CN116546593A

CN116546593A - Detection method, client, network equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116546593A
Application number: CN202310686049.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张润丰; 姚梦婷
Original assignee: TP Link Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: TP Link Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-06-09
Filing date: 2023-06-09
Publication date: 2023-08-04

Abstract

The application discloses a detection method, a client, a network device and a computer readable storage medium. The detection method applied to the client comprises the following steps: generating a first detection request carrying response condition parameters, wherein the response condition parameters are used for indicating detection response conditions, and the response condition parameters are dynamically set by the client; and broadcasting the first detection request, and determining the wireless access point meeting the response condition parameters in the environment. According to the scheme, the detection reply of the wireless access point can be flexibly controlled under different application scenes, and the air interface resource of the wireless channel can be saved.

Description

Detection method, client, network equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of wireless communication, and particularly relates to a detection method, a client, network equipment and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

In order to quickly find out a front-end wireless Access Point (AP), a Client (Client) usually scans by using a Probe active detection method, and the process specifically includes: the method comprises the steps that a client broadcasts and sends a Probe Request message on a full channel, and after receiving the Probe Request message, APs around the client unicast and reply a Probe Response message to the client on respective working channels.

In the case where there are a plurality of APs in the environment, the plurality of APs perform probe replies simultaneously. However, in case the quality of the different APs is poor, the client typically only wants to associate with the better AP, which results in that the probe reply of the worse AP is not meaningful, which is actually a waste of air interface resources of the wireless channel. To avoid this problem, each AP end may preset a probe response condition. Thus, the AP can determine whether to perform the probe recovery by determining whether the probe response condition is satisfied. However, this approach has insufficient flexibility, and may have a problem of functional failure in both the application scenario of strong signals and weak signals.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a detection method, a client, network equipment and a computer readable storage medium, which are used for flexibly controlling detection replies of wireless access points under different application scenes and helping to save air interface resources of wireless channels.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a probing method, applied to a client, where the probing method includes:

generating a first detection request carrying response condition parameters, wherein the response condition parameters are used for indicating detection response conditions, and the response condition parameters are dynamically set by a client;

And broadcasting a first detection request, and determining the wireless access points meeting detection response conditions in the environment.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a probing method applied to a network device, where the network device has a wireless access point function, the probing method includes:

receiving and analyzing a detection request sent by a client;

under the condition that the response condition parameters are obtained by analyzing the detection request, judging whether the network equipment meets the detection response conditions indicated by the response condition parameters;

and replying the detection response to the client in the case that the network equipment meets the detection response condition.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a client, the client comprising:

the generating module is used for generating a first detection request carrying response condition parameters, wherein the response condition parameters are used for indicating detection response conditions, and the response condition parameters are dynamically set by the client;

and the detection module is used for broadcasting a first detection request and determining a wireless access point meeting detection response conditions in the environment.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a network device having a radio access point function, the network device comprising:

The receiving module is used for receiving and analyzing the detection request sent by the client;

the judging module is used for judging whether the network equipment meets the detection response condition indicated by the response condition parameter under the condition that the detection request is analyzed to obtain the response condition parameter;

and the reply module is used for replying the detection response to the client under the condition that the network equipment meets the detection response condition.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method of the first or second aspect as described above.

Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects that this application exists are: the application improves the detection flow of the client. Specifically, the probe request broadcasted by the client side carries response condition parameters dynamically set by the client side, and the response condition parameters indicate corresponding probe response conditions; in this way, after receiving the probe request, the wireless access point in the environment can determine whether to reply to the client according to the probe response condition indicated by the probe request, thereby enabling the client to detect the wireless access point in the environment meeting the probe response condition. Because the response condition parameters are dynamically set by the client, the scheme can be flexibly adapted to different application scenes of the client, and flexible control of detection reply of the wireless access point under different application scenes is realized, so that the method helps to save air interface resources of a wireless channel.

It will be appreciated that the advantages of the second to fifth aspects may be found in the relevant description of the first aspect, and are not described here again.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following description will briefly introduce the drawings that are needed in the embodiments or the description of the prior art, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and that other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a prior art Probe active by a client;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a prior art optimization scheme in a strong signal application scenario;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a prior art optimization scheme in a weak signal application scenario;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a probing method applied to a client according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a structural example diagram of Vendor Specific IE provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is an exemplary diagram of a detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application in a strong signal application scenario;

fig. 7 is an exemplary diagram of a detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application in a weak signal application scenario;

Fig. 8 is an exemplary diagram of a detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application in a roaming application scenario;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary diagram of a scenario in which an initial intensity is valued according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a probing method applied to a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a comparison of the effects of the detection method provided in the embodiment of the present application and the prior art;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a client provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular system configurations, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present application. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present application may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present application with unnecessary detail.

