WO2014056437A1

WO2014056437A1 - Method and apparatus for processing wifi frame

Info

Publication number: WO2014056437A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/084931
Authority: WO
Inventors: 周文涛
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2012-10-09
Filing date: 2013-10-09
Publication date: 2014-04-17
Also published as: CN103716860B; CN103716860A

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and apparatus for processing a WiFi frame. The method is applied to a WiFi relay, comprising: associating a WiFi terminal with a relay by receiving a WiFi terminal association request, and meanwhile, the relay sending the association request to a base station AP by using a MAC address of the terminal so as to associate the terminal with the base station AP; when a received WiFi frame sent by the terminal is a data frame and a first association list stores a source MAC address in the data frame, rebuilding a new data frame which can be sent to the base station AP, wherein the source MAC address carried in the new data frame is a field of a first MAC address, and the user data in the new data frame is the same as the user data in the received data frame; and sending a new data frame to the base station AP, and after the base station AP receives the new data frame and judges that a second association list stores a first MAC address carried in the new data frame, performing service processing on the user data of the terminal corresponding to the first MAC address. The present embodiment enables the AP side of a base station to sense a terminal, so as to realize better management of the terminal.

Description

Method and device for processing WiFi frame

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for processing a WiFi frame. Background technique

With the popularity of WiFi hotspots, operators gradually began to build WLANs as a single network, and began to deploy large-scale outdoor access points (APs, Access Point) to achieve indoor WLAN coverage through the outdoor base station AP.

Due to distance, interference, etc., the WiFi signal transmitted by the outdoor base station AP to the indoor is weak in many cases. At this time, a WiFi relay can be installed at the junction between the indoor and outdoor (such as the window), as shown in Figure 1. The WiFi relay receives the outdoor WiFi signal, and performs demodulation and regeneration to send to the indoor, so that the indoor WiFi terminal can receive a relatively strong WiFi signal. Of course, the WiFi relay can also be installed indoors to achieve indoor WiFi signal enhancement. The WiFi terminal here refers to a WiFi-enabled terminal, such as a WiFi-enabled mobile phone, a notebook, a tablet, and the like.

In the existing solution, the base station AP can only perceive the WiFi relay, and the WiFi terminal is invisible to the base station AP, and the base station AP cannot sense the existence of the WiFi terminal. Therefore, for the operator, it cannot be very Good management of the WiFi terminal (such as IP address management, accounting, authentication, etc. based on Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP). Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for processing a WiFi frame by using a WiFi relay, which is used to solve the problem that the operator cannot manage the WiFi terminal well.

In a first aspect, the embodiment provides a method for processing a WiFi frame, which is applied to a WiFi relay, where the WiFi relay is used to implement communication between a WiFi terminal and a base station access point AP, and the method includes: Receiving a first association request sent by the WiFi terminal, where the source MAC address carried in the first association request is the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal;

And storing the first MAC address to the first association list;

Transmitting a first association response to the WiFi terminal, thereby completing an association between the WiFi terminal and the WiFi relay;

Sending a second association request to the base station AP, where the source MAC address carried by the second association request is the first MAC address, so that the base station AP acquires the first MAC after receiving the second association request An address is stored in the second association list; and the base station AP is configured to reply to the second association response after receiving the second association request, where the destination MAC address carried in the second response request is the first MAC address. Address

Receiving the second association response, thereby completing an association between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP;

Receiving a WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal;

When the WiFi frame is a data frame and the first association list stores a source MAC address in the data frame, reconstruct a new data frame that can be sent to the base station AP, where the new data frame carries The source MAC address is a field of the first MAC address, and the user data in the new data frame is the same as the user data in the received data frame;

Sending the new data frame to the base station AP, so that the base station AP receives the new data frame and determines that the second association list stores the first MAC address carried by the new data frame, The user data of the WiFi terminal corresponding to the first MAC address performs service processing.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

Receiving a second data frame sent by the base station AP, where the destination MAC address carried in the second data frame is the first MAC address;

When it is determined that the first MAC address is located in the first association list according to the first association list, reconstruct a new second data frame that can be sent to the WiFi terminal, where the new second data frame is carried The destination MAC address is a field of the first MAC address, in the new data frame User data is the user data in the received second data frame;

Sending the new second data frame to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal acquires the user data in the new second data frame.

