CN117395666A

CN117395666A - Communication method, device and computer readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117395666A
Application number: CN202210751776.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨懋; 高庆松; 李云波
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-29
Filing date: 2022-06-29
Publication date: 2024-01-12
Also published as: WO2024002060A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of communication, and provides a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium. The wireless personal area network system based on ultra-bandwidth UWB can be applied to wireless personal area network systems based on ultra-bandwidth UWB, and comprises 802.15 series protocols, such as 802.15.4a protocol, 802.15.4z protocol or 802.15.4ab protocol. The system can support IEEE802.11ax next generation Wi-Fi protocols, such as 802.11be, wi-Fi7 or EHT, and further can support wireless local area network systems, sensing systems and the like of 802.11 series protocols, such as 802.11be next generation, wi-Fi8 and the like. The method includes transmitting, to the AP, a TWT request frame including exclusive TWT information for indicating the STA to exclusive the TWT SP; receiving a first frame from an AP for indicating a mute element; and transmitting with the AP according to the exclusive TWT information and the mute element. The embodiment of the application can reduce the time delay.

Description

Communication method, device and computer readable storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, an apparatus, and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

With the development of wireless local area network (wireless local area network, WLAN) communication standards, WLAN communication standards have been developed from IEEE802.11 a/g to today's IEEE802.11ax (Wi-Fi alliance, also known as Wi-Fi 6, also known as high-efficiency wireless (high-efficiency wireless, HEW) standard) and IEEE802.11 be (Wi-Fi alliance, also known as Wi-Fi7, also known as extremely high throughput (extremely high throughput, EHT) standard), which allow the bandwidth and space-time streams of transmissions to change gradually, from the first 20MHz bandwidth to the present 160MHz, and even more, such as 240MHz/320MHz. WLAN systems expect to acquire higher transmission rates by using greater bandwidth.

Target Wake Time (TWT) is a technology defined by Wi-Fi6 for energy saving, and refers to a Station (STA) and an Access Point (AP) that can reserve a Service Period (SP) in which an active state is maintained and communication is performed, so that sleep can be performed at a time other than the service period to achieve the purpose of energy saving. The TWT may be a unicast (differential) TWT and a broadcast (br oadcast) TWT, depending on the agreed service time method.

Currently, more and more wireless network applications and services place stringent demands on latency characteristics, such as online gaming, virtual reality, industrial sites, etc. Therefore, how to effectively guarantee access transmission of STAs with ultra-low delay and high throughput service becomes a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium, which can ensure that a STA with ultra-low delay high throughput service can access transmission and reduce delay.

In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method that may be applied to an STA, a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in the STA, and a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the STA. The following describes an example in which the execution subject is STA. The communication method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a STA sends a TWT request frame to an AP, wherein the TWT request frame comprises a TWT element, the TWT element comprises exclusive TWT information, and the exclusive TWT information is used for indicating the STA to exclusive a TWT SP; the STA receives a TWT reply frame from the AP, the TWT reply frame including a TWT element; the STA receives a first frame from the AP, wherein the first frame is used for indicating a mute element, the mute element is used for enabling other STAs except the STA in the basic service set (basic service set, BSS) to keep mute, and the start time of a mute time period corresponding to the mute element is the same as the start time of an exclusive TWT SP; and the STA transmits with the AP according to the exclusive TWT information and the mute element.

According to the embodiment of the application, the exclusive TWT can be realized through the exclusive TWT information and the silence element, and the access and transmission of the low-delay user can be effectively ensured. Specifically, an exclusive TWT may be provided, where the exclusive TWT may represent a class of TWT SPs negotiated by the AP and the STA and exclusive by only one STA, and by using only one STA to exclusive TWT SPs, traffic stream transmission with ultra-low latency and high throughput may be protected.

One possible implementation, the first frame is a probe response (probe) frame or a beacon (beacon) frame.

In the scheme provided in the present application, the muting element may be carried in a probe response frame or a beacon frame, or may be carried in another frame capable of implementing the function, and the type of the frame is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

One possible implementation, the exclusive TWT information is determined by a broadcast TWT suggestion value in a TWT element.

In the scheme provided by the application, the exclusive TWT method can be realized based on the broadcast TWT recommendation domain. An exclusive TWT is a special broadcast TWT, and when a STA establishes an exclusive TWT with an AP, a new broadcast TWT proposal value (Broadcast TWT Recommendation field value) may be selected to distinguish from the original TWT type. The method for realizing the exclusive TWT can ensure the access of the user applying the exclusive TWT, and further protect the service stream transmission with the ultra-low delay high throughput characteristic.

One possible implementation, the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

In the scheme provided in the present application, when the STA and the AP perform exclusive TWT establishment, a new broadcast TWT suggestion value may be selected to be distinguished from the original TWT type, for example, the broadcast TWT suggestion value may be set to 5, and it should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, only 5 is illustrated as an example, the broadcast TWT suggestion value may also be other values, for example, 6 or 7, etc.

In one possible implementation, the first frame includes a TWT element.

In the scheme provided by the application, the AP can broadcast the TWT element and the mute element comprising the exclusive TWT information in the first frame, so that the STA can realize the exclusive TWT through the exclusive TWT information and the mute element, and the access and the transmission of the low-delay user can be effectively ensured.

In one possible implementation, the TWT element includes broadcast TWT identities, which are different for different STAs.

In the scheme provided by the application, because the STA monopolizes the TWT SP, when the beacon frame broadcasts the TWT element corresponding to the monopolized TWT, different monopolized STAs can be distinguished through different broadcast TWT identifiers in the TWT element, so that the STA monopolized TWT SP can be realized, and other STAs except the STA in the BSS can keep silent. Therefore, the access of the user applying for exclusive TWT can be ensured, and the service stream transmission with ultra-low delay and high throughput characteristics is further protected.

One possible implementation, exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in the broadcast TWT information subfield in the TWT element.