In order to quickly discover the AP at the front end, the client usually scans by using Probe active probing. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 shows an example of active probing performed by a client in the prior art, and the process specifically includes: the client broadcasts and sends a detection Request, namely a Probe Request message, on a full channel; after receiving the Probe request, the surrounding APs reply Probe responses, i.e. Probe Response messages, to the client on the respective working channels.

The Probe active detection has the following problems:

the client obtains the surrounding AP situation by scanning, which was previously unpredictable, and therefore will send the probe request in broadcast form. To improve reliability, clients may broadcast transmissions multiple times on one channel. Accordingly, all APs that receive this probe request will reply to the client. It is conceivable that if there are multiple clients that perform scanning Probe at the same time, the multiple clients will perform broadcast transmission of Probe requests multiple times in a short time, and each AP in the environment will reply to each Probe request of each client correspondingly, which will cause a large number of Probe messages to be filled on the wireless air interface. Because the Probe frame belongs to the management frame, the Probe frame can be sent at a lower packet sending rate, and finally, the air interface resource of the wireless channel can be occupied by a large number of low-speed management frames, so that the normal association and data communication of the client are influenced, and even the scanning success rate of the Probe detection is influenced. Particularly in a wireless network environment where a hidden node exists, an AP cannot know whether other APs hidden at a far distance are also performing a Probe reply at the same time when replying to a Probe request, which may cause contention and interference, and a large number of Probe Response messages exacerbate the hidden node problem.

In order to solve the above problems, an optimization scheme is currently provided, which specifically comprises the following steps: and presetting a detection response condition at the AP end. For example, the probe response condition preset by the AP side may be: when the signal strength of the detection request is greater than or equal to a preset signal strength threshold, the AP can perform detection reply; in this way, after receiving the probe request, the AP may compare the signal strength of the probe request with the signal strength threshold, thereby determining whether to perform a probe reply. It can be understood that the optimization scheme realizes the limiting and replying function, and compared with the original Probe active detection flow, the number of Probe Response messages can be reduced to a certain extent.

However, the above optimization scheme also has a certain disadvantage of insufficient flexibility, and may have a problem of functional failure in the application scenario of strong signals and weak signals, which is briefly described as follows:

referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 shows an example of a conventional optimization scheme in a strong signal application scenario. As shown in fig. 2, when the client is located at a position closer to each AP, the signal strength of the probe request sent by the client and received by each AP is stronger, and may be higher than a preset signal strength threshold, so that each AP performs probe reply, and the limiting reply function is disabled.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 shows an example of the existing optimization scheme in the application scenario of weak signals. As shown in fig. 3, when the client is located far from each AP, the signal strength of the probe request sent by the client and received by each AP is weaker, and may be lower than a preset signal strength threshold, so that each AP does not perform probe reply, and the limiting reply function is disabled, and the normal association of the client may be affected.

Based on the above consideration, the embodiment of the application provides a detection method, and the detection response condition is dynamically set by the client to realize flexible detection suitable for the environment where the client is located. Because the response condition parameters in the detection response conditions are dynamically set by the client, the detection process can flexibly adapt to different application scenes of the client, and helps to save air interface resources of a wireless channel.

In order to illustrate the technical solutions proposed in the embodiments of the present application, the following description is made by specific embodiments.

A detection method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described below, where the detection method is applied to a client. By way of example only, the client may be a device such as a smart phone or tablet computer that requires access to the AP, and is not limited herein. Referring to fig. 4, the detection method provided in the embodiment of the present application includes:

Step 401, a first probe request carrying a response condition parameter is generated.

The client may initiate its limit reply function in response to a user instruction. In the case where the client turns on the limit reply function, the client may generate a special probe request when probing is required. Unlike prior art probe requests, the special probe request carries a response condition parameter, wherein the response condition parameter is used for indicating the probe response condition, and the response condition parameter is dynamically set by the client. For ease of distinction, this particular probe request is denoted as the first probe request.

In particular, the data type of the response condition parameter may be set from different dimensions based on different association requirements of the client. For example only, a client may wish for individual APs to selectively reply in the following application scenario: when the current association state of the client is poor, the client hopes to roam to an AP with stronger signals; or, the client hopes that the working channel of the associated AP has smaller interference; alternatively, the client may wish to be able to associate to an AP or the like having high capabilities and high specifications. Based on the above different application scenarios, the client may consider setting the data type of the response condition parameter from the signal strength dimension, the interference dimension, or the capability set dimension; wherein, in the signal strength dimension, the response condition parameter can be set as a signal strength threshold or an AP transmit signal power threshold, etc.; in the interference dimension, the response condition parameter can be set as a channel utilization threshold or a load threshold, etc.; in the capability set dimension, the response condition parameter may be a supported protocol mode, a supported bandwidth or a spatial stream, and the like.

