrees to be the multi-connection access point of the terminal;

and the terminal performs data transmission of multi-connection operation according to the terminal multi-connection mode indicated in the second message.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message further includes operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested, and the operation information is used by the first access point to generate the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the add access point request message according to the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the first message;

and if the second message indicates that the establishment of the multi-connection is agreed, the second message also indicates the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection confirmed by the second access point, and the terminal performs data transmission with the second access point according to the confirmed operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection.

In a third aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for establishing multiple connections, including a multiple connection establishing module, where the multiple connection establishing module is configured to perform the following steps:

receiving a first message sent by a terminal through a first access point, wherein the first message indicates a request for establishing multi-connection and comprises an identifier of a candidate access point;

sending an access point adding request message to a second access point indicated by the identifier of the candidate access point through the first access point according to the indication requesting to establish the multi-connection in the first message, and requesting the second access point to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal, wherein the access point adding request message comprises the identifier of the terminal and the requested operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection and is used for the second access point to determine whether to agree to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal;

receiving an access point adding response message sent by a second access point through a first access point, wherein the access point adding response message indicates the identification of the terminal and whether the request is approved;

and sending a second message responding to the first message to the terminal through the first access point, if the addition access point response message indicates an agreement request, using the second access point as a multi-connection access point of the terminal through the first access point, and indicating the agreement of establishing the multi-connection and the identification of the multi-connection access point in the second message, wherein the second message is used for indicating the terminal to establish the connection with the access point indicated by the identification of the multi-connection access point.

In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for establishing multiple connections, including a multiple connection establishing module, where the multiple connection establishing module is configured to perform the following steps:

sending a first message to a first access point through a terminal to request to establish multi-connection, wherein the first message comprises an identifier of a candidate access point and is used for indicating the first access point to send an access point adding request message to a second access point indicated by the identifier of the candidate access point so as to request the second access point to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal;

receiving a second message which is sent by a first access point and responds to the first message through a terminal, wherein the second message indicates whether to approve the establishment of multi-connection, and when the second message indicates that to approve the establishment of multi-connection, the second message contains the identification of the multi-connection access point;

if the second message indicates that the establishment of the multi-connection is agreed, sending a connection request message to a third access point indicated by the identifier of the multi-connection access point through the terminal, wherein the connection request message is used for indicating the third access point to determine whether to establish the connection with the terminal according to the connection request message and an access point adding request message sent by the first access point;

and receiving a connection response message sent by the third access point through the terminal, wherein the connection response message indicates whether the request is approved or not.

In a fifth aspect, the invention provides an electronic device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory, the processor executing the computer program to implement the method of the first or second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of the first or second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present invention provides a computer program product comprising computer readable code, or a non-transitory computer readable storage medium carrying computer readable code, which when run in an electronic device, a processor in the electronic device performs the method of the first or second aspect.

It should be noted that the apparatus according to the third aspect is configured to execute the method provided by the first aspect, the apparatus according to the fourth aspect is configured to execute the method provided by the second aspect, and the electronic device according to the fifth aspect, the storage medium according to the sixth aspect, and the computer program product according to the seventh aspect are configured to execute the method provided by the first aspect or the second aspect, so that the same beneficial effects as the method provided by the first aspect or the second aspect can be achieved, and the description of the present invention is omitted.

The invention establishes multi-connection for the terminal through the access point according to the request of the terminal, realizes the connection of the multi-link terminal and a plurality of access points, solves the problem of high data receiving and sending complexity caused by the safety secret keys for the connection and data transmission of the terminal and the plurality of access points, ensures that the multi-link terminal can jointly establish the secret keys with the plurality of access points through a new secret key generation and management mode, reduces the processing complexity when the multi-link terminal carries out data communication in the plurality of access points, improves the transmission efficiency of the multi-link terminal, reduces the transmission delay and simultaneously does not introduce additional complexity to the internal processing of the multi-link terminal.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-link terminal in the prior art;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a method for establishing multiple connections according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make those skilled in the art better understand the technical solutions in the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention. While the present disclosure has been described in terms of one or more exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that each aspect of the disclosure can be implemented as a separate entity, or entity. The embodiments described below and the features of the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

In the embodiments of the present invention, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. For the convenience of clearly describing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, in the embodiments of the present invention, the words "first", "second", and the like are used for distinguishing the same items or similar items with basically the same functions and actions, and those skilled in the art can understand that the words "first", "second", and the like do not limit the quantity and execution order, are used for illustrating and distinguishing the description objects, do not divide the order, do not represent the special limitation on the quantity of the devices or the messages in the embodiments of the present invention, and do not constitute any limitation on the embodiments of the present invention. The term "comprising" is used to indicate the presence of the features stated hereinafter, but does not exclude the addition of further features.