In the scheme provided by the application, the exclusive TWT method can be implemented based on the reserved bit in the broadcast TWT information subfield in the TWT element as the exclusive TWT indication field. The method for realizing the exclusive TWT can ensure the access of the user applying the exclusive TWT, and further protect the service stream transmission with the ultra-low delay high throughput characteristic.

One possible implementation, exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in the control field in the TWT element.

In the scheme provided in the application, for unicast TWT or broadcast TWT, the reserved bit in the control domain in the TWT element may be used as an exclusive TWT indication domain, so as to implement an exclusive TWT method. The method for realizing the exclusive TWT can ensure the access of the user applying the exclusive TWT, and further protect the service stream transmission with the ultra-low delay high throughput characteristic.

One possible implementation manner, the TWT element carries indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate whether an ultra-low delay service exists.

In the scheme provided by the application, in order to better ensure the transmission of the low-delay service of the exclusive STA, an enhanced indication mode can be provided. Namely, because different service flows have certain influence on the setting and negotiation of system parameters, when the STA needs to apply for exclusive TWT, the STA can inform the AP of whether the ultralow delay service exists or not, and the subsequent negotiation process of the exclusive TWT parameters (such as starting time, time precision, allocated bandwidth and the like) is used, so that the AP reasonably schedules scheduling and resource allocation.

In a possible implementation manner, in case the indication information indicates that there is an ultra-low latency service, the TWT element further includes a service type of the ultra-low latency service.

In the scheme provided by the application, in order to better ensure the transmission of the low-delay service of the exclusive STA, an enhanced indication mode can be provided. Namely, because different service flows have certain influence on the setting and negotiation of system parameters, when the STA needs to apply for exclusive TWT, the STA can not only inform the AP of whether the ultralow delay service exists or not, but also inform the service type, and the subsequent negotiation process of the exclusive TWT parameters (such as starting time, time precision, allocation bandwidth and the like) is used, so that the AP reasonably schedules scheduling and resource allocation.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method that may be applied to an AP, a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in the AP, and a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the AP functions. The following description will take an example in which the execution subject is an AP. The communication method comprises the following steps: the AP receives a TWT request frame from the STA, wherein the TWT request frame comprises a TWT element, the TWT element comprises exclusive TWT information, and the exclusive TWT information is used for indicating the STA to exclusive the TWT SP; the AP sends a TWT reply frame to the STA, wherein the TWT reply frame comprises TWT elements; the AP determines a mute element according to the exclusive TWT information, wherein the mute element is used for enabling other STAs except the STA in the BSS to keep mute, and the starting time of a mute time period corresponding to the mute element is the same as the starting time of the exclusive TWT SP; and sending a first frame to the STA, wherein the first frame is used for indicating the mute element.

It should be understood that the execution body of the second aspect may be an AP, and the specific content of the second aspect corresponds to the content of the first aspect, and the corresponding features and advantages of the second aspect may refer to the description of the first aspect, and detailed descriptions are omitted herein as appropriate to avoid repetition.

One possible implementation, the first frame is a probe response frame or a beacon frame.

One possible implementation, the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

In one possible implementation, the first frame includes a TWT element.

In one possible implementation, the TWT element includes a broadcast TWT identifier, and the method further includes: and the AP determines broadcasting TWT identifiers according to the exclusive TWT information, and the broadcasting TWT identifiers of different STAs are different.

One possible implementation, the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a control field in the TWT element.

In a possible implementation manner, in a case where the indication information indicates that an ultra-low latency service exists, the TWT element further includes a service type of the ultra-low latency service.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device. The communication device may be applied to the STA, a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in the STA, and a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the STA.

The advantages may be seen from the description of the first aspect, which is not repeated here. The communication device has the functionality to implement the actions in the method example of the first aspect described above. The 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.

A possible implementation manner, the communication device includes:

a sending unit, configured to send a TWT request frame to an AP, where the TWT request frame includes a TWT element, where the TWT element includes exclusive TWT information, where the exclusive TWT information is used to indicate the STA to exclusive TWT service time SP;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a TWT reply frame from the AP, where the TWT reply frame includes the TWT element;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first frame from the AP, where the first frame is used to indicate a muting element, where the muting element is used to keep other STAs except for the STA in the basic service set BSS muted, and a start time of a muting period corresponding to the muting element is the same as a start time of the exclusive TWT SP;

and the processing unit is used for transmitting with the AP according to the exclusive TWT information and the mute element.

One possible implementation, the exclusive TWT information is determined by a broadcast TWT suggestion value in the TWT element.

One possible implementation, the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

One possible implementation, the first frame includes the TWT element.

A possible implementation, the TWT element includes a broadcast TWT identity, which is different for different STAs.

One possible implementation, the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a broadcast TWT information subfield in the TWT element.

One possible implementation manner, the TWT element carries indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate whether an ultra-low latency service exists.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device. The communication device may be applied to an AP, a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in the AP, and a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the AP functions.

The advantages may be seen from the description of the second aspect, which is not repeated here. The communication device has the functionality to implement the behavior in the method example of the second aspect described above. The 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.

A possible implementation manner, the communication device includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a TWT request frame from a STA, where the TWT request frame includes a TWT element, where the TWT element includes exclusive TWT information, where the exclusive TWT information is used to indicate the STA to exclusive TWT service time SP;

a sending unit, configured to send a TWT reply frame to the STA, where the TWT reply frame includes the TWT element;

a determining unit, configured to determine a muting element according to the exclusive TWT information, where the muting element is configured to keep other STAs in the basic service set BSS except for the STA to mute, and a start time of a muting period corresponding to the muting element is the same as a start time of the exclusive TWT SP;

the sending unit is further configured to send a first frame to the STA, where the first frame is used to indicate the muting element.

One possible implementation is that the first frame is a probe response frame or a beacon frame.

One possible implementation, the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

One possible implementation, the first frame includes the TWT element.