It will be appreciated that the response condition parameter correspondence indicates a probe response condition. In the case that the response condition parameter is a signal strength threshold, the detection response condition of the corresponding indication is: the signal strength is greater than or equal to the signal strength threshold; in the case that the response condition parameter is the AP transmit signal power threshold, the probe response condition of the corresponding indication is: the AP transmission signal power is greater than or equal to the AP transmission signal power threshold; in the case that the response condition parameter is the channel utilization threshold, the detection response condition of the corresponding indication is: the channel utilization is less than or equal to the channel utilization threshold; in the case that the response condition parameter is a load threshold, the detection response condition of the corresponding indication is: the load is less than or equal to the load threshold; the detection response conditions indicated by the corresponding response condition parameters are not repeated.

It can be appreciated that different clients can set specific data types of response condition parameters according to their own needs, so as to meet the personalized needs of the different clients.

Specifically, the first Probe request is actually a Probe request frame. Compared with the prior art, the Probe detection request frame is added with a field Vendor IE (Information Element), so that the AP which receives the Probe detection request frame can be indicated to carry out special judgment on the Probe detection request frame; that is, the first probe request may carry a response condition parameter through the newly added field.

The format and content of the Vendor IE are typically predefined in a wireless protocol (e.g., 802.11 protocol). In general, the Vendor IE includes: an Element ID of 1 byte, a Length of 1 byte, and a Vendor Data (also called Vendor Value) of a variable Length. It is understood that different vender IEs carry different message information, and that one radio frame may include a plurality of different vender IEs.

By way of example only, the newly added field vender IE in the embodiments of the present application is specifically Vendor Specific IE. In wireless protocols, the Vendor Specific IE can be vendor-customized in content and format and can carry proprietary information; that is, a private field may be considered to be added. Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 shows an example of the structure of the Vendor Specific IE. The structure of the Vendor Specific IE will be described based on fig. 5:

element ID 221, which represents a unique ID of the field type Vendor Specific IE;

length represents the number of bytes in this field;

organization Identifier typically uses 3 bytes of organization unique identifier (Organizationally Unique Identifier, OUI), it being understood that each equipment manufacturer has its own OUI;

The standard formats of Vendor Specific Content include: a 3 byte Protocol (Protocol), a 1 byte Version (Version), and a variable length byte TLV; the standard format of the TLV comprises: a Type of 1 byte (Type), a Length of 1 byte (Length), and a Value of a variable Length byte (Value).

In this embodiment of the present application, under the condition that the restriction reply function is turned on, the data types of the different response condition parameters correspond to different types in the TLV. And, on the premise of limiting the reply function to be turned on, the client may write a response condition parameter (denoted as Response Threshold in fig. 5) into the Value in the TLV; that is, the TLV includes a response condition parameter. Specifically, the number of bytes of the response condition parameter is determined according to the data type of the response condition parameter, for example, in the case where the response condition parameter is a signal strength threshold value, the response condition parameter is specifically 1 byte.

Step 402, broadcasting a first probe request, and determining a wireless access point meeting a probe response condition in the environment.

The client may broadcast the generated first probe request on the full channel. After receiving the first probe request, each AP in the environment where the client is located can determine whether to perform a probe reply according to the response condition parameter carried in the first probe request, which specifically includes: judging whether the response condition parameter meets the detection response condition indicated by the response condition parameter or not, and if so, determining that detection reply can be carried out; conversely, if not, it may be determined that no probe reply is to be made. Under the condition that the AP replies the detection, the client can receive the detection Response replied by the AP, namely a Probe Response message.

Taking the response condition parameter as a signal strength threshold value as an example, as uplink and downlink of the message interaction have symmetry, namely if the signal strength of a detection request received by an AP is lower, the AP replies a detection response to the client, and the signal strength of the detection response received by the client is also lower; the detection response condition indicated by the signal strength threshold value indicates that the AP replies to the detection response only when the signal strength of the received detection request is greater than or equal to the signal strength threshold value, so that the client can detect the AP with the signal strength greater than or equal to the signal strength threshold value in the environment.

In some embodiments, the client may set the response condition parameter before generating the first probe request, and the process may include:

a1, determining whether an associated access point exists.

The client may first detect whether it has currently accessed any AP in the environment. If a client has currently established an association with any AP, the AP may be determined to be an associated access point, i.e., the current client has an associated access point, regardless of the communication state of the AP with the client.