First, briefly explaining the multilink technology related to the present invention, in a multilink scenario, generally, one physical device may include a plurality of logical entities, where the physical device may refer to devices such as a mobile phone, a television, a projector, and the like, and the logical entity may refer to a logical unit in the physical device, and belongs to a virtual function module. Each logical entity can independently manage data transmission and reception, and each logical entity independently operates on one link, and such a physical device is called an ALL-link device (MLD).

The internal functional module of the multi-link terminal STA MLD comprises a U-MAC (upper medium access layer) module, an L-MAC (lower medium access layer) module and a PHY (physical layer) module, and the STA MLD is assumed to comprise two logical entities STA1 and STA2, the logical entity STA1 comprises two modules L-MAC1 and PHY1, and the logical entity STA2 comprises two modules L-MAC2 and PHY2, as shown in FIG. 1.

Wherein, the U-MAC module function includes: authentication and connection, generation of a security key, distribution of a frame serial number, encryption and decryption of a frame, recording and reordering of a data packet, selection of an L-MAC module for sending data and information interaction with the L-MAC; the L-MAC module functions include: link level management information interaction and indication, such as beacon messages and link level control information interaction and indication, such as RTS frames and CTS frames; the PHY module functions include: determining characteristic parameters of the sending and receiving data packets, and sending and receiving the data packets.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, the communication system includes access points AP1, AP2, and AP3, and a multi-link terminal STA MLD, where the multi-link terminal STA MLD includes two logical entities STA1 and STA2, and the two logical entities STA1 and STA2 operate on two different links respectively, and it is assumed in the embodiment of the present invention that STA1 operates on a 2.4GHz link and STA2 operates on a 5GHz link.

It should be understood that fig. 2 is only an architecture diagram of a communication system, and the number, types, and the like of devices in the communication system are not limited in the embodiment of the present invention, for example, more terminals or access points may be included, a multi-link terminal may include more logical entities, and an access point may be a multi-link access point device, and the like. Further, those skilled in the art will understand that the term "access point" (AP) according to the present application may also be used to describe an access port or any other access point capable of receiving and transmitting wireless signals within a network architecture in accordance with the principles and functions described herein, and thus, the use of an access point is merely exemplary.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an operation in which one terminal connects to a plurality of access points is referred to as a multi-connection operation.

In the communication system shown in fig. 2, it is assumed that STA MLD establishes connection with AP1 through STA1, and the connection process can refer to related prior art. In some embodiments, the STA MLD may wish to perform a multi-connection operation before establishing a connection with AP1, and the STA MLD may indicate a request to establish a multi-connection in a connection request message. Alternatively, the STA MLD may preferentially select an access point supporting the multi-connection operation to establish the connection according to the received broadcast message, for example, AP1, and if all the access points support the multi-connection operation, the STA MLD may select an access point to establish the connection according to its own policy. In other embodiments, the STA MLD may also wish to perform a multi-connection operation sometime after successfully establishing a connection with the AP1, and the STA MLD may send a multi-connection establishment request message to the AP1 requesting establishment of a multi-connection.

The method of establishing the multi-connection will be described in detail below by taking as an example that the STA MLD requests the establishment of the multi-connection when establishing the connection with the AP 1. As shown in fig. 3, the method for establishing multiple connections mainly includes six steps: 1. the STA MLD sends a connection request message (such as an Association request message) to the AP1 to request to establish multi-connection; 2. after receiving the connection request message, the AP1 sends an access point addition request message (such as an S-AP addition request message) to the AP2 according to the indication in the message, and requests the AP to serve as a multi-connection access point of the STA MLD; 3. the AP2 sends an access point addition response message (such as an S-AP addition response message) to the AP1 to indicate whether to approve the request; 4. the AP1 constructs a connection response message according to the information in the response message of the added access point and sends the connection response message (such as Association response message) to the STA MLD; 5. the STA MLD sends a connection request message (such as an Association request message) to the AP2 according to the connection response message sent by the AP1 to request to establish connection; 6. the AP2 sends a connection response message (e.g., association response message) to the STA MLD indicating whether the request is granted. The method comprises the following specific steps:

s101, the STA MLD sends a connection request message (such as an Association request message) to the AP1 through the logic entity STA1 to request to establish connection, wherein the message contains a Multi connection element parameter which is used for indicating the STA MLD to request to establish Multi-connection. Optionally, the STA MLD may also include other parameters for indicating whether to request to establish the Multi-connection in the connection request message, such as MC supported, and when the MC supported indicates that the Multi-connection is requested to be established, the connection request message further includes a Multi connection element parameter.

