CN116233776A

CN116233776A - Method, device, equipment and storage medium for establishing direct link of multi-link terminal

Info

Publication number: CN116233776A
Application number: CN202111437933.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴昊; 尹蕾
Original assignee: Jimi Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Jimi Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-11-29
Filing date: 2021-11-29
Publication date: 2023-06-06

Abstract

The application discloses a method, a device, equipment and a storage medium for establishing a direct link of a multi-link terminal. The method comprises the following steps: the direct connection initiator sends a direct connection link discovery request message to the direct connection responder; the direct connection initiator receives a direct connection link discovery response message from the direct connection responder, wherein the message comprises NSTR link information of the direct connection responder; the direct connection initiator sends a direct connection link establishment request message to the direct connection responder, the message indicates the link of the direct connection link establishment request, and the link of the direct connection link establishment request is determined by the direct connection initiator according to the NSTR link information of the direct connection initiator and the received NSTR link information of the direct connection responder. According to the method and the device, through unified discovery and establishment processes and auxiliary control of the access equipment, how to establish the direct link is coordinated among the multi-link terminals, so that data loss caused by inter-link interference is avoided, and the use efficiency of wireless resources is effectively improved.

Description

Method, device, equipment and storage medium for establishing direct link of multi-link terminal

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 a direct link by using a multi-link terminal.

Background

802.11be networks, also known as Extremely High Throughput (EHT) networks, enhance functionality through a range of system characteristics and mechanisms to achieve extremely high throughput. As the use of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) continues to grow, it is increasingly important to provide wireless data services in many environments, such as homes, businesses, and hotspots. In particular, video traffic will continue to be the dominant traffic type in many WLAN deployments. The throughput requirements of these applications are evolving due to the advent of 4k and 8k video (20 Gbps uncompressed rate). New high throughput, low latency applications such as virtual or augmented reality, gaming, remote offices, and cloud computing will proliferate (e.g., latency for real-time gaming is less than 5 milliseconds).

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

Disclosure of Invention

The terminals can reduce data transmission transfer links, improve transmission rate and reduce transmission delay by establishing a direct connection link, also called a direct link (TDLS). After introducing the multilink technology, one multilink capable device (i.e., a multilink device) can operate on more than two links simultaneously. The multi-link terminal can establish a plurality of direct connection links, and the transmission rate is improved and the transmission delay is reduced to a greater extent by using the multi-link technology and the direct connection link technology simultaneously. In the 802.11be system, a multi-link terminal is introduced, in which, there are NSTR links, that is, multiple links indicated by NSTR links cannot transmit and receive data independently at the same time, it is necessary to transmit data on one link while the other link cannot receive data, and vice versa, that is, while one link receives data, the other link cannot transmit data, when a direct link is established between two terminals with NSTR links on a certain link, it is difficult to coordinate data transmission and reception on NSTR links with an access device, so that interference between links is generated, resulting in failure of data transmission and reception. In view of this, embodiments of the present application provide a method, an apparatus, a device, and a storage medium for establishing a direct link by a multi-link terminal.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal, including:

the method comprises the steps that a direct connection initiator sends a direct connection link discovery request message to a direct connection responder, wherein the direct connection initiator, access equipment and the direct connection responder are all multi-link equipment, and the direct connection initiator and the direct connection responder are all in communication connection with the access equipment;

the direct connection initiator receives a direct connection link discovery response message from the direct connection responder, wherein the direct connection link discovery response message comprises NSTR link information of the direct connection responder;

the direct connection initiator sends a direct connection link establishment request message to a direct connection responder, wherein the direct connection link establishment request message indicates a link for requesting to establish a direct connection link, and the link for requesting to establish the direct connection link is determined by the direct connection initiator according to NSTR link information of the direct connection initiator and NSTR link information of the received direct connection responder;

the direct connection initiator receives a direct connection link establishment response message from the direct connection responder, wherein the direct connection link establishment response message indicates whether to accept establishment of a direct connection link.