In conjunction with the first aspect and the first possible implementation of the first aspect, the second possible implementation form further includes:

When the received WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal is a control frame, the control frame is terminated, so that the control frame is not forwarded to the base station AP, and is sent back to the WiFi terminal and sent Control frame corresponding to the control frame, so that the WiFi terminal sends the data frame after receiving the corresponding control frame.

With reference to the second possible implementation of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation, the control frame sent by the WiFi terminal is an RTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol;

The control frame corresponding to the transmitted control frame is a CTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol. With reference to the first aspect and any possible implementation form of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation form, the reconfiguring a new data frame that can be sent to the base station AP includes: constructing the new data frame At the same time, the value of the BSSID field of the original data frame is modified, and the BSSID value originally identifying the WiFi relay is changed to the BSSID value of the base station AP. In a second aspect, the present embodiment provides a WiFi frame processing apparatus, which is applied to a WiFi relay, where the WiFi relay is used to implement communication between a WiFi terminal and a base station access point AP, and the apparatus includes:

a first association request receiving unit, configured to receive a first association request sent by the WiFi terminal, where a source MAC address carried in the first association request is a first MAC address of the WiFi terminal;

a storage unit, configured to store, by the first association request receiving unit, the first MAC address in the first association request to the first association list;

a first association response sending unit, configured to send the first association response to the WiFi terminal after the first association request receiving unit receives the first association request, thereby completing the WiFi termination The association between the end and the WiFi relay;

a second association request sending unit, configured to send, after the first association request receiving unit receives the first association request, a second association request to the base station AP, where the source MAC address carried by the second association request For the first MAC address, the base station AP acquires the first MAC address after receiving the second association request, and stores the first MAC address, and stores the first MAC address to the second association list. Responding to the second association response after the second association request, where the destination MAC address carried in the second response request is the first MAC address;

a second association response receiving unit, configured to receive the second association response, to complete an association between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP;

a WiFi frame receiving unit, configured to receive a WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal;

a first constructing unit, configured to: when the WiFi frame received by the WiFi frame receiving unit is a data frame, and the first association list stores a source MAC address in the data frame, reconstruct a device that can be sent to the base station a new data frame of the AP, where the source MAC address carried in the new data frame is a field of the first MAC address, and user data in the new data frame is the same as user data in the received data frame;

a data frame sending unit, configured to send the new data frame constructed by the first building unit to the base station AP, so that the base station AP receives the new data frame and determines that the second associated list is stored After the first MAC address carried in the new data frame, the user data of the WiFi terminal corresponding to the first MAC address is processed.

In a first possible implementation of the second aspect, the apparatus further includes:

a second data frame receiving unit, configured to receive a second data frame sent by the base station AP, where the destination MAC address carried in the second data frame is the first MAC address;

a second constructing unit, configured to: when determining, according to the first association list, that the first MAC address in the second frame received by the second data frame receiving unit is located in the first association list, Constructing a new second data frame that can be sent to the WiFi terminal, where the destination MAC address carried in the new second data frame is a field of the first MAC address, and the user in the new data frame The data is the user data in the received second data frame;

a second data frame sending unit, configured to send the new second data frame constructed by the second building unit to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal acquires the user inside after receiving the new second data frame data.

With reference to the second aspect, and the first possible implementation form of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation, the method further includes: a control frame processing unit, configured to: when the received WiFi terminal sends the When the WiFi frame is a control frame, the control frame is terminated, so that the control frame is not forwarded to the base station AP, and the control frame corresponding to the sent control frame is returned to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi is enabled. After receiving the corresponding control frame, the terminal sends the data frame.

With reference to the second possible implementation of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation, the control frame sent by the WiFi terminal is an RTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol; and the control corresponding to the sent control frame The frame is a CTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol.

With reference to the second aspect, and any one possible implementation form of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation, the first building unit includes a BSSID modifying unit, configured to modify when constructing the new data frame The value of the BSSID field of the original data frame is changed from the BSSID value originally identifying the WiFi relay to the BSSID value identifying the base station AP.