Illustratively, the Multi connection element contains the following parameters:

S-AP Address: the identifier of the candidate access point is set as the address of the AP2 in this embodiment;

STA MC mode: the mode of terminal multi-connection, such as setting as Split: indicating that data split mode is used, i.e. data is sent or received on both access points simultaneously; set to Switch: indicating that a data exchange mode is used, i.e. the data is sent or received alternately on the two access points in segments;

S-AP maximum bit rate: requesting the maximum transmission rate of the terminal on the access point indicated by the S-AP Address in the multi-connection;

S-AP TID: requesting the terminal to identify the service supported by the access point indicated by the S-AP Address in the multi-connection;

link configuration: requesting configuration information, such as link operating frequency, operating bandwidth, operating channel, etc., for establishing connection between the terminal and the access point indicated by the S-AP Address in the multi-connection;

STA Authentication info: and terminal authentication information.

The requested operation information of the terminal on the Secondary AP in the multi-connection may include one or more of the parameters STA S-AP maximum bit rate, STA S-AP TID, and Link configuration, and may also include other parameters, which are used by the AP2 to determine whether to agree to the multi-connection access point as the STA MLD.

For example, the STA Authentication info may be set to include the following parameters:

snonce: a random number generated by the terminal;

r0KH-ID: identification of PMK-R0 (pairwise master key first level) management entity;

PMKR0Name: pairwise key first-level names.

In some embodiments, before step S101, the following steps are further included:

s201, the STA MLD receives a broadcast message (such as Beacon message or Probe response message) sent by the AP1, where the message includes a Multi connectivity capability information element, and the information element includes the following parameters:

MC supported: indicating whether multi-connection operation is supported, if the setting is 1, the support is indicated, and if the setting is 0, the support is indicated, the embodiment is 1.

S202, the STA MLD receives a broadcast message (such as Beacon message or Probe response message) sent by the AP2, where the message includes a Multi connectivity capability information element, and the information element includes the following parameters:

S203, when the STA MLD wishes to perform the multi-connection operation, it may select an access point supporting the multi-connection operation according to the received broadcast message to establish a connection. Meanwhile, the STA MLD may also select the strongest PrimaryAP as the connection according to an RSSI (received signal strength indication) parameter of the access point, and select the second strongest as the Secondary AP, where transmission of all services must be supported between the STA MLD and the PrimaryAP, and only a subset of the services supported between the STA MLD and the PrimaryAP may be supported between the STA MLD and the Secondary AP, so the connection between the STA MLD and the Secondary AP may be regarded as a supplement to the connection between the STA MLD and the PrimaryAP; or, the STA MLD may obtain information of the neighboring access point from the broadcast message received from the AP1, and after measuring the information, select one access point as the Secondary AP according to the measurement result.

After S102 and AP1 receive the connection request message, if the connection request message includes a parameter Multi connection element and the AP1 itself also supports the requested terminal Multi-connection mode, then an add access point request message (e.g., S-AP addition request message) is sent to AP2, and the AP2 is requested to serve as a Multi-connection access point Secondary AP of the STA MLD, where the message may be set to include the following parameters:

dialog token: a session identifier for identifying a current session;

STA ID: the identifier of the terminal, that is, the identifier of the terminal requesting to establish multiple connections, for example, the address of the STA MLD, or the connection identifier of the STA MLD;

AP MC mode: and (3) the mode of access point multi-connection, such as setting as MC over P-AP: data of the Secondary AP and the Primary AP are gathered or distributed at the Primary AP; set to MC over DS: data of the Secondary AP and the Primary AP are gathered or distributed at the data server DS;

STA S-AP maximum bit rate: requesting the maximum transmission rate of the terminal on the Secondary AP in the multi-connection, wherein the maximum transmission rate is the same as the STA S-AP maximum bit rate in the connection request message received by the AP1;

STA S-AP TID: the identifier of the service requesting the terminal to transmit data on the Secondary AP in the multi-connection is the same as the STA S-AP TID in the connection request message received by the AP1;

link configuration: configuration information, such as Link operation frequency, operation bandwidth, operation channel and the like, for requesting the terminal to establish connection with the Secondary AP in multi-connection is the same as Link configuration in the connection request message received by the AP1;

STA Authentication info: the terminal Authentication information is the same as the STA Authentication info in the connection request message received by the AP 1.