In one possible implementation manner, the link of the request for establishing a direct connection link is determined by the direct connection initiator according to self NSTR link information and received NSTR link information of a direct connection responder, and the link includes at least one of the following:

If the direct connection initiator has an NSTR link, the received NSTR link information of the direct connection responder indicates that the direct connection responder does not have the NSTR link, and the direct connection initiator is requested to establish the direct connection link on the NSTR link of the direct connection initiator;

if the direct connection initiator does not have an NSTR link, the received NSTR link information of the direct connection responder indicates that the direct connection responder has an NSTR link, and then the direct connection link is requested to be established on the link indicated by the NSTR link information of the direct connection responder;

if the direct connection initiator has an NSTR link, the received NSTR link information of the direct connection responder indicates that the direct connection responder has an NSTR link, and the NSTR link of the direct connection initiator is the same as the link indicated by the NSTR link information of the direct connection responder, the direct connection link is requested to be established on the NSTR link of the direct connection initiator;

if the direct connection initiator has an NSTR link, the received NSTR link information of the direct connection responder indicates that the direct connection responder has an NSTR link, and the NSTR link of the direct connection initiator is different from the link indicated by the NSTR link information of the direct connection responder, the direct connection link is requested to be established on the NSTR link of the direct connection initiator and the link indicated by the NSTR link information of the direct connection responder.

In one possible implementation, the NSTR link information includes an indication of whether there is an NSTR link, and when there is an NSTR link, the NSTR link information further includes information indicating which links are NSTR links.

In one possible implementation manner, the direct link discovery response message includes a multi-link information element, the multi-link information element includes NSTR link information, and the NSTR link information of the multi-link information element in the direct link discovery response message is set to be NSTR link information of the direct link responder.

In one possible implementation manner, the direct link establishment request message includes a multilink information element, where the multilink information element includes information of one or more logical entities, and the information of the logical entity of the multilink information element in the direct link establishment request message is set as information of the logical entity requesting to establish the direct link in the direct link initiator.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

the direct connection initiator sends a direct connection link establishment confirmation message to the direct connection responder;

the direct-connect initiator and direct-connect responder directly transmit and receive data over the direct-connect link through any one of the following:

The data sender aligns the data sending start time in a plurality of direct links and synchronously sends data;

the data sender sends RTS information on each direct link, wherein the RTS information comprises time parameters, the values of the time parameters are set to be the time required for sending data, the time required for sending CTS information, the time required for sending ACK information and three short inter-frame space time; after receiving the RTS message, the data receiver sends a CTS message to the data sender; the data sender sends an ACK message to the data receiver after receiving the CTS message, and sends data to the data receiver after waiting for a short inter-frame interval time;

if the data sender has NSTR links, the data sender aligns the data sending start time at a plurality of direct links and synchronously sends the data; if the data sender does not have an NSTR link and the data receiver has an NSTR link, the data sender aligns the data sending ending time at a plurality of direct links and keeps the data packet sending ending synchronization.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

the method comprises the steps that a direct connection initiator and a direct connection responder send connection request information to the access equipment, wherein the connection request information comprises a multi-link information element, the multi-link information element comprises information of one or more logic entities, and the information of the logic entities comprises NSTR link information;

And the direct connection initiator and the direct connection responder receive a connection response message sent by the access equipment, wherein the connection response message indicates whether to accept a connection request and comprises a multilink information element.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal, including:

the communication module I is used for sending a direct link discovery request message to a direct link responder through a direct link initiator, wherein the direct link initiator, the access equipment and the direct link responder are all multi-link equipment, and the direct link initiator and the direct link responder are both in communication connection with the access equipment;

the second communication module is used for receiving a direct link discovery response message from the direct link responder through the direct link initiator, wherein the direct link discovery response message comprises NSTR link information of the direct link responder;

a third communication module, configured to send a direct link establishment request message to a direct link responder through a direct link initiator, where the direct link establishment request message indicates a link that requests to establish a direct link, and the link that requests to establish the direct link is determined by the direct link initiator according to NSTR link information of the direct link initiator and received NSTR link information of the direct link responder;