In this embodiment, after the WiFi terminal (corresponding to the first MAC address) initiates the association request, the relay saves the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal, and the relay still uses the first MAC address to initiate an association request to the base station AP, so that After receiving the base station AP, the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal is also saved, so that the WiFi is associated with the relay and the base station AP. After the association, the relay terminates the control frame sent by the terminal and replies to the response to the control frame, and adaptively modifies the data frame sent by the terminal to construct a new data frame and send it to the base station AP, so that the base station AP can receive The new data frame processes the user data therein, thus realizing the "perception" of the base station AP to the terminal (ie, because the base station AP has the second associated list, it can know which terminal is the data), and the base station AP Generally, operators deploy them. Therefore, operators can better manage WiFi terminals (for example, IP address management, accounting, authentication, etc. based on DHCP). Made). DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are merely the present invention. Some of the embodiments can be obtained by those skilled in the art from the drawings without any creative work.

1 is a schematic diagram of communication between a WiFi terminal and a base station AP based on a WiFi relay; FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a relay processing a WiFi frame according to Embodiment 1;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a relay of Embodiment 2;

4 is a schematic diagram of a WiFi terminal associated with a relay and a base station AP; FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a WiFi frame;

6 is a schematic diagram of correspondence between fields and frame types in a WiFi frame;

7 is a schematic diagram of sending a data frame after requesting permission by a control frame;

Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a new data frame;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart of the third embodiment relaying data sent by the base station AP to the WiFi terminal;

10 is a schematic flowchart of a third embodiment of a base station AP transmitting a data frame through a control frame; FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a WiFi frame processing apparatus according to Embodiment 4;

12 is another schematic structural diagram of a WiFi frame processing apparatus according to Embodiment 4;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a fifth embodiment of a WiFi relay structure. detailed description

In order to make the objects, the technical solutions and the advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the present invention will be further described in detail by the specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1 The embodiment of the present invention provides a method for processing a WiFi frame by using a WiFi relay. The application scenario of the WiFi relay may be referred to the application scenario shown in FIG. 1 , and the WiFi relay is used to demodulate the access point of the regenerated base station (Access Point). , AP ) signals are used by various WiFi terminals in the room. For convenience of explanation, the "base station AP" cartridge is also referred to as "AP", and the "WiFi relay" cartridge is referred to as "relay". The terminal "cartridge" is called "terminal".

After the WiFi relay searches for the WiFi signal sent by the base station AP and performs relay processing (demodulation and regeneration and transmitting the WiFi signal), the terminal can obtain a stronger WiFi signal. The WiFi signal sent by the base station AP is represented by an SSID (Service Set Identifier), assuming that SSID_1 is used here, and the WiFi signal identified by SSID_1 also has a BSSID identifier to identify the device providing the WiFi signal, assuming Here BSS_1 is used to identify that the base station AP provides this signal. When the relay relays the WiFi signal, the SSID of the WiFi signal sent by the relay is still SSID_1, but the BSSID becomes the corresponding identifier of the WiFi relay (assumed to be BSS_2). The specific technology of how the above relay performs signal relay is implemented by those skilled in the art, and details are not described herein.

Specifically, the embodiment provides a method for processing a WiFi frame by using a WiFi relay, which is applied to a WiFi relay. Referring to FIG. 2, the method includes the following steps:

S11. Receive a first association request (Association request) sent by the WiFi terminal, where the source MAC address carried in the first association request is a first MAC address of the WiFi terminal;

The association request is a request defined by the WiFi protocol, and the prefix "first" is used to distinguish it from other "association requests" that appear later, and subsequent other prefixed (such as "second") association requests are also followed. The association request here is similar, except that the sender and the object are different. Similarly, the sequence number prefix is also used to similarly define other nouns (such as MAC addresses), and will not be described in detail later.

The association request carries the source MAC address and the destination MAC address of a device. If the terminal sends the packet to the relay, the source MAC address is the MAC address of the terminal. Here, the first MAC address is used to represent the destination MAC address. The MAC address of the relay, which is not required in this step. The destination MAC address is specially processed, and the MAC address of the destination device to be sent (such as the relay in the step) is still filled.