Wherein, the AP1 setting the AP MC mode may be as follows:

1) If the STA MC mode requested by the STA MLD in the connection request message is set to split, the AP1 sets the AP MC mode to MC over P-AP;

2) If STA MC mode requested by STA MLD in the connection request message is set to switch, AP1 sets AP MC mode to MC over DS.

After receiving the access point adding request message, the S103 and the AP2 set the Status code value as success and send an access point adding response message (e.g., S-AP addition response message) to the AP1 if the STA MLD is authenticated according to the STA Authentication info parameter and the request is granted, where the message may be set to include the following parameters:

status code: responding to the message result, and indicating whether the request is approved, wherein if the request is set to success, the request is approved, and if the request is set to fail, the request is not approved;

dialog token: the session identifier is used for identifying the current session and is set as the value of the Dialog token in the received request message for adding the access point;

AP MC mode: and confirming the mode of multi-connection of the access point, such as setting as MC over P-AP: data of the Secondary AP and the Primary AP are gathered or distributed at the Primary AP; set to MC over DS: data of the Secondary AP and the Primary AP are gathered or distributed at the data server DS;

STA ID: the identifier of the terminal, such as the address of the STA MLD, or the connection identifier of the STA MLD;

STA S-AP maximum bit rate: the maximum transmission rate in the multi-connection operation confirmed by the Secondary AP is greater than or equal to the value of the STA S-AP maximum bit rate in the received request message for adding the access point;

STA S-AP TID: the identifier of the service supported in the multi-connection operation confirmed by the Secondary AP is the same as or selected from the STA S-AP TID in the received request message for adding the access point;

link configuration: configuration information, such as Link operation frequency, operation bandwidth, operation channel and the like, of the terminal establishing connection with the Secondary AP in multi-connection confirmed by the Secondary AP is the same as Link configuration in the received add access point request message;

S-AP Authentication info: the Authentication information of the Secondary AP is generated according to the STA Authentication info in the received access point addition request message, and may specifically include the following parameters:

snonce: a random number generated by the terminal;

ANonce: random numbers generated by the Secondary AP;

r1KH-ID: identification of PMK-R1 (pairwise master key second level) management entity;

PMKR1Name: paired key second level names.

Optionally, the AP2 may also generate a security key, such as a GTK (group temporary key), from the S-AP Authentication info.

It should be noted that, if the add access point request message includes parameters such as the AP MC mode, and the AP2 does not include corresponding parameters in the add access point response message, it indicates that the AP2 agrees to the information requested in the add access point request message, that is, the information confirmed by the AP2 is the same as the information in the add access point request message.

If AP2 does not agree with the request, the parameter Status code value is set to fail and an Add Access Point response message (e.g., S-AP addition response message) is sent to AP1, which may be set to include the following parameters:

status code: responding to the message result, and indicating whether the request is approved, such as success, namely agreement request, fail, namely disagreement request;

mouse value: this parameter may be included when the Sstatus code is fail, for setting the reason for not agreeing to the request, which may be set to one or more of the following values, for example:

TID not supported: all service identifications which do not support the request;

MAP not enabled: a multi-connection operation is not enabled;

BitRATE not supported: the requested maximum transmission rate is not supported;

(ii) Authentication failed: the authentication fails.

S104, after the AP1 receives the response message of adding the access point, if the Status code value in the message is success, the connection response message (such as Association response message) contains a Multi connection element parameter, which indicates that the establishment of Multi-connection is agreed; and if the Status code value in the message is fail, not including a Multi connection element parameter in the connection response message, indicating that the establishment of the Multi-connection is not approved.