And the communication module IV is used for receiving a direct link establishment response message from the direct link responder through the direct link initiator, wherein the direct link establishment response message indicates whether to accept establishment of the direct link.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

a fifth communication module, configured to send a direct link establishment confirmation message to the direct link responder through the direct link initiator;

a communication module six for directly transmitting and receiving data over the direct link by the direct-connect initiator and the direct-connect responder through any one of:

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

a communication module seven, configured to send a connection request message to the access device through a direct connection initiator and a direct connection responder, where the connection request message includes a multilink information element, the multilink information element includes information of one or more logical entities, and the information of the logical entities includes NSTR link information;

and the communication module eight is used for receiving a connection response message sent by the access equipment through the direct connection initiator and the direct connection responder, wherein the connection response message indicates whether to accept a connection request and comprises a multilink information element.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for establishing a direct link of a multi-link terminal, including a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory, where the processor executes the computer program to implement the steps of the method in the first aspect or a possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method of the first aspect or in a possible implementation of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method of the first aspect or in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

It should be noted that, the apparatus according to the second aspect, the device according to the third aspect, the storage medium according to the fourth aspect, and the computer program product according to the fifth aspect are configured to execute the method provided in the first aspect, so that the same beneficial effects as those of the method in the first aspect can be achieved, and embodiments of the present application are not repeated here.

According to the embodiment of the application, through the unified discovery and establishment process and the auxiliary control of the access equipment, how to establish the direct link is coordinated among the multi-link terminals, so that the data loss caused by inter-link interference is avoided, and the use efficiency of wireless resources is effectively improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a method for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic device structure diagram of a multi-link terminal for establishing a direct link according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand the technical solutions in the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, not all embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the present application. While the disclosure has been presented in terms of an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it should be appreciated that the various aspects of the disclosure can be individually identified as a complete set of aspects. The following embodiments and features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that elements or items preceding the word are included in the element or item listed after the word and equivalents thereof, but does not exclude other elements or items. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one of a, b or c may represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, wherein a, b and c may be single or plural. In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first," "second," etc. are used to distinguish identical items or similar items having substantially the same function and effect, and those skilled in the art will understand that the words "first," "second," etc. do not limit the number and execution order, but merely serve to illustrate and distinguish between the objects to be described, and do not indicate any limitation on the number of devices in the embodiments of the present application.

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

It should be noted that the multi-link device includes a plurality of logic entities, each logic entity performs data transmission through a link, and each logic entity includes an independent data transceiver module. The single-link device has only one logical entity and only one MAC address, while the multi-link device has one MAC address for each logical entity affiliated to the multi-link device, e.g., a multi-link device operates with three logical entities, then there are four MAC addresses on this physical device, one for the multi-link device and one for each of the three logical entities.

In this embodiment of the present application, the access device may be an Access Point (AP), a router, or other devices, and in this embodiment of the present application, the access point is illustrated as an example, and a logical entity affiliated to a multi-link terminal is referred to as a logical terminal, and a logical entity affiliated to the multi-link access point is referred to as a logical access point. The multi-link terminal Non-AP MLD1 is an initiator for establishing a direct link, namely a direct link initiator, the multi-link terminal Non-AP MLD2 is a responder for establishing a direct link, namely a direct link responder, and both the Non-AP MLD1 and the Non-AP MLD2 are in communication connection with the multi-link access equipment AP MLD 1. Assume that the multi-Link terminal Non-AP MLD1 has three logical entities STA1, STA2 and STA3, the multi-Link terminal Non-AP MLD2 has three logical entities STA4, STA5 and STA6, the multi-Link access device AP MLD1 has three logical entities AP1, AP2 and AP3, AP1 in the AP MLD1 operates on a Link with a Link identification of Link1, AP2 operates on a Link with a Link identification of Link2, and AP3 operates on a Link with a Link identification of Link 3. It should be noted that the Non-AP MLD1, the Non-AP MLD2, and the AP MLD1 may further include more or fewer logic entities, such as two logic entities or four logic entities, and the number of logic entities included in the three may be the same or different.