A possible implementation, the TWT element includes a broadcast TWT identifier, and the determining unit is further configured to:

and determining the broadcasting TWT identification according to the exclusive TWT information, wherein the broadcasting TWT identifications of different STAs are different.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, where the communication device may be an STA in an embodiment of the method described above, or a chip or a processor disposed in the STA. The communication device may include a processor coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the methods described above in method embodiments as performed by the STA, or a chip or processor in the STA.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, where the communication device may be an AP in an embodiment of the method described above, or a chip or a processor disposed in the AP. The communication device may include a processor coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the methods described above in method embodiments as performed by the AP, or a chip or processor in the AP.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising program instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising program instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor for implementing the functions in the methods described above. In one possible implementation, the system on a chip may also include memory for storing program instructions and/or data. The chip system may be formed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the STA provided in the first aspect and the AP provided in the second aspect.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are used in the embodiments will be briefly described below. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that other figures may be obtained from these figures without the inventive effort.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of a single-user TWT service phase in the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a prior art frame structure of a single-user TWT element;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of an r-TWT service phase in the prior art;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a prior art frame structure of an r-TWT element;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a broadcast TWT information subdomain according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a control domain in a TWT element according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a TWT control domain according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a broadcast TWT parameter set domain according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a single-user TWT parameter set domain according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of still another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The scenario described in the embodiments of the present application is to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method which can be applied to a wireless communication system, such as a cellular network or a wireless local area network system. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the network architecture 100 includes an access point AP101, one or more stations (STAs 102-103). Wherein the access points and stations support wireless local area network (wireless local access network, WLAN) communication protocols. The communication protocol may include IEEE802.11be (or referred to as Wi-Fi 7, EHT protocol), and may further include IEEE802.11 n, IEEE802.11 ax, IEEE802.11 ac, etc. protocols, where the name of the 802.11n standard may be referred to as High Throughput (HT), the name of the 802.11ac standard may be referred to as very high throughput (very high throughput, VHT), the name of the 802.11ax standard may be referred to as High Efficiency (HE), and the name of the 802.11be standard may be referred to as very high throughput (extremely high throughput, EHT). Of course, with the continuous evolution and development of the communication technology, the communication protocol may also include the next generation protocol of ieee802.11be, and the like. Taking WLAN as an example, the device implementing the method of the present application may be an access point or a station in the WLAN, or a chip or a processing system installed in the access point or the station.

An access point (e.g., AP 101) is a device with wireless communication capabilities that supports communication using WLAN protocols, with the capability to communicate with other devices (e.g., stations or other access points) in a WLAN network, and of course, with the capability to communicate with other devices. In WLAN systems, an access point may be referred to as an access point station (AP STA). The device can be the equipment of a whole machine, a chip or a processing system arranged in the equipment of the whole machine, and the equipment provided with the chip or the processing system can realize the method and the function of the embodiment of the application under the control of the chip or the processing system. The AP in the embodiment of the present application may be a device that provides services for STAs, and may support 802.11 series protocols. For example, the AP may be a communication entity such as a communication server, router, switch, bridge, etc.; the AP may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, and the like, and of course, the AP may also be a chip and a processing system in these various forms of devices, so as to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application.

A station is a device with wireless communication capabilities that supports communication using WLAN protocols and has the ability to communicate with other stations or access points in a WLAN network. In a WLAN system, a station may be referred to as a non-access point station (non-access point station, non-AP STA). For example, the STA is any user communication device that allows a user to communicate with the AP and further communicate with the WLAN, and the apparatus may be a complete machine device, or may be a chip or a processing system installed in the complete machine device, where the device on which the chip or the processing system is installed may implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or the processing system. For example, the STA may be a tablet, desktop, laptop, notebook, ultra-mobile personal computer (ultra-mobile personal computer, UMPC), handheld computer, netbook, personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), mobile phone, or other user equipment that can be networked, or an internet of things node in the internet of things, or an in-vehicle communication device or system in the internet of things, entertainment equipment, game equipment or system, global positioning system equipment, or the like, and may also be a chip and a processing system in these terminals.

The WLAN system can provide high-rate low-delay transmission, and with the continuous evolution of WLAN application scenarios, the WLAN system will be applied to more scenarios or industries, for example, to the internet of things industry, to the internet of vehicles industry or to banking industry, to enterprise offices, stadium stadiums, concert halls, hotel guest rooms, classrooms, business superlations, squares, streets, generation workshops, warehouses, and the like. Of course, the devices supporting WLAN communication (e.g., access points or sites) may be sensor nodes in a smart city (e.g., smart water meters, smart air detection nodes), smart devices in a smart home (e.g., smart cameras, projectors, display screens, televisions, stereos, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), nodes in the internet of things, entertainment terminals (e.g., wearable devices such as AR, VR, etc.), smart devices in a smart office (e.g., printers, projectors, microphones, stereos, etc.), internet of vehicles devices in the internet of vehicles, infrastructure in everyday life scenarios (e.g., vending machines, super self-help navigation stations, self-help cashier devices, self-help ordering machines, etc.), and large sports and music stadium devices, etc. Specific forms of the STA and the AP are not particularly limited in the embodiments of the present application, and are merely exemplary.

In order to facilitate understanding of the present application, first, related technical knowledge related to the embodiments of the present application will be described herein. The terminology used in the description section of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments of the present application only and is not intended to be limiting of the present application.

1、TWT

TWT is a technology defined by Wi-Fi6 for power saving. The core idea is that by setting a period of time, some devices only need to keep active in these TWT service phases (TWT SPs), and can sleep at other times, so as to achieve the purpose of energy saving.

TWTs are classified into unicast TWT (individual TWT) and broadcast TWT (broadcast TWT), in which each STA can establish one TWT protocol with the AP alone, and thus each STA can have its own active and sleep periods; in broadcast TWTs, the AP may establish a common TWT protocol for a group of STAs, with multiple STAs operating in the same active period and sleeping in other periods.