A2, setting response condition parameters according to the communication state of the associated access point when the associated access point exists.

It will be appreciated that in the case where the client has an associated access point, the client obviously does not want to instead establish an association with other worse APs; that is, the purpose of the probe scan performed by the client at this time is generally: an AP is found that is better than the current associated access point. Based on this, in the case where there is an associated access point, the client may consider that the response condition parameter is to be set according to the communication state with the associated access point. In this way, if there is a subsequent probe response returned to the client by an AP other than the associated access point, the performance of the other AP is typically not weaker than the performance of the associated access point.

Taking the response condition parameter as an example of the signal strength threshold, referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 shows an example of the application scheme in a strong signal application scenario. As can be seen from fig. 6, since the client has been associated with AP2, the client may determine the current AP signal strength as the signal strength threshold, thereby generating a probe request for scanning probe. Since the client is closer to each AP, the signal strength of the probe request received by each AP is stronger, but only the signal strength of the AP3 nearest to the client is higher than the signal strength threshold, so that only the AP3 will perform probe reply except the AP 2.

Taking the response condition parameter as an example of the signal strength threshold, please refer to fig. 7, and fig. 7 shows an example of the application scheme in a weak signal application scenario. As can be seen from fig. 7, since the client has been associated with the AP2, the client can determine the current AP signal strength as the signal strength threshold, thereby generating a probe request for scanning probe. It is apparent that the signal strength threshold in this application scenario is lower than the signal strength threshold in the application scenario shown in fig. 6. The signal intensity of the probe request received by each AP is weaker because the distance between the client and each AP is longer, but the signal intensity of the AP1 is still higher than the signal intensity threshold set by the client in the application scene because the AP1 is nearest to the client, so that only the AP1 can perform probe reply except the AP 2.

In some embodiments, it is possible for a user to move a handheld client within an environment. As a user moves, their clients may get farther and farther from the associated access point, resulting in a decrease in signal strength of the associated access point as the distance increases, such that the quality of communication of the clients with the associated access point is affected. Based on this, in the case where the response condition parameter is a signal strength threshold, step 401 may be embodied as:

And under the condition that the associated access point exists, if the signal strength of the associated access point is lower than a preset roaming threshold value, generating a first detection request carrying the signal strength threshold value.

It will be appreciated that when a client has associated an AP, the purpose of the probe scan is to find an AP that is better than the current associated access point for association. Based on this, the roaming threshold has the effect of: when the signal strength of the associated access point is below the roaming threshold, i.e., the associated access point is considered to be poor, the client may attempt to find a better AP by scanning for probes.

The value of the roaming threshold may be related to the deployment density of APs in the environment, and may be determined based on the signal strength of the location in the environment where roaming is desired to be triggered. By way of example only, it may be considered that in a pre-test phase, the signal strength of the midpoint of two APs in the environment is set to the roaming threshold, so that the client can better perform roaming engagement when moving between APs, and the networking quality in the moving process of the client is ensured.

Taking the response condition parameter as an example of the signal strength threshold, referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 shows an example of the present application in a roaming application scenario. Initially, the client associates with AP1, whereby the signal strength of AP1 may be considered to be set to the signal strength threshold. Since the initial client is far from the AP2, it is conceivable that if the client performs scanning probe at the initial location, the signal strength of the probe request received by the AP2 is necessarily smaller than the signal strength threshold, that is, the AP2 will not reply to the client with a probe response at this time. In the process that the client moves away from the AP1 and towards the AP2, the signal strength of the AP1 gradually becomes smaller, and finally the client triggers roaming scanning due to the fact that the signal strength of the AP1 is lower than the roaming threshold. To find an AP that is better than the current AP1 signal through this scanning process, the client still generates and broadcasts a probe request with the signal strength of AP1 as the signal strength threshold. At this time, since the AP2 is closer to the client, the signal strength of the probe request received by the AP2 is greater than the signal strength threshold at this time, and thus both the AP1 and the AP2 will perform the probe reply. In this way, the objective of finding a better AP is achieved for the client. The client may select AP2 to associate (because the signal strength of AP2 is higher) according to the normal procedure, thereby starting roaming. It will be appreciated that in this process, if there is a further AP3 (not shown in fig. 8) at a distance, the AP3 will not perform a probe reply since it is farther from the beginning to the end, thus reducing the unwanted replies from the weaker AP.

Of course, in the case where there is an associated access point, if the link quality of the associated access point is poor, for example, the packet loss rate of the associated access point is higher than the packet loss rate threshold, the rate is lower than the rate threshold, and/or an anomaly occurs, the client may also trigger the roaming scan, generate the first probe request carrying the signal strength threshold, and perform the subsequent related steps, which are not limited herein.