Currently, a terminal may request connection to an access point by sending a message such as a connection request to the access point, and an exemplary method for connecting the Non-AP MLD1 and the Non-AP MLD2 to the AP MLD1 includes the steps of:

s1001.non-AP MLD1 sends a connection request message (e.g., association request message) to AP MLD1. The transmission mode may be that the logical entity affiliated to the Non-AP MLD1 transmits the message to the logical entity affiliated to the AP MLD1, for example, when the STA1, the STA2 and the STA3 are required to establish the connection on the Link1, the Link2 and the Link3 respectively, the message may be transmitted Association request to the AP1 by the STA1, the message may be transmitted Association request to the AP2 by the STA2, or the message may be transmitted Association request to the AP3 by the STA 3.

The connection request message includes a Multi-link element, where the Multi-link element includes information of one or more logical entities, and the information of the logical entities may include NSTR link information. Illustratively, a Multi-link element contains the parameters shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Parameters (parameters)	Description of the invention
		Multi-link control	Multilink information control parameters
Common info	Multilink public information
		Link info	Information requesting established links

Wherein the Multi-link control parameters include parameters shown in table 2; the Common info parameter includes the parameters shown in Table 3; the Link info parameter contains the parameters shown in table 4.

TABLE 2

TABLE 3 Table 3

TABLE 4 Table 4

The STA1 profile, STA2 profile and STA3 profile contain the same parameters, and the STA1 profile is shown in table 5, for example.

TABLE 5

The parameter STA control contains the parameters shown in table 6.

TABLE 6

When the NSTR link pair present parameter in the STA control parameter is set to 1, the STA info includes a parameter NSTR indication, which is used to set the NSTR link indication information, and specific setting manners include, but are not limited to, the following manners:

mode 1): directly setting the Link ID in the STA control to indicate that the links are the identifications of the links of NSTR Link pairs, for example, setting the Link ID to be Link2;

mode 2): by setting the value of the bit, for example, if the present application has 3 links, the present parameter includes 3 bits, each bit represents a Link, for example, link2 and Link1 are NSTR Link pairs, and the bit corresponding to Link2 is set to 1; link3 and Link1 are not NSTR Link pairs, and then the bit corresponding to Link3 is set to 0.

S1002.non-AP MLD1 receives a connection response message (e.g. Association response message) sent by AP MLD1, where the connection response message indicates whether to accept the connection request, and includes a Multi-link element.

Specifically, if the connection response message indicates that the connection request is accepted, determining a Multi-Link connection state according to the Multi-Link element contained therein, for example, determining that connection is established on all three links if the Multi-Link element contains information on Link1, link2, and Link3, and determining that connection is established on Link1 and Link2 if the Multi-Link element contains information on Link1 and Link2 without information on Link 3; otherwise, determining that the establishment of the multi-link connection fails. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the connection is successfully established on all three links.

S1003.Non-AP MLD2 establishes a multilink connection in the same manner as AP MLD1 through steps S1001-S1002.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a method for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the method for establishing a direct link by a multi-link terminal includes the following steps:

s101.Non-AP MLD1 sends a direct link discovery request message (e.g., TDLS discovery request message) to Non-AP MLD2 via AP MLD 1. The direct Link discovery request message may include a parameter Link Identifier for setting direct Link information. Illustratively, link Identifier contains the parameters shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7

Specifically, the Non-AP MLD1 may transmit a direct link discovery request message to the corresponding AP1 (or AP2 or AP 3) through a logical entity STA1 (or STA2 or STA 3) affiliated to any one of the Non-AP MLD1 that has established a connection. After receiving the direct link discovery request message, the AP MLD1 sends the direct link discovery request message to the Non-AP MLD2, where the AP MLD1 may send the direct link discovery request message to the Non-AP MLD2 on a link that receives the direct link discovery request message, or may send the corresponding logical terminal of the Non-AP MLD2 on any link that is connected to the Non-AP MLD2 through a logical access point operating on the link.