Unicast TWT: unicast TWT refers to a TWT request station (requesting) sending a TWT request message to a TWT reply station (responding) requesting to set a wake-up time. After receiving the TWT request message, the response station sends a TWT response message to the request station, and after successful interaction, a TWT protocol is established between the request station and the response station. When the TWT protocol is achieved, the requesting station and the responding station should remain active for a predetermined period of time, so as to transmit and receive data. Outside the above time period, the station may go to sleep for energy saving purposes. Typically, the STA sends a TWT protocol establishment request to the AP, that is, the STA is a requesting station, and the AP is a responding station, where the AP may initiate a TWT protocol establishment request to the station. After the TWT protocol is established, the agreed active period is called TWT service phase.

Broadcasting TWT: unlike unicast TWTs, broadcast TWTs provide a "bulk management" mechanism, where an AP may establish a series of periodically occurring TWT service phases with multiple STAs. In the TWT service phase, the STAs need to remain active in order to communicate with the AP.

The AP may carry information of one or more broadcast TWTs in a beacon frame (beacon frame), each broadcast TWT being represented collectively by a broadcast TWT identifier and a medium access control (media access control, MAC) address of the AP. After receiving the beacon frame, the STA may send a broadcast TWT setup request message to the AP to join the broadcast TWT if there is a desire to join the broadcast TWT. At the time of broadcast TWT establishment, a broadcast TWT identifier needs to be specified to request to join a particular broadcast TWT. After joining the broadcast TWT, the STA may wake up in the service phase indicated by the TWT parameter set to communicate with the AP. Note that if the STA supports a broadcast TWT but does not explicitly join a certain broadcast TWT ID, it participates in a broadcast TWT with broadcast TWT id=0 by default.

Similar to unicast TWTs, the parameter set of broadcast TWTs also specifies the period in which the TWT service phases occur and the duration of each TWT service phase. In addition, the broadcast TWT parameter includes a life cycle of the broadcast TWT, which represents a duration of the established broadcast TWT in units of beacon frame intervals.

2. Ultra low latency communication

With the development of wireless networks and the continuous upgrade of wireless local area network (wireless local area network, WLAN) technology, more and more application traffic is carried by Wi-Fi. On the other hand, the delay performance of WLAN is also increasingly demanded by endless mobile applications. Applications such as wireless video, voice, gaming, augmented reality (augmented reality, AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) have high demands on latency of communications.

In order to meet different types of traffic demands as much as possible, WLANs need to prioritize different traffic. For example, in the channel contention access process, each device of the WLAN has four different access classes, and transmission priority division is achieved through different contention parameters; each access class may include two service identities to correspond to two different services. Typically, packets of low latency traffic are periodically generated.

First, in order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, technical problems to be specifically solved by the present application are further analyzed and presented. Currently, implementation of access transmission for STAs for ultra-low latency high throughput traffic includes a variety of solutions, two of which are listed below by way of example,

Scheme one: based on single user TWT

The single user target wake-up time (individual target wakeup time, differential TWT) is a power saving mechanism proposed in IEEE 802.11 ax. Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of a single-user TWT service phase in the prior art. As shown in fig. 2, under the 802.11ax standard, the STA may use the TWT mechanism to negotiate a time for data transmission with the AP, specifically, the STA transmits a TWT request frame to the AP, and the AP transmits a TWT reply frame to the STA. The AP sends a beacon frame to the STA to indicate the starting time of the single-user TWT SP, and when the single-user TWT is established, the STA only needs to wake up at the negotiated time point and wait for the AP to schedule transmission. If the AP sends a basic trigger frame to the STA, the single-user TWT SP, the STA and the AP start transmitting data (e.g., the STA sends a data frame to the AP, and the AP sends an acknowledgement frame to the STA).

Parameters negotiated by the STA and the AP may be in a single-user TWT element structure diagram. For example, referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of a TWT element of a single user in the prior art. As shown in fig. 3, the TWT element may include an element identification (element ID) field, a length field, a control field, and TWT parameter information (TWT parameter information) field. The control (control) field may include, among other things, a null data P PDU paging indication (NDP paging indicator) subfield, a responder's power save state (responder PM mode) subfield, a negotiation type (negotiation type) subfield, a disable TWT information frame (TWT information frame disabled) subfield, an awake time element (wake duration unit) subfield, a link ID bitmap presence indication (link ID bitmap present) subfield, and a reserved (reserved) subfield. The TWT parameter information (TWT parameter information) fields may include a request type (request type) subfield, a target wake time (target wake time) subfield, a TWT packet (TWT group assignment) subfield, a nominal minimum TWT wake duration (nominal minimum TWT wake duration) subfield, a TWT wake interval mantissa (TWT wake interval mantissa) subfield, a TWT channel (TWT channel) subfield, a null packet paging (optional) subfield, a link ID bitmap (link ID bitmap) subfield.

The disadvantage of this scheme one: in the scheme, only the STA and the AP negotiate the transmission time, but other STAs access to the transmission during the TWT service, so that the access transmission of the STAs with ultra-low delay high throughput service cannot be effectively guaranteed.

Scheme II: based on r-TWT

Defining the target wake-up time (restricted target wakeup time, r-TWT) is a new mechanism for guaranteeing low latency services derived from the existing broadcast TWT (broadcast TWT) of IEEE 802.11 ax. Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of an r-TWT service phase in the prior art. As shown in fig. 4, under the 802.11be standard, a non-AP EHT STA (hereinafter referred to as EHT STA) has many real-time applications (real time applications) whose traffic has very strict latency requirements (stringent latency requirements), and based on this, an r-TWT mechanism is proposed, which indicates that an AP broadcasts one or more r-TWT Service Phases (SPs) through Beacon (Beacon) frames or Probe Response (Probe Response) frames. After receiving any r-TWT SP information broadcast by the AP, if dot11 Restricted TWT Option Implemented of the STA is set to true, the EHT STA ends its own transmission opportunity (Transmission Opportunity, TXOP) before the r-TWT SP start time. In addition, the AP may set a silence Interval (quench Interval) aligned with the r-TWT SP start time in a Beacon (Beacon) or (Probe Response) frame, which may be 1 millisecond (ms) in duration. The EHT STA may ignore the silence interval and then contend for the channel after the start of the r-TWT SP, where the EHT STA may or may not belong to the own r-TWT SP group (grouped by Broadcast TWT ID). Other STAs need to keep silent according to the silence interval, which reduces the number of STAs competing for the channel in the BSS and increases the probability of an EHT STA with low latency service getting to the channel.