In some embodiments, if there is no associated access point currently, the client cannot determine the signal strength threshold from the signal strength of the associated access point. Based on this, the process of the client determining the signal strength threshold may further include:

and setting a signal strength threshold according to a preset initial strength in the case that no associated access point exists.

It will be appreciated that when the client does not associate with any AP, the purpose of the probe scan is to find the AP with the best signal strength for association in the current wireless network environment. Based on this, the client should set a more appropriate signal strength as the signal strength threshold, where the more appropriate signal strength is the initial strength.

The value of the initial strength can be determined according to the network topology in the environment. Under a simple topology of only two APs in the environment, the initial strength may be determined from the signal strength of the overlapping region of the signal coverage of the two APs. By way of example only, in the case where the network topology in the environment is predictable and relatively stable, assuming that the APs are evenly distributed in the environment, as shown in fig. 9, the signal strength at the juncture of the signal coverage of two APs is rssi0, then there can be reasonably inferred: for most clients in the environment (e.g., client 1 through client 3 shown in fig. 9), the signal strength of at least one AP is equal to or greater than rsi 0, and the client may thus receive at least one AP's probe response; that is, the client can scan at any position in the environment for at least one AP with signal strength greater than or equal to rssi0 and for several other APs with signal strength less than rssi 0. Based on this, in the case where there is no associated access point, i.e. the client does not establish an association with any AP, the client may set the rssi0 (i.e. the signal strength at the junction of the signal coverage of two neighboring APs) to the second signal threshold, thereby helping the client to shield the AP from longer distances. Under the complex topological structure that a plurality of APs exist in the environment, the signal intensity is obtained by carrying out specific analysis according to the placement condition of the network topology, and the signal intensity is continuously adjusted through the pre-test, so that the proper initial intensity can be finally obtained.

In an actual scenario, the network topology may be built before the pre-test. In the testing stage corresponding to the pre-test, a tester can acquire and analyze the signal intensity in the environment to obtain a corresponding signal intensity, and then the final initial intensity is obtained through debugging the signal intensity.

In some embodiments, after step 402, the probing method further comprises:

b1, determining whether any wireless access point receives a probe response replied by the wireless access point based on the first probe request.

In a practical application scenario, the response condition parameter set by the client may not be very suitable, for example, the probe response condition indicated by the response condition parameter is too severe. Based on this, the client may first determine, after broadcasting the first probe request, whether or not the AP has replied to the probe response based on the first probe request, that is, whether or not the client receives the probe response replied to by any AP based on the first probe request.

And B2, under the condition that the detection response is not received, adjusting response condition parameters, generating and broadcasting a new first detection request based on the adjusted response condition parameters, and updating the detection times until the detection response is received or the detection times exceed a preset detection times threshold value.

If no probe response is currently received, each AP in the environment does not meet the probe response condition indicated by the response condition parameter set by the current client. This may be caused by unreasonable response condition parameters. Based on this, in this case, the client can adjust the response condition parameter. Wherein the range of the detection response condition indicated by the response condition parameter after adjustment is larger than the range of the detection response condition indicated by the response condition parameter before adjustment; that is, the purpose of adjusting the response condition parameter is to relax the probe response condition.

Specifically, in the case that no probe response is received, according to the association state and link quality of the client, there may be subdivided the following scenarios: if the client is associated with the AP and the link quality is good, the current communication quality can be tolerated, so that the scanning does not need to be detected again; if the client has associated an AP and the link quality is poor, the step B2 can be executed, and the detection scanning is re-performed after the detection response condition is relaxed; if the client is not associated with an AP, in order to enable the client to find an AP capable of being associated as soon as possible, step B2 may be executed, and the probe scanning may be re-performed after the probe response condition is relaxed.

It will be appreciated that the client has performed a scan probe based on the response condition parameters prior to adjustment, and thus the client is required to update the number of probes. After updating the detection times, if the detection times do not exceed the preset detection times threshold, a new round of scanning detection can be performed according to the current latest response condition parameters. The above process is repeated until there is an AP that replies to the client with a probe (i.e., the client received a probe response) or the number of probes has exceeded the probe number threshold.

In some embodiments, the detection method provided in the embodiments of the present application further includes:

and C1, generating a second detection request which does not carry response condition parameters under the condition that the detection times exceeds a detection times threshold value.