S102, after receiving the direct link discovery request message, the Non-AP MLD2 sends a direct link discovery response message (such as TDLS discovery response message) to the Non-AP MLD1, wherein the direct link discovery response message comprises NSTR link information of a direct link responder. Where the NSTR link information of the direct-connect respondent may indicate the NSTR links of the direct-connect respondent, in some embodiments, the NSTR link information may include an indication of whether there is an NSTR link, and when an NSTR link is indicated, the NSTR link information may also include information indicating which links are NSTR links.

It should be noted that, the Non-AP MLD2 may directly send the direct link discovery request message to the Non-AP MLD1, or may send the direct link discovery request message to the Non-AP MLD1 through the AP MLD1, and the Non-AP MLD2 may send the direct link discovery response message to the Non-AP MLD1 on the link that receives the direct link discovery request message.

Illustratively, the parameters shown in table 8 are included in the direct link discovery response message.

TABLE 8

After receiving the direct link discovery response message, the Non-AP MLD1 sends a direct link establishment request message (such as TDLS setup request message) to the Non-AP MLD2 through the AP MLD1, where the direct link establishment request message indicates a link requesting to establish a direct link, and the link requesting to establish the direct link is determined by the Non-AP MLD1 according to the NSTR link information of the Non-AP MLD1 and the received NSTR link information of the Non-AP MLD2. The direct link establishment request message is sent by the Non-AP MLD1 to the AP MLD1 and then sent by the AP MLD1 to the Non-AP MLD2 in the same way as the direct link discovery request message.

Wherein, the link requesting to establish the direct link is determined by the Non-AP MLD1 according to the NSTR link information of the link-AP MLD1 and the received NSTR link information of the Non-AP MLD2, and the link comprises at least one of the following:

1) If Non-AP MLD1 has NSTR link and Non-AP MLD2 does not have NSTR link, then request to establish a direct link on NSTR link of Non-AP MLD1, such as indicating to establish a direct link on NSTR link of Non-AP MLD1 in a direct link establishment request message, i.e. establishing a multi-link direct link.

For example, the direct Link establishment request message may include a Multi-Link element, and the Multi-Link element includes NSTR Link information of the Non-AP MLD1, for example, the NSTR Link pair of the Non-AP MLD1 is { Link1, link2}, and then the Link info of the Multi-Link element includes STA1 profile and STA2 profile.

2) If the Non-AP MLD1 has no NSTR link, the received NSTR link information of the Non-AP MLD2 indicates that the Non-AP MLD2 has an NSTR link, then a direct link is requested to be established on the link indicated by the NSTR link information of the Non-AP MLD2, such as a direct link establishment request message indicating that a direct link is established on the link indicated by the NSTR link information of the Non-AP MLD 2.

3) If Non-AP MLD1 does not have NSTR link, the received NSTR link information of Non-AP MLD2 indicates that Non-AP MLD2 does not have NSTR link, then it may be requested to establish a single-link direct link on one of the links establishing connection with AP MLD1, or it may be requested to establish a Multi-link direct link on all the links establishing connection with AP MLD1, for example, a Multi-link element may or may not be included in the direct link establishment request message.

4) If Non-AP MLD1 has an NSTR link, the received NSTR link information for Non-AP MLD2 indicates that Non-AP MLD2 has a link and their NSTR links are the same, then a direct link is requested to be established on the NSTR link of Non-AP MLD1, such as in a direct link establishment request message indicating that a direct link is established on the NSTR link of Non-AP MLD 1.

5) If Non-AP MLD1 has NSTR links, the received NSTR Link information of Non-AP MLD2 indicates that Non-AP MLD2 has links, and their NSTR links are different, then a direct Link is requested to be established on the Link indicated by the NSTR Link information of Non-AP MLD1 and the NSTR Link information of Non-AP MLD2, such as on the Link indicated by the NSTR Link information of Non-AP MLD1 and the NSTR Link information of Non-AP MLD2 in a direct Link establishment request message, for example, the NSTR Link pair of Non-AP MLD1 is { Link 1, link 2}, and the NSTR Link pair of Non-AP MLD2 is { Link 2, link 3}, then information of Link 1, link 2 and Link 3, i.e., STA1 profile, STA2 profile and 3 profile are contained in Multi-Link element of the direct Link establishment request message.