The Multi-connection element parameter may be used to indicate that the STA MLD requests to establish a Multi-connection, and is set to include the following parameters:

STA MC mode: the terminal multi-connection mode is set as the terminal multi-connection mode corresponding to the value of the AP MC mode in the received add access point response message, for example, set as Split: indicating that data split mode is used, i.e. data is sent or received on both access points simultaneously; set to Switch: indicating that a data exchange mode is used, i.e. the data is sent or received alternately on the two access points in segments;

UL split threshold: when the STA MC mode value is Split, the parameter may be included to indicate the threshold value of uplink data separation;

S-AP Address: the address of the Secondary AP, which is set as the address of AP2 in this embodiment;

STA S-AP maximum bit rate: the upper limit of the transmission rate in the multi-connection operation confirmed by the Secondary AP is the same as the STA S-AP maximum bit rate in the received response message of adding the access point;

STA S-AP TID: the service identifier supported in the multi-connection operation confirmed by the Secondary AP is the same as the STA S-AP TID in the received response message of adding the access point;

link configuration: configuration information, such as Link operation frequency, operation bandwidth, operation channel and the like, of the terminal establishing connection with the Secondary AP in multi-connection confirmed by the Secondary AP is the same as the Link configuration in the received response message of adding the access point;

S-AP Authentication info: the Authentication information of the Secondary AP is the same as the S-AP Authentication info in the received response message of the added access point.

S105, AP1 generates a security key, such as a GTK (group temporary key), according to the S-AP Authentication info parameter in the received response message for adding an access point.

S106, AP1 sends a connection response message to STA MLD.

After the S107 and the STA MLD receive the connection response message, if the message includes a Multi connection element parameter, the STA Security information info is generated according to the S-AP Authentication info in the Multi connection element, and illustratively, the STA Security info includes the following information:

snonce: a random number generated by the terminal;

ANonce: random numbers generated by the Secondary AP;

PMKR1Name: paired key second level names.

And sending a connection request message (such as an Association request message) to an access point indicated by the S-AP address according to the S-AP address in the Multi connection element, that is, to the AP2 in the embodiment of the present invention.

After receiving the connection request message, the AP2 determines that the terminal is a terminal that needs to perform a multi-connection operation according to the address information of the terminal or the STA Security info included in the message and the information of the terminal obtained from the AP1 receiving the add access point request message, and then generates a Security key, such as a GTK (group temporary key), according to the information in the STA Security info.

S109, the AP2 sends a connection response message (e.g., association response message) to the STA MLD, where the connection response message includes the GTK allocated to the STA MLD.

The STA MLD uses the received GTK for data encryption and decryption for multi-connectivity, i.e., encrypts data transmitted to the AP1 and the AP2 according to the key, and decrypts data received from the AP1 and the AP2 according to the key. And the AP1 and the AP2 are used for data encryption and decryption of multi-connection operation of the STA MLD according to the generated GTK. Thus, the STA MLD can use only one set of keys for simultaneous data transmission with two access points in multi-connection operation.

When the STA MLD has data to send, if the STA MC mode value in the connection response message received by the STA MLD from the AP1 is Split, when the uplink data to be sent is greater than or equal to the value of the parameter UL Split threshold, dividing the uplink data to be sent to the STA1 and the STA2, and sending the uplink data to the AP1 and the AP2 at the same time; if the STA MC mode value in the connection response message received by the STA MLD from the AP1 is Switch, the data is sent to the AP2 according to the local policy, for example, when the signal strength or the signal quality of the AP1 is poor or the load of the AP1 is heavy.

After the AP2 receives the data sent by the STA MLD, if the AP MC mode value in the response message of adding the access point sent to the AP1 by the AP2 is MC over P-AP, the received data of the STA MLD is sent to the AP1; and if the AP MC mode value in the response message of the added access point sent to the AP1 by the AP2 is the MC over DS, directly sending the received data of the STA MLD to the data server DS.

In some embodiments, the connection response message sent by AP1 to STA MLD in step S106 may include the Security key generated by AP1 in step S105, then in step S107, the connection request message sent by STA MLD to AP2 may not include STA Security info, AP2 does not execute step S108, and the connection response message sent to STA MLD in step S109 does not include the Security key. In this embodiment, the STA MLD uses the security key in the received connection response message sent by AP1 for encryption and decryption of the multi-connection data, AP1 uses the security key generated in step S105 to encrypt and decrypt the multi-connection data of the STA MLD, and AP2 generates the security key according to the S-AP Authentication info in step S103 and uses the security key to encrypt and decrypt the multi-connection data of the STA MLD. The method also realizes that the STA MLD can simultaneously carry out data transmission with two access points by only using one set of secret keys in the multi-connection operation.