The r-TWT information is indicated in the TWT element field, referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of an r-TWT element according to the prior art. As shown in fig. 5 (a), a specific TWT traffic information subfield presence indication subfield (restricted TWT traffic info present) including a bit in the broadcast target wake-up time information subfield, the bit having a value of 1 indicating that the TWT element field includes the r-TWT traffic information subfield as shown in fig. 5 (b), and a value of 0 indicating that the TWT element field does not include the r-TWT traffic information subfield as shown in fig. 5 (b). A broadcast TWT identification (TWT ID) sub-field represents the identification number of the TWT group.

The disadvantage of this scheme two: in the second scheme, in order to ensure that the low-delay service can limit the channel access of other non-EHT STAs in the BSS through the silence element, but also allow the channel access of other EHT STAs outside the BSS, so that the access transmission of the STA with ultra-low delay high throughput service cannot be effectively ensured.

Based on the fact that the access transmission is carried out by the STA which cannot effectively guarantee the ultra-low-delay high-throughput service, the embodiment of the application provides a communication method, the access transmission is effectively guaranteed by the STA which can be used for guaranteeing the ultra-low-delay high-throughput service by the STA through exclusive TWT SP (exclusive TWT) of one class, and the delay is reduced.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method is illustrated in fig. 6 by taking the AP and the STA as the execution bodies of the interaction scheme, but the application is not limited to the execution bodies of the interaction scheme. For example, the AP in fig. 6 may be a chip, a system on a chip, or a processor that supports the AP to implement the method, or may be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the AP functions; the STA in fig. 6 may also be a chip, a system-on-chip, or a processor supporting the STA to implement the method, or may be a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the STA functions. As shown in fig. 6, the communication method includes, but is not limited to, the following steps.

S601, the STA transmits a TWT request frame including a TWT element including exclusive TWT information to the AP. Accordingly, the AP receives a TWT request frame from the STA that includes a TWT element.

When the STA establishes an exclusive TWT with the AP, the STA may send a TWT request frame to the AP, where the TWT request frame may include a TWT element, and the TWT element may include exclusive TWT information. The STA may be understood as a STA that applies to use an exclusive TWT.

Exclusive TWTs (Exclusive Target Wakeup Time, exclusive TWTs) may be understood to represent a class of TWT SPs negotiated by an AP and STA that are Exclusive to a single STA.

The STA may implement an exclusive TWT SP through the exclusive TWT information, and the implementation manner may satisfy any one of the following:

mode one, exclusive TWT methods based on broadcasting a TWT recommendation field and broadcasting corresponding TWT elements in a beacon frame.

An exclusive TWT is a special broadcast TWT. When the STA performs exclusive TWT establishment with the AP, a new (i.e., a value that has not been used before) broadcast TWT suggestion value (broadcast TWT recommendation field value) may be selected to distinguish from the original TWT type, e.g., the broadcast TWT suggestion value may be set to 5 as shown in table 1.

Table 1 broadcast TWT suggestion values in broadcast TWT elements

It should be noted that table 1 is only exemplified by setting the broadcast TWT suggestion value to 5, or alternatively, the broadcast TWT suggestion value may be set to 6 or 7, or the like. The embodiment of the application does not limit the size of the broadcast TWT suggestion value.

Further, the AP may broadcast the TWT element corresponding to the exclusive TWT in a beacon frame. The TWT element includes broadcast TWT identifiers, so that broadcast TWT identifiers corresponding to different STAs may be different to distinguish different STAs, so that it may be ensured that only one STA monopolizes the TWT.

Mode two, exclusive TWT methods based on r-TWT and not broadcasting the corresponding TWT element in the beacon frame.

When a STA with ultra-low latency and high throughput traffic type applies for using an exclusive TWT, the AP may be informed that the TWT is an exclusive TWT in a TWT Setup request Frame (TWT Setup Frame), use a 1-bit reserved bit in the TWT Setup request Frame to indicate that it is an exclusive TWT, or employ a new broadcast TWT proposal value, possible implementations of which are as follows:

referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a broadcast TWT information subdomain according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 7, the broadcast TWT suggestion value (Broadcast TWT Recommendation field value) takes a value of 4, and uses the existing reserved bit in the broadcast TWT information subfield as the exclusive TWT indication field, when the exclusive TWT field is set to 1, it represents that the TWT is an exclusive TWT, otherwise it is a conventional r-TWT.

Further, the AP may not broadcast a TWT element including exclusive TWT information in the beacon frame. It should be noted that, since the TWT element including the exclusive TWT information is not broadcast in the beacon frame, this field may be valid in the negotiation process of the exclusive TWT establishment, and in the exclusive element carried in the non-establishment and negotiation process, this field may be set to Reserved, and does not indicate any meaning.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a control domain in a TWT element according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8, the broadcast TWT suggestion value (Broadcast TWT Recommendation Field value) takes a value of 4, and an existing Reserved bit (Reserved) can be used in the Control Field (Control Field) as an exclusive TWT indication Field to indicate whether there is an ultra-low latency traffic flow, when it is set to 1, it can indicate that the TWT is an exclusive TWT, and vice versa is a conventional r-TWT.

One possible implementation, with the broadcast TWT suggestion value in the new broadcast TWT element, the broadcast TWT suggestion value may be set to 5 as shown in table 1, or the broadcast TWT suggestion value may also be set to 6 as shown in table 2, or the broadcast TWT suggestion value may also be set to 7 as shown in table 3, etc. The embodiment of the application does not limit the size of the broadcast TWT suggestion value.

Further, the AP may not broadcast a TWT element including exclusive TWT information in the beacon frame.