If the client is in some more extreme location (e.g., a corner in the environment), it may happen that the client is farther away from each AP, which may result in each AP failing to meet the probe response condition. In such an application scenario, after the client performs detection for several times based on the continuously relaxed detection response condition, no AP still performs detection reply; that is, the client may not be associated with any AP due to the current restriction reply function. Based on this, in the case that the number of detections exceeds the threshold number of detections, the client may actively cancel its limit reply function, generating a detection request that does not carry the response condition parameter. It will be appreciated that this probe request is a probe request without any modification (Vendor Specific IE added). For ease of distinction, this probe request is denoted as second probe request.

And C2, broadcasting a second detection request, and determining the wireless access points which can be associated in the environment.

The client may broadcast the generated second probe request on the full channel. Each AP in the environment where the client is located may perform a probe reply after receiving the second probe request. Thus, the client may detect all APs in the environment that can be associated.

From the above, the embodiment of the application improves the detection flow of the client. Specifically, the probe request broadcasted by the client side carries response condition parameters dynamically set by the client side, and the response condition parameters indicate corresponding probe response conditions; in this way, after receiving the probe request, the wireless access point in the environment can determine whether to reply to the client according to the probe response condition indicated by the probe request, thereby enabling the client to detect the wireless access point in the environment meeting the probe response condition. Because the response condition parameters are dynamically set by the client, the scheme can be flexibly adapted to different application scenes of the client, and flexible control of detection reply of the wireless access point under different application scenes is realized, so that the method helps to save air interface resources of a wireless channel.

The following describes a detection method applied to a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application, where the network device has an AP function. Referring to fig. 10, a detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application includes:

in step 1001, a probe request sent by a client is received and parsed.

When the network device acts as an AP, if a client in the environment broadcasts a probe request on the full channel for scanning probes, the network device may receive the probe request on its operating channel. Considering that the client may not turn on the limited reply function, its probe request may be a normal probe request; the limited reply function may be started, and the probe request may be a special probe request, so the network device may analyze the probe request first, and determine which type of probe request the probe request is based on the specific information carried by the probe request.

In step 1002, in the case of analyzing the probe request to obtain the response condition parameter, it is determined whether the network device satisfies the probe response condition indicated by the response condition parameter.

If the probe request carries a response condition parameter (such as a signal strength threshold or an AP transmit signal power threshold, etc.), the client can be informed to start the limit reply function. In this case, the network device may determine whether or not itself satisfies the probe response condition indicated by the response condition parameter. For example, in the case that the response condition parameter is a signal strength threshold, the signal strength of the probe request may be compared with the signal strength threshold obtained by parsing to determine whether the signal strength of the probe request is greater than or equal to the signal strength threshold.

Specifically, after resolving the probe request, the network device may first check the Element ID, OUI, protocol, version in the probe request and the Type in the TLV to determine whether each value matches each value in the Vendor IE newly added when the client sends the probe request; only if the network device matches, the network device determines according to the probe response condition indicated by the response condition parameter, so as to determine whether the network device needs to reply to the client.

In step 1003, in case the network device satisfies the probe response condition, a probe response is replied to the client.

Under the condition that the network equipment meets the detection Response condition, the network equipment can be considered to meet the association requirement of the client, and the network equipment can reply the detection Response, namely a Probe Response message, to the client through unicast on a working channel of the network equipment; conversely, in the case where the network device does not meet the probe response condition, the probe reply operation of the network device will be limited, that is, the network device will not reply to the client with the probe response.

For example only, if the response condition parameter is a signal strength threshold, the probe response condition of its corresponding indication is: the signal strength is greater than or equal to the signal strength threshold. Because the uplink and the downlink of the message interaction have symmetry, when the signal strength of the detection request is greater than or equal to the signal strength threshold, the network equipment can determine that the detection request meets the detection response condition, namely, the detection response can be replied to the client later; conversely, when the signal strength of the probe request is less than the signal strength threshold, the network device may determine that the probe response condition is not satisfied, that is, the probe response is not subsequently returned to the client.

In some embodiments, as can be seen from the foregoing description of the client, the special probe request actually carries the response condition parameters by adding a private field; based on this, step 1001 may specifically include: receiving a detection request sent by a client; analyzing the detection request, and determining whether a preset private field exists in the detection request; in the case that the private field exists, a response condition parameter is obtained from the private field. That is, if the network device parses and discovers that the received probe request has more private fields than the conventional probe request, it can determine that the currently received probe request is a special probe request sent by the client that has the restriction reply function turned on, and the information carried in the private fields is the response condition parameter.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 shows a comparative example of effects of the prior art and the embodiment of the present application. In the topology scenario shown in fig. 11, there are 3 APs and 5 customer premise equipments (Customer Premise Equipment, CPE), which is the client. Assume that the working channels of each AP are channel 1, and that 5 CPEs perform scanning probe at the same time, i.e., 5 CPEs perform broadcast of probe requests at the same time.