In some other embodiments, the AP2 may generate a security key according to the S-AP Authentication info in step S103, and include the generated security key in the AP addition response message to the AP1, and the AP1 further includes the security key in the connection response message to the STA MLD, and the AP1 does not need to perform step S105, and in steps S107 to S109, the STA MLD and the AP2 do not need to generate the security key again in the process of establishing a connection, and the STA MLD, the AP1, and the AP2 all use the security key generated by the AP2 in step S103 to encrypt and decrypt the multi-connection data of the STA MLD.

In some other embodiments, in step S107, after receiving the connection response message sent by AP1, STA MLD directly generates a Security key according to the S-AP Authentication info in the message, and the connection request message sent to AP2 does not include STA Security info. In this embodiment, the STA MLD encrypts and decrypts the multi-connection data of the STA MLD using the security key generated by itself, the AP1 encrypts and decrypts the multi-connection data of the STA MLD using the security key generated in step S105, and the AP2 generates the security key according to the S-AP Authentication info in step S103, and encrypts and decrypts the multi-connection data of the STA MLD using the security key. Because the STA MLD, the AP1 and the AP2 are security keys generated according to the S-AP Authentication info, the STA MLD can only apply one set of keys to carry out data transmission with two access points simultaneously in the multi-connection operation.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a device for establishing the multi-connection, which comprises a multi-connection establishing module and is used for executing the following steps:

Optionally, the first message further includes terminal authentication information; the multi-connection establishment module is further configured to perform the steps of:

the terminal authentication information is contained in the access point adding request message through the first access point and is sent to the second access point, the second access point is used for authenticating the terminal, second access point authentication information or a first secret key is generated according to the terminal authentication information when the request is agreed, and the access point adding response message contains the second access point authentication information or the first secret key, wherein the first secret key is generated according to the second access point authentication information;

when the access point adding response message contains the second access point authentication information, a second secret key is generated by the first access point according to the second access point authentication information, the second secret key or the second access point authentication information is contained in the second message and is sent to the terminal, the second secret key is used for data encryption and decryption of multi-connection operation of the terminal, the second access point authentication information is used for the terminal to obtain a third secret key according to the second access point authentication information, the third secret key is used for data encryption and decryption of multi-connection operation of the terminal, and the third secret key, the second secret key and the first secret key are the same;

and when the response message of the added access point contains the first key, the first key is contained in the second message through the first access point and is sent to the terminal for the data encryption and decryption of the multi-connection operation of the terminal.

Optionally, the first message further indicates a mode of multi-connection of the terminal; the multi-connection establishment module is further configured to perform the steps of:

and if the access point adding response message indicates agreement to the request, the access point adding response message also indicates the access point multi-connection mode confirmed by the second access point, and the terminal multi-connection mode corresponding to the access point multi-connection mode confirmed by the second access point is included in the second message and is sent to the terminal through the first access point for the terminal to perform data transmission of multi-connection operation.

Optionally, the first message further includes operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested, and the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the add access point request message is set according to the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the first message; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the multi-connection establishment module is further configured to perform the steps of:

and if the access point adding response message indicates that the request is agreed, the access point adding response message also comprises operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection confirmed by the second access point, and the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection confirmed by the second access point is contained in a second message through the first access point and is sent to the terminal for the data transmission between the terminal and the second access point.

receiving, by a terminal, a second message in response to the first message, the second message being sent by a first access point, the second message indicating whether to grant establishment of a multi-connection, and when the second message indicates that to grant establishment of a multi-connection, the second message including an identifier of the multi-connection access point;

if the second message indicates that the establishment of the multi-connection is agreed, sending a connection request message to a third access point indicated by the identification of the multi-connection access point through the terminal, wherein the connection request message is used for indicating the third access point to determine whether to establish the connection with the terminal according to the connection request message and an access point adding request message sent by the first access point;

Optionally, the first message further includes terminal authentication information, which is used for the first access point to include the terminal authentication information in an access point adding request message and send the terminal authentication information to the second access point, and the second access point generates second access point authentication information or a first key according to the terminal authentication information when agreeing to serve as a multi-connection access point of the terminal, and includes the second access point authentication information or the first key in an access point adding response message and sends the second access point authentication information or the first key to the first access point, wherein the first key is generated according to the second access point authentication information;

when the second message contains the first key or the second key, the data encryption and decryption of the multi-connection operation is carried out through the terminal according to the first key or the second key contained in the second message;

and when the second message contains the second access point authentication information, acquiring a third secret key by the terminal according to the second access point authentication information, and encrypting and decrypting data of multi-connection operation according to the third secret key, wherein the third secret key is the same as the first secret key.