The TWT element includes a broadcast TWT identifier, and since the AP does not broadcast a TWT element including exclusive TWT information in the beacon frame, broadcast TWT identifiers corresponding to different STAs may be the same or different, so as to distinguish different STAs, thereby ensuring that only one STA has exclusive TWT.

Mode three, exclusive TWT method based on single user TWT (individual TWT).

As shown in fig. 8, when the STA applies for a low-latency single-user TWT, it is necessary to indicate in the TWT request frame whether or not it is an exclusive TWT. One possible implementation may use an existing Reserved bit (Reserved) in the TWT control field as an exclusive TWT indication field indication, which may indicate that the TWT is an exclusive TWT if the exclusive TWT indication field is set to 1, and which may indicate that the TWT is a conventional single-user TWT if the exclusive TWT indication field is set to 0.

And fourthly, the STA reports the exclusive TWT enhancement method of the own service type to the AP.

On the basis of the first mode to the third mode, in order to better ensure low-delay service transmission of the STA, an enhanced indication mode can be provided. Because different service flows have a certain influence on the setting and negotiation of system parameters, the STA can inform the AP of whether the low-delay service transmission exists or not when the application of the exclusive TWT is performed, so that the subsequent negotiation of the exclusive TWT parameters (such as starting time, time precision, allocated bandwidth and the like) is convenient. Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a TWT control domain according to an embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in fig. 9, an existing Reserved bit (Reserved) may be used in the TWT control field to indicate whether an ultra low latency traffic stream is present. If so, the AP may determine that the TWT is an exclusive TWT.

Further, the STA may inform the AP of the traffic flow type of the own low-latency traffic when applying for exclusive TWT, and the correspondence between the traffic flow type and the value may be shown in table 2, for example.

Table 2 traffic flow type indication

Numerical value	Traffic flow type
		1	AR/VR/XR
2	Virtual reality
		3	Industrial control
4	Cloud computing
		5	Point-to-point link
6-8	Reservation

As shown in table 2, the traffic flow type may have a correspondence with a value, for example, a value of 1 may indicate that the traffic flow type is augmented reality (augmented reality, AR)/Virtual Reality (VR)/extended reality (XR), a value of 2 may indicate that the traffic flow type is virtual reality, a value of 3 may indicate that the traffic flow type is industrial control, a value of 4 may indicate that the traffic flow type is cloud computing, a value of 5 may indicate that the traffic flow type is a point-to-point link, and a value of 6-8 may indicate reservation.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a broadcast TWT parameter set domain according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, an existing Reserved bit (Reserved) may be used in the TWT control domain to indicate whether an ultra-low latency traffic stream exists, if so, a byte may be added in the broadcast TWT parameter set domain to indicate the type of the traffic stream, and the traffic type may be known through the lookup table 2.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a single-user TWT parameter set domain according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 11, a byte may be added to the single-user TWT parameter set field to indicate the type of traffic flow, and the traffic type may be known through the lookup table 2.

The fourth mode not only can indicate the transmission of low-delay service, but also can inform the AP of the service type at the same time, so that the AP reasonably schedules scheduling and resource allocation.

S602, the AP sends a TWT reply frame including the TWT element to the STA. Accordingly, the STA receives a TWT reply frame from the AP that includes the TWT element.

When the STA establishes an exclusive TWT with the AP, the AP may send a TWT reply (TWT response) frame to the STA after receiving a TWT request frame from the STA, where the TWT reply frame may include a TWT element. After the STA receives the TWT reply frame, the exclusive TWT is established and the applied exclusive TWT takes effect. The TWT reply frame may be understood as a TWT response frame, a TWT reply frame, or the like.

S603, the AP transmits a first frame for indicating the mute element to the STA. Accordingly, the STA receives a first frame from the AP indicating the muting element.

The AP may determine a muting element from the exclusive TWT information, which in this embodiment of the application may be used to keep other STAs in the present basic service set (basic service set, BBS) except the current STA silent. The start time of the quiet period corresponding to the quiet element is the same as the start time of the exclusive TWT SP.

Illustratively, the frame structure of the mute element may be as shown in table 3.

Table 3 frame structure of mute element

Wherein, the Element identification (Element ID) field represents the identification of the Element, the Length field represents the Length of the Element, and the Quiet Count (quench Count) field represents the number of TBTT between the beacon interval (beacon interval) where the next Quiet interval (quench interval) is located and the current time; a Quiet Period (Quiet Period) field indicates the number of beacon intervals between two Quiet intervals; a silence Duration (quench Duration) field indicates the Duration of the silence interval; a silence Offset (quench Offset) field indicates an Offset between a silence interval start time and a TBTT indicated in a silence count. The muting element may be carried in a first frame, which may be, for example, a Beacon (Beacon) frame and/or a Probe Response (Probe) frame, and may also be other frames capable of implementing a function of carrying the muting element, and the type of the first frame is not limited in this application.

And S604, the STA transmits with the AP according to the exclusive TWT information and the mute element.

The STA may compare the start time of the quiet period indicated by the quiet element with the start time of the own exclusive TWT SP, if the start times overlap at this time, the STA may ignore the quiet element, otherwise, it is not allowed to ignore. Alternatively, the duration of the silence period may be 1 millisecond. Other STAs except the STA in the BSS cannot understand the exclusive TWT element, and cannot ignore the mute element corresponding to the exclusive TWT at this time, so that low-delay transmission of the STA applying for using the exclusive TWT can be effectively ensured at this time.

According to the embodiment of the application, the exclusive TWT can be realized through the exclusive TWT information and the silence element, and the access and transmission of the low-delay user can be effectively ensured. In particular, an exclusive TWT may be provided, which may represent a class of TWT SPs negotiated by the AP and the STA that are exclusive by only one STA. The embodiment of the application also provides several modes for realizing the exclusive TWT method, and the STA is used for exclusive TWT SP, so that the service stream transmission with ultralow time delay and high throughput characteristic can be protected.

The foregoing details of the method provided in the present application, and in order to facilitate better implementing the foregoing solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the embodiments of the present application further provide corresponding apparatuses.