The left side of fig. 11 shows the operation of the prior art, i.e. the CPE on the left side of fig. 11 does not add the limitation restoration function proposed by the embodiments of the present application. After the CPE sends 5 broadcast Probe requests in channel 1 and the APs 1 to 3 receive the Probe responses, the APs respectively reply, that is, the three APs respectively reply 5 Probe responses, so that a total of 15 Probe Response messages are sent in channel 1 in a contention mode. Typically, 1 Probe Response message is 300-400 bytes long, assuming a transmission rate of 6Mbps, then 1 Probe Response message will occupy channel 450us, which results in channel 1 being busy during the transmission of all of the 15 Probe reply messages.

The right side of fig. 11 shows the operation of the detection method proposed in the embodiment of the present application in the case where the response condition parameter is the signal strength threshold, that is, the CPE on the right side of fig. 11 adds the limitation recovery function proposed in the embodiment of the present application. For AP1, only the signal strength of the probe requests sent by CPE1 and CPE2 is greater than or equal to the corresponding signal strength threshold, i.e. AP1 only performs probe reply on CPE1 and CPE 2; for AP2, only the signal strengths of the probe requests sent by CPE2, CPE3 and CPE5 are greater than or equal to the corresponding signal strength thresholds, i.e. AP2 only probe replies to CPE2, CPE3 and CPE 5; for AP3, only the signal strengths of the transmitted probe requests of CPE3 and CPE4 are equal to or greater than their corresponding signal strength thresholds, i.e., AP3 only probe replies to CPE3 and CPE 4. In this way, only 7 Probe Response messages are sent in a competitive manner in the channel 1, so that compared with the situation that the CPE is not added with a limiting reply function, the consumption of half channel resources is reduced, and the useless consumption of the Probe messages on an air interface is reduced.

Corresponding to the detection method applied to the client provided above, the embodiment of the application also provides the client. As shown in fig. 12, the client 12 includes:

a first generating module 1201, configured to generate a first probe request carrying a response condition parameter, where the response condition parameter is used to indicate a probe response condition, and the response condition parameter is dynamically set by the client;

a first probe module 1202, configured to broadcast a first probe request, and determine a radio access point in the environment that satisfies a probe response condition.

In some embodiments, the response condition parameter includes at least one of: signal strength threshold, access point transmit signal power threshold, channel utilization threshold, load threshold, supported protocol mode, supported bandwidth, and spatial stream.

In some embodiments, the client 12 further comprises:

the first determining module is used for determining whether an associated access point exists before generating a first detection request carrying response condition parameters, wherein the associated access point is a wireless access point currently associated with the client;

and the setting module is used for setting response condition parameters according to the communication state of the associated access point when the associated access point exists.

In some embodiments, the response condition parameter includes a signal strength threshold; the generating module 1201 is specifically configured to generate, when the associated access point exists, a first probe request carrying a signal strength threshold if the signal strength of the associated access point is lower than a preset roaming threshold.

In some embodiments, the client 12 further comprises:

a second determining module, configured to determine whether any wireless access point receives a probe response replied by the wireless access point based on the first probe request;

the adjusting module is used for adjusting the response condition parameters under the condition that the detection response is not received, generating and broadcasting a new first detection request based on the adjusted response condition parameters, and updating the detection times until the detection response is received or the detection times exceed a preset detection times threshold value, wherein the range of the detection response condition indicated by the adjusted response condition parameters is larger than the range of the detection response condition indicated by the response condition parameters before adjustment.

In some embodiments, the client 12 further comprises:

the second generation module is used for generating a second detection request which does not carry response condition parameters under the condition that the detection times exceeds a detection times threshold value;

And the second detection module is used for broadcasting a second detection request and determining the wireless access points which can be associated in the environment.

In some embodiments, the first probe request carries the response condition parameter through a preset private field.

Corresponding to the detection method applied to the network device provided above, the embodiment of the application also provides the network device with the AP function. As shown in fig. 13, the network device 13 includes:

A receiving module 1301, configured to receive and parse a probe request sent by a client;

a judging module 1302, configured to judge whether the network device meets the probe response condition indicated by the response condition parameter when the probe request is analyzed to obtain the response condition parameter;

and the replying module 1303 is configured to reply the probe response to the client if the network device meets the probe response condition.