Optionally, the first message further indicates a requested terminal multi-connection mode, which is used for determining the access point multi-connection mode according to the requested terminal multi-connection mode when the first access point supports the requested terminal multi-connection mode, and including the determined access point multi-connection mode in the access point adding request message and sending the determined access point multi-connection mode to the second access point;

the multi-connection establishment module is further configured to perform the steps of: and carrying out data transmission of multi-connection operation by the terminal according to the terminal multi-connection mode indicated in the second message.

Optionally, the first message further includes operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested, and the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the add access point request message is generated by the first access point according to the operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection requested included in the first message;

if the second message indicates agreement to establish multi-connection, the second message also indicates operation information of the terminal on the second access point in multi-connection confirmed by the second access point;

the multi-connection establishment module is further configured to perform the steps of: and the terminal performs data transmission with the second access point according to the confirmed operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection.

It should be understood that the means herein are embodied in the form of functional modules. The term module herein may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality. The device has the functions of realizing the corresponding steps in the method; the above functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above. In an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus may also be a chip or a system of chips, for example: system on chip (SoC). The invention is not limited thereto.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides an electronic device, and fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of the electronic device provided in the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 4, the device 300 comprises a processor 301, a memory 302 and a communication interface 303, wherein the processor 301, the memory 302 and the communication interface 303 communicate with each other via a bus 304, and the memory 302 stores instructions executable by the processor 301, and the instructions are loaded and executed by the processor 301 to control the communication interface 303 to send and/or receive signals.

It should be understood that the device 300 may be embodied as the AP1 or AP2 or STA MLD in the above embodiment, or the functions of the AP1 or AP2 or STA MLD in the above embodiment may be integrated in the device 300, and the device 300 may be configured to perform various steps and/or flows corresponding to the AP1 or AP2 or STA MLD in the above embodiment. The memory 302 may optionally include both read-only memory and random access memory, and provides instructions and data to the processor 301. A portion of the memory 302 may also include non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory 302 may also store device type information. The processor 301 may be configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 301, and when the processor 301 executes the instructions, the processor 301 may perform the corresponding steps and/or processes in the above-described method embodiments.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present invention, the processor may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general purpose processors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or by instructions in the form of software. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor executes instructions in the memory and combines hardware thereof to perform the steps of the above-described method. To avoid repetition, it is not described in detail here.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer instructions or computer programs. The procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present invention are wholly or partially generated when the computer instructions or the computer program are loaded or executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more collections of available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state disk.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present invention, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present invention. The modules described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, may be located in one place, or may also be distributed on a plurality of network modules, and some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention.

In the embodiments provided by the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus, device and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules is only one logical division, and there may be other divisions in actual implementation, for example, one module or component may be divided into a plurality of modules or components, or a plurality of modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or modules, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

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

Claims

1. A method of establishing a multi-connection, comprising:

and the first access point sends a second message responding to the first message to the terminal, if the addition access point response message indicates an agreement request, the first access point takes the second access point as a multi-connection access point of the terminal, and the second message indicates an identity of agreement for establishing multi-connection and multi-connection access points and is used for indicating the terminal to establish connection with the access point indicated by the identity of the multi-connection access point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message further comprises terminal authentication information;

when the access point adding response message contains the second access point authentication information, the first access point generates a second secret key according to the second access point authentication information, and the second secret key or the second access point authentication information is contained in the second message and sent to the terminal, the second secret key is used for data encryption and decryption of multi-connection operation performed by the terminal, the second access point authentication information is used for the terminal to obtain a third secret key according to the second access point authentication information, the third secret key is used for data encryption and decryption of multi-connection operation performed by the terminal, and the third secret key, the second secret key and the first secret key are the same;

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the terminal authentication information comprises a random number generated by the terminal, an identification of the pairwise master key first level management entity, and a pairwise key first level name; the second access point authentication information comprises a random number generated by the terminal, a random number generated by the second access point, an identification of the pairwise master key second-level management entity and a pairwise key second-level name.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message further indicates a multi-connection mode of the terminal;