The embodiment of the present application may divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be an STA, a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in the STA, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the STA functions. As shown in fig. 12, the communication apparatus 1200 includes at least: a transmitting unit 1201, a receiving unit 1202, and a processing unit 1203; wherein:

a sending unit 1201, configured to send a TWT request frame to an AP, where the TWT request frame includes a TWT element, where the TWT element includes exclusive TWT information, where the exclusive TWT information is used to indicate the STA to exclusive TWT service time SP;

a receiving unit 1202, configured to receive a TWT reply frame from the AP, where the TWT reply frame includes the TWT element;

the receiving unit 1202 is further configured to receive a first frame from the AP, where the first frame is used to indicate a muting element, where the muting element is used to keep other STAs except the STA in the basic service set BSS muted, and a start time of a muting period corresponding to the muting element is the same as a start time of the exclusive TWT SP;

a processing unit 1203, configured to transmit with the AP according to the exclusive TWT information and the mute element.

In one embodiment, the first frame is a probe response frame or a beacon frame.

In one embodiment, the exclusive TWT information is determined by a broadcast TWT suggestion value in the TWT element.

In one embodiment, the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

In one embodiment, the first frame includes the TWT element.

In one embodiment, the TWT element includes a broadcast TWT identity, the broadcast TWT identity of different STAs being different.

In one embodiment, the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a broadcast TWT information subfield in the TWT element.

In one embodiment, the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a control field in the TWT element.

In one embodiment, the TWT element carries indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate whether there is an ultra-low latency service.

In one embodiment, in a case where the indication information indicates that there is an ultra low latency service, the TWT element further includes a service type of the ultra low latency service.

For more detailed descriptions of the transmitting unit 1201, the receiving unit 1202 and the processing unit 1203, reference may be directly made to the related descriptions of the STA in the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, which are not repeated herein.

Referring to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be an AP, a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in the AP, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the AP functions. As shown in fig. 13, the communication device 1300 includes at least: a receiving unit 1301, a transmitting unit 1302, and a determining unit 1303; wherein:

a receiving unit 1301, configured to receive a TWT request frame from a STA, where the TWT request frame includes a TWT element, where the TWT element includes exclusive TWT information, where the exclusive TWT information is used to indicate the STA to exclusive TWT service time SP;

a sending unit 1302, configured to send a TWT reply frame to the STA, where the TWT reply frame includes the TWT element;

a determining unit 1303, configured to determine a muting element according to the exclusive TWT information, where the muting element is configured to keep other STAs in the basic service set BSS except for the STA to mute, and a start time of a muting period corresponding to the muting element is the same as a start time of the exclusive TWT SP;

the sending unit 1302 is further configured to send a first frame to the STA, where the first frame is used to indicate the muting element.

In one embodiment, the first frame is a probe response frame or a beacon frame.

In one embodiment, the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

In one embodiment, the first frame includes the TWT element.

In one embodiment, the TWT element includes a broadcast TWT identifier, and the determining unit 1303 is further configured to:

For more detailed descriptions of the receiving unit 1301, the transmitting unit 1302, and the determining unit 1303, reference may be directly made to the related descriptions of the AP in the method embodiment shown in fig. 6, which are not repeated herein.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 14, the apparatus 1400 may include one or more processors 1401, where the processor 1401 may also be referred to as a processing unit and may implement certain control functions. The processor 1401 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, or the like.

In an alternative design, the processor 1401 may have instructions 1403 stored thereon, the instructions 1403 being executable by the processor to cause the apparatus 1400 to perform the method described in the method embodiments above.

In another alternative design, the processor 1401 may include a transceiver unit for implementing the receive and transmit functions. For example, the transceiver unit may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface circuit, or a communication interface. The transceiver circuitry, interface or interface circuitry for implementing the receive and transmit functions may be separate or may be integrated. The transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing codes/data, or the transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or transferring signals.

In yet another possible design, apparatus 1400 may include circuitry to implement the functions of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments.

Optionally, the apparatus 1400 may include one or more memories 1402 on which instructions 1404 may be stored, which may be executed on the processor, to cause the apparatus 1400 to perform the methods described in the method embodiments above. Optionally, the memory may further store data. In the alternative, the processor may store instructions and/or data. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or may be integrated. For example, the correspondence described in the above method embodiments may be stored in a memory or in a processor.

Optionally, the apparatus 1400 may further comprise a transceiver 1405 and/or an antenna 1406. The processor 1401 may be referred to as a processing unit and controls the apparatus 1400. The transceiver 1405 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver device, a transceiver module, or the like, for implementing a transceiver function.

Alternatively, the apparatus 1400 in embodiments of the present application may be used to perform the method described in fig. 6 in embodiments of the present application.

In one embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to a STA, a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in the STA, and logic modules or software that can implement all or part of the STA functionality. When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 1402 are executed, the processor 1401 is configured to control the processing unit 1203 to perform the operations performed in the above-described embodiments, the transceiver 1405 is configured to perform the operations performed by the transmitting unit 1201 and the receiving unit 1202 in the above-described embodiments, and the transceiver 1405 is also configured to transmit information to a communication device other than the communication device. The STA or the module in the STA may also be used to execute various methods executed by the STA in the method embodiment of fig. 6, which are not described herein.

In one embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to an AP, to a module (e.g., a chip or a processor) in an AP, and to logic modules or software that may implement all or part of the AP functionality. When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 1402 are executed, the processor 1401 is configured to control the determining unit 1303 to perform the operations performed in the above-described embodiments, the transceiver 1405 is configured to perform the operations performed by the receiving unit 1301 and the transmitting unit 1302 in the above-described embodiments, and the transceiver 1405 is also configured to transmit information to other communication apparatuses than the communication apparatus. The above AP or the modules in the AP may also be used to execute various methods executed by the AP in the method embodiment of fig. 6, which are not described herein.