In some embodiments, receiving module 1301 comprises:

the receiving unit is used for receiving the detection request sent by the client;

the analyzing unit is used for analyzing the detection request and determining whether a preset private field exists in the detection request;

and the acquisition unit is used for acquiring the response condition parameters from the private field in the case that the private field exists.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, only the above-described division of the functional units and modules is illustrated, and in practical application, the above-described functional distribution may be performed by different functional units and modules according to needs, i.e. the internal structure of the apparatus is divided into different functional units or modules to perform all or part of the above-described functions. The functional units and modules in the embodiment 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, where the integrated units may be implemented in a form of hardware or a form of a software functional unit. In addition, specific names of the functional units and modules are only for convenience of distinguishing from each other, and are not used for limiting the protection scope of the present application. The specific working process of the units and modules in the above system may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

In the foregoing embodiments, the descriptions of the embodiments are emphasized, and in part, not described or illustrated in any particular embodiment, reference is made to the related descriptions of other embodiments.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of external device 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.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the system embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of modules or units described above is merely a logical functional division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units 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 may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over 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.

The integrated units described above, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the present application implements all or part of the flow of the method of the above-described embodiments, and may also be implemented by a computer program to instruct associated hardware, where the computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, may implement the steps of the method embodiments described above. The computer program comprises computer program code, and the computer program code can be in a source code form, an object code form, an executable file or some intermediate form and the like. The above computer readable storage medium may include: any entity or device capable of carrying the computer program code described above, a recording medium, a U disk, a removable hard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a computer readable Memory, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (RAM, random Access Memory), an electrical carrier wave signal, a telecommunications signal, a software distribution medium, and so forth. It should be noted that the content of the computer readable storage medium described above may be appropriately increased or decreased according to the requirements of the jurisdiction's legislation and the patent practice, for example, in some jurisdictions, the computer readable storage medium does not include electrical carrier signals and telecommunication signals according to the legislation and the patent practice.

The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present application, and are not limiting thereof; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and are intended to be included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A probing method, wherein the probing method is applied to a client, and the probing method comprises:

generating a first detection request carrying response condition parameters, wherein the response condition parameters are used for indicating detection response conditions, and the response condition parameters are dynamically set by the client;

and broadcasting the first detection request, and determining the wireless access point meeting the detection response condition in the environment.

2. The detection method of claim 1, wherein the response condition parameters include at least one of: signal strength threshold, access point transmit signal power threshold, channel utilization threshold, load threshold, supported protocol mode, supported bandwidth, and spatial stream.

3. The probing method of claim 1 or 2, wherein prior to the generating the first probe request carrying the response condition parameter, the probing method further comprises:

determining whether an associated access point exists, wherein the associated access point is a wireless access point currently associated with the client;

setting the response condition parameter according to the communication state with the associated access point when the associated access point exists.

4. A method of probing as recited in claim 3 wherein, in the case where the response condition parameter comprises a signal strength threshold, the generating a first probe request carrying the response condition parameter comprises:

5. The probe method of claim 1 or 2, wherein after said broadcasting said first probe request, determining a radio access point in the environment that satisfies said probe response condition, said probe method further comprises:

determining whether any wireless access point receives a probe response replied by the first probe request;

And under the condition that the detection response is not received, adjusting the response condition parameters, generating and broadcasting a new first detection request based on the adjusted response condition parameters, and updating the detection times until the detection response is received or the detection times exceed a preset detection times threshold, wherein the range of the detection response condition indicated by the adjusted response condition parameters is larger than the range of the detection response condition indicated by the response condition parameters before adjustment.

6. The detection method according to claim 5, wherein the detection method further comprises:

generating a second detection request which does not carry the response condition parameter under the condition that the detection times exceeds the detection times threshold;

and broadcasting the second detection request to determine the wireless access points which can be associated in the environment.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first probe request carries the response condition parameter through a preset private field.

8. A probing method, wherein the probing method is applied to a network device, the network device having a wireless access point function, the probing method comprising:

Receiving and analyzing a detection request sent by a client;

under the condition that the response condition parameters are obtained by analyzing the detection request, judging whether the network equipment meets detection response conditions indicated by the response condition parameters or not;

and replying a detection response to the client under the condition that the network equipment meets the detection response condition.

9. The probing method of claim 8, wherein receiving and parsing the probe request sent by the client comprises:

receiving a detection request sent by the client;

analyzing the detection request, and determining whether a preset private field exists in the detection request;

the response condition parameter is obtained from the private field, if the private field is present.

10. A client, the client comprising:

the generation module is used for generating a first detection request carrying response condition parameters, wherein the response condition parameters are used for indicating detection response conditions, and the response condition parameters are dynamically set by the client;

and the detection module is used for broadcasting the first detection request and determining the wireless access point meeting the detection response condition in the environment.

11. A network device having wireless access point functionality, the network device comprising:

12. A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program, characterized in that the computer program when executed by a processor implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.