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the multi-connection mode of the terminal comprises using a data separation mode and using a data exchange mode; the access point multi-connection mode comprises a mode that data aggregation or distribution is carried out on the data of the first access point and the multi-connection access point corresponding to the usage data separation mode at the first access point, and a mode that data aggregation or distribution is carried out on the data of the first access point and the multi-connection access point corresponding to the usage data exchange mode at the data server.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first message further includes the requested operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection, and the requested operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection included in the add access point request message is set according to the requested operation information of the terminal on the second access point in the multi-connection included in the first message; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation information comprises at least one of: a maximum transmission rate; the type of service of the transmitted data; configuration information for establishing a connection.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is a connection request message and the second message is a connection response message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein before the first access point receives the first message sent by the terminal, the method further comprises:

the first access point sends a broadcast message indicating whether the first access point supports at least one of a multi-connection operation and information of neighboring access points for the terminal to select an access point to establish a connection.

10. A method of establishing a multi-connection, comprising:

a terminal receives a second message which is sent by a first access point and responds to the first message, wherein the second message indicates whether to agree to establish multi-connection, and when the second message indicates that to agree to establish multi-connection, the second message contains the identification of the multi-connection access point;

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first message further includes terminal authentication information, which is used for the first access point to include the terminal authentication information in the add access point request message and send to the second access point, the second access point generates second access point authentication information or a first key according to the terminal authentication information when agreeing to serve as the multi-connection access point of the terminal, and includes the second access point authentication information or the first key in an add access point response message and sends to the first access point, wherein the first key is generated according to the second access point authentication information;

and when the second message contains the second access point authentication information, the terminal acquires a third secret key according to the second access point authentication information and encrypts and decrypts data of multi-connection operation according to the third secret key, wherein the third secret key is the same as the first secret key.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the obtaining, by the terminal, the third key according to the second access point authentication information comprises:

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the terminal authentication information comprises a random number generated by the terminal, an identification of the pairwise master key first level management entity, and a pairwise key first level name; the second access point authentication information comprises a random number generated by the terminal, a random number generated by the second access point, an identification of the pairwise master key second-level management entity and a pairwise key second-level name.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first message further indicates a requested terminal multi-connection mode, and when the first access point supports the requested terminal multi-connection mode, the first access point determines the access point multi-connection mode according to the requested terminal multi-connection mode, and includes the determined access point multi-connection mode in the add access point request message to the second access point;

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the multi-connection mode of the terminal comprises using a data separation mode and using a data exchange mode; the access point multi-connection mode comprises a mode that data of the first access point and the multi-connection access point corresponding to the usage data separation mode are subjected to data aggregation or distribution at the first access point, and a mode that data of the first access point and the multi-connection access point corresponding to the usage data exchange mode are subjected to data aggregation or distribution at the data server.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first message further contains the requested operation information of the terminal in the multi-connection on the second access point, and the first access point generates the requested operation information of the terminal in the multi-connection on the second access point contained in the add access point request message according to the requested operation information of the terminal in the multi-connection on the second access point contained in the first message;

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the operation information comprises at least one of: a maximum transmission rate; the service type of the transmission data; configuration information for establishing a connection.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the first message is a connection request message and the second message is a connection response message.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein before the terminal sends the first message to the first access point, the method further comprises:

the method comprises the steps that a terminal receives a broadcast message sent by a first access point and/or a second access point, wherein the broadcast message indicates whether to support at least one of multi-connection operation and information of adjacent access points;

and the terminal selects an access point for establishing connection according to the indication in the broadcast message.

20. An apparatus for establishing multiple connections, comprising a multiple connection establishment module configured to perform the steps of:

and sending a second message responding to the first message to the terminal through the first access point, if the addition access point response message indicates agreement request, using the second access point as a multi-connection access point of the terminal through the first access point, and indicating the agreement of establishing multi-connection and the identification of the multi-connection access point in the second message, wherein the second message is used for indicating the terminal to establish connection with the access point indicated by the identification of the multi-connection access point.

21. An apparatus for establishing multiple connections, comprising a multiple connection establishment module configured to perform the steps of:

22. An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory, wherein the processor executes the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 1-19.

23. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method of any one of claims 1-19.