The processors and transceivers described herein may be implemented on integrated circuits (integrated circuit, ICs), analog ICs, radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs), mixed signal ICs, application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASICs), printed circuit boards (printed circuit board, PCBs), electronic devices, and the like. The processor and transceiver may also be fabricated using a variety of IC process technologies such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (complementary metal oxide semiconductor, CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (Bipolar Junction Transistor, BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

The apparatus described in the above embodiment may be the first terminal device or the second terminal device, but the scope of the apparatus described in the present application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the apparatus may not be limited by fig. 14. The apparatus may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the device may be:

(1) A stand-alone integrated circuit IC, or chip, or system-on-a-chip or subsystem;

(2) Having a set of one or more ICs, which may optionally also include storage means for storing data and/or instructions;

(3) An ASIC, such as a modem (MSM);

(4) Modules that may be embedded within other devices;

(5) Receivers, terminals, smart terminals, cellular telephones, wireless devices, handsets, mobile units, vehicle devices, network devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, machine devices, home devices, medical devices, industrial devices, etc.;

(6) Others, and so on.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the program when executed by a processor can implement a procedure related to STA in the communication method provided in the foregoing method embodiment.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the program when executed by a processor can implement a flow related to an AP in the communication method provided in the foregoing method embodiment.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product which, when run on a computer or processor, causes the computer or processor to perform one or more steps of any of the communication methods described above. The respective constituent modules of the above-mentioned apparatus may be stored in the computer-readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products.

The embodiment of the application further provides a chip system, which comprises at least one processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface and the at least one processor are interconnected through a line, and the at least one processor is used for running a computer program or instructions to execute part or all of the steps including any one of the steps described in the embodiment of the method corresponding to fig. 6. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

The embodiment of the application also discloses a communication system, which comprises the STA and the AP, and the specific description can refer to the communication method shown in fig. 6.

It should be understood that the memories mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be volatile memories or nonvolatile memories, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memories. The nonvolatile memory may be a hard disk (HDD), a Solid State Drive (SSD), a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory in the embodiments of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of implementing a memory function for storing program instructions and/or data.

It should also be appreciated that the processors referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), off-the-shelf programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

Note that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, the memory (storage module) is integrated into the processor.

It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

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 elements 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 clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function 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 with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

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 technology 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: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, etc.

The steps in the method of the embodiment of the application can be sequentially adjusted, combined and deleted according to actual needs.

The modules/units in the device of the embodiment of the application can be combined, divided and deleted according to actual needs.

The above embodiments are merely for illustrating the technical solution of the present application, and not for limiting the same; 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 of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the station STA sends a target wake-up time TWT request frame to an access point AP, wherein the TWT request frame comprises a TWT element, the TWT element comprises exclusive TWT information, and the exclusive TWT information is used for indicating the STA to exclusive TWT service time SP;

the STA receives a TWT reply frame from the AP, the TWT reply frame including the TWT element;

the STA receives a first frame from the AP, wherein the first frame is used for indicating a mute element, the mute element is used for enabling other STAs except the STA in the basic service set BSS to keep mute, and the start time of a mute time period corresponding to the mute element is the same as the start time of the exclusive TWT SP;

And the STA transmits with the AP according to the exclusive TWT information and the mute element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first frame is a probe response frame or a beacon frame.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the exclusive TWT information is determined by a broadcast TWT suggestion value in the TWT element.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first frame comprises the TWT element.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the TWT element comprises a broadcast TWT identity, the broadcast TWT identity of different STAs being different.

7. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a broadcast TWT information subfield in the TWT element.

8. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a control field in the TWT element.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the TWT element carries indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate whether there is an ultra-low latency service.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the TWT element further comprises a traffic type for the ultra low latency traffic if the indication information indicates that ultra low latency traffic is present.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

an Access Point (AP) receives a Target Wake Time (TWT) request frame from a Station (STA), wherein the TWT request frame comprises a TWT element, the TWT element comprises exclusive TWT information, and the exclusive TWT information is used for indicating the STA to exclusive a TWT service time (SP);

the AP sends a TWT reply frame to the STA, wherein the TWT reply frame comprises the TWT element;

the AP determines a mute element according to the exclusive TWT information, wherein the mute element is used for enabling other STAs except the STA in the basic service set BSS to keep mute, and the starting time of a mute time period corresponding to the mute element is the same as the starting time of the exclusive TWT SP;

the AP transmits a first frame to the STA, the first frame indicating the muting element.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first frame is a probe response frame or a beacon frame.

13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the exclusive TWT information is determined by a broadcast TWT suggestion value in the TWT element.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the broadcast TWT suggestion value is 5.

15. The method of any of claims 11-14, wherein the first frame comprises the TWT element.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the TWT element comprises a broadcast TWT identification, the method further comprising:

and the AP determines the broadcasting TWT identification according to the exclusive TWT information, and the broadcasting TWT identifications of different STAs are different.

17. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a broadcast TWT information subfield in the TWT element.

18. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the exclusive TWT information is carried in reserved bits in a control field in the TWT element.

19. The method of any of claims 11-18, wherein the TWT element carries indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate whether there is an ultra-low latency service.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the TWT element further comprises a traffic type for the ultra low latency traffic if the indication information indicates that ultra low latency traffic is present.

21. A communication apparatus, characterized in that the apparatus is applied to a station STA, comprising means for performing the method according to any of claims 1-10.

22. A communication device, characterized in that the device is applied to an access point AP, comprising means for performing the method according to any of claims 11-20.

23. A communication device comprising a processor, a memory, an input interface for receiving information from other communication devices than the communication device, and an output interface for outputting information to other communication devices than the communication device, which when called by the processor, causes the device to perform the method of any of claims 1-10 or 11-20.

24. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium has stored therein a computer program or computer instructions, which, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any of claims 1-10 or 11-20.

25. A computer program product comprising program instructions for implementing the method of any of claims 1-10 or 11-20 when said program instructions are run on a computer.

26. A system on a chip comprising at least one processor, a memory, and an interface circuit, wherein the memory, the interface circuit, and the at least one processor are interconnected by a line, and wherein the at least one memory has instructions stored therein; the instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the method of any of claims 1-10 or 11-20.