S104, after receiving the direct link establishment request message, the Non-AP MLD2 sends a direct link establishment response message (such as TDLS setup response message) to the Non-AP MLD1, and the direct link establishment response message indicates whether to accept establishment of the direct link. Similarly, the Non-AP MLD2 can directly send the direct link establishment response message to the Non-AP MLD1, or can send the direct link establishment response message to the Non-AP MLD1 through the AP MLD1, namely, the direct link establishment response message is firstly sent to the AP MLD1 by the Non-AP MLD2 and then sent to the Non-AP MLD1 by the AP MLD1.

S105, after receiving the direct link establishment response message, the Non-AP MLD1 sends a direct link establishment confirmation message (such as TDLS setup confirm message) to the Non-AP MLD2 through the AP MLD1 if the direct link establishment response message indicates that the establishment of the direct link is accepted.

S106.Non-AP MLD1 and Non-AP MLD2 send and receive data directly on the direct link without forwarding through AP MLD1, including but not limited to any of the following:

1) When either one of the Non-AP MLD1 and the Non-AP MLD2 needs to transmit data, the data is synchronously transmitted by aligning the data transmission start time with the data transmission start time of the plurality of direct links.

2) When either of Non-AP MLD1 and Non-AP MLD2 needs to send data, sending an RTS message (ready to send message) on each direct link, where the RTS message includes a duration parameter, where the value of the duration parameter is equal to the time T1 required to send the data, the time required to send a CTS (ready to receive) message, the time required to send an ACK message, and 3×sifs (short interframe space); after receiving the RTS message, the data receiver sends a CTS message to the data sender; the data transmitter transmits an ACK message to the data receiver after receiving the CTS message, and transmits data to the data receiver after waiting for SIFS time.

3) If the Non-AP MLD1 or the Non-AP MLD2 has NSTR links, when data transmission is needed, aligning the data transmission start time of a plurality of direct links, and synchronously transmitting the data; if Non-AP MLD1 or Non-AP MLD2 does not have NSTR link, but the peer terminal equipment connected with the Non-AP MLD1 or the Non-AP MLD2 has NSTR link, when data transmission is needed, the data transmission start time is not aligned, but the data transmission end time on the NSTR link is needed to be aligned, and the synchronization of the data packet transmission end is kept.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the apparatus 200 includes a first communication module 201, a second communication module 202, a third communication module 203, and a fourth communication module 204, wherein,

the first communication module 201 is configured to send a direct link discovery request message to a direct link responder through a direct link initiator, where the direct link initiator, the access device, and the direct link responder are all multi-link devices, and the direct link initiator and the direct link responder are both in communication connection with the access device;

the second communication module 202 is configured to receive, by a direct-connection initiator, a direct-connection link discovery response message from the direct-connection responder, where the direct-connection link discovery response message includes NSTR link information of the direct-connection responder;

The third communication module 203 is configured to send a direct link establishment request message to a direct link responder through a direct link initiator, where the direct link establishment request message indicates a link that requests to establish a direct link, and the link that requests to establish the direct link is determined by the direct link initiator according to NSTR link information of the direct link initiator and the received NSTR link information of the direct link responder;

the fourth communication module 204 is configured to receive, by a direct connection initiator, a direct connection link establishment response message from the direct connection responder, where the direct connection link establishment response message indicates whether to accept establishment of a direct connection link.

Optionally, the apparatus 200 further comprises:

It should be appreciated that the apparatus 200 herein is embodied in the form of functional modules. The term module herein may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor, etc.) 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 above-described apparatus 200 has a function of implementing the corresponding steps in the above-described 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 the embodiments of the present application, the apparatus 200 may also be a chip or a chip system, for example: system on chip (SoC). The present application is not limited herein.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device for establishing the direct link of the multi-link terminal, and fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the device for establishing the direct link of the multi-link terminal provided by the embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 3, 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 are in communication with each other via a bus 304, and instructions executable by the processor 301 are stored in the memory 302, and are loaded and executed by the processor 301 to control the communication interface 303 to send signals and/or receive signals.

It should be understood that the apparatus 300 may be specifically the Non-AP MLD1 or the Non-AP MLD2 in the above embodiments, or the functions of the Non-AP MLD1 and/or the Non-AP MLD2 in the above embodiments may be integrated in the apparatus 300, and the apparatus 300 may be used to perform the respective steps and/or flows corresponding to the Non-AP MLD1 and/or the Non-AP MLD2 in the above embodiments. Alternatively, the memory 302 may include read-only memory and random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor 301. A portion of memory 302 may also include non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory 302 may also store information of the device type. The processor 301 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 301, and when the processor 301 executes the instructions, the processor 301 may perform corresponding steps and/or flows in the above-described method embodiments.

It should be appreciated that in embodiments of the present application, the processor 301 may be a central processing unit (centralprocessing unit, CPU), which 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 application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor for execution. The software modules may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. as well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor executes instructions in the memory to perform the steps of the method described above in conjunction with its hardware. To avoid repetition, a detailed description is not provided herein.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination. 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. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are all or partially produced. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, 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 computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may 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 sets 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 application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative 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 solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the apparatus, device and module described above may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

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

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a direct link by a multi-link terminal, comprising:

2. The method for establishing a direct link by a multi-link terminal according to claim 1, wherein the link for requesting to establish a direct link is determined by the direct link initiator according to the NSTR link information of the direct link initiator and the received NSTR link information of the direct link responder, and comprises at least one of the following steps:

3. The method for establishing a direct link for a multi-link terminal according to claim 1, wherein the NSTR link information includes an indication of whether there is an NSTR link, and when there is an NSTR link, the NSTR link information further includes information indicating which links are NSTR links.

4. The method for establishing a direct link of a multi-link terminal according to claim 1, wherein the direct link discovery response message includes a multi-link information element, the multi-link information element includes NSTR link information, and the NSTR link information of the multi-link information element in the direct link discovery response message is set as NSTR link information of a direct link responder.

5. The method for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal according to claim 1, wherein the direct link establishment request message includes a multi-link information element, the multi-link information element includes information of one or more logical entities, and the information of the logical entity of the multi-link information element in the direct link establishment request message is set as information of the logical entity requesting to establish the direct link in the direct link initiator.

6. The method for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

7. The method for establishing a direct link by using a multi-link terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

8. An apparatus for establishing a direct link by a multi-link terminal, comprising:

9. The apparatus for establishing a direct link of a multi-link terminal according to claim 8, wherein the link for requesting to establish a direct link is determined by the direct link initiator according to the NSTR link information of the direct link initiator and the received NSTR link information of the direct link responder, and comprises at least one of the following:

10. The apparatus for establishing a direct link for a multi-link terminal of claim 8 wherein the NSTR link information includes an indication of whether there is an NSTR link and when an NSTR link is indicated, the NSTR link information further includes information indicating which links are NSTR links.

11. The apparatus for establishing a direct link of a multi-link terminal according to claim 8, wherein the direct link establishment request message includes a multi-link information element, the multi-link information element includes information of one or more logical entities, and the information of the logical entity of the multi-link information element in the direct link establishment request message is set as information of the logical entity requesting to establish the direct link in the direct link initiator.

12. The apparatus for establishing a direct link for a multi-link terminal as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

13. The apparatus for establishing a direct link for a multi-link terminal as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

14. An apparatus for a multi-link terminal to establish a direct link comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory, characterized in that the processor executes the computer program to carry out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-7.

15. A computer readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, characterized in that the computer program, when being executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method according to any of claims 1-7.