S12. Store the first MAC address to the first association list.

After receiving the association request, the relay saves the first MAC address corresponding to the terminal to the first association list. The first association list is a logical concept. The specific implementation is not limited. For example, physically, it can also be understood as a physical storage area, and the first MAC address is stored. In practice, the relay will receive an association request from multiple terminals, so that the table will include the MAC address of one or more WiFi terminals. The role of the association list is to let the relay know which devices need to be maintained. If the source MAC addresses in the WiFi frames sent by some terminals are not in their own association list, then the terminals do not have their own. To associate, then discard these frames directly. In practice, the association list also has other terminal-related information (such as the assigned Association ID). This embodiment still uses the information and does not tamper with it.

513. Send a first association response to the WiFi terminal, so as to complete an association between the WiFi terminal and the WiFi relay.

After receiving the association response, the WiFi terminal indicates that the WiFi terminal has been associated with the WiFi relay, and the subsequent WiFi relay processes the data from the WiFi terminal.

514. Send a second association request to the base station AP, where the source MAC address carried by the second association request is the first MAC address, so that the base station AP obtains the first MAC address after receiving the second association request, and stores the first MAC address in the second association list. And causing the base station AP to reply to the second association response after receiving the second association request, where the destination MAC address carried in the second response request is the first MAC address;

After receiving the first association request, the relay sends a second association request to the base station AP, and sets the source MAC address in the second association request as the first MAC address, and the destination MAC address does not change here, or is the real target device. Address, which is the address of the base station AP.

After receiving the second association request, the base station AP is the first MAC address because the source MAC address is seen. Therefore, in the view of the base station AP, the association request is sent by the terminal identified by the first MAC address, so that the base station AP can The terminal is associated with the base station AP. Relay is equivalent to "pseudo" in this process The source MAC address is created (normally because the relay is sent from the relay to the base station AP, and the source MAC address should be the relayed MAC address), so that the base station AP considers that the terminal sends the second association request. The terminal does not directly initiate the association request to the base station AP, but completes it through the relay. Therefore, this process can be considered as an "indirect" association process.

After receiving the second association request, the base station AP adds the first MAC address to the second association list for subsequent maintenance. The principle is similar to the previous first association list (of course, some other information, such as the assigned Association ID) is added. The implementation of this part of the base station AP can also be performed based on the existing process, and will not be described here.

After receiving the second association request, the base station AP replies with a second association response (Association Request), where the destination MAC address is the first MAC address. That is, for the base station AP, the presence of the relay is not perceived, and only the terminal exists. After receiving the association from the first MAC address, the associated response is also for the first MAC address.

It should be noted that the order in which the relay sends the second association request to the base station AP and the sequence in which the relay sends the first association response to the WiFi terminal are not limited. The label S14 in this step does not mean that the step must be located after S13.

515. Receive a second association response, thereby completing an association between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP. Receiving a second association response, indicating that the base station AP has received the second association request, and adding the first MAC address to the association list, thereby The association between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP is completed. Of course, this association does not directly send an association request to the base station AP through the WiFi terminal, but is implemented by the WiFi relay "forgery, an association request initiated by the first terminal, which can be considered as being indirectly connected.

516. Receive a WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal.

WiFi frame management (Management) frames, Control (Control) frames, and Data (Data) frames. The management frame is used to transmit some management signals, such as the association request, association response, etc. mentioned above. Control frames are used to transmit some control signals related to data transmission, such as RTS (Request to Send), CTS (Allow to Send) and other control signals. Data frames are used to transfer user data. The specifics of these frames See Figure 6 for the meaning.

517. When the WiFi frame is a control frame, the control frame is terminated, so that the control frame is not forwarded to the base station AP, and the control frame corresponding to the sent control frame is returned to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal receives the corresponding Sending a data frame after controlling the frame;

This step is an optional step. In practical applications, the data frame can be directly sent after the association, and the control frame does not need to be sent. Of course, the control frame can also be sent to better control the data sent by the WiFi terminal. The purpose of the control frame interaction between the WiFi terminal and the WiFi relay is to allow the WiFi terminal to apply for the transmission permission. In this embodiment, if the control frame sent by the WiFi is received, the control frame is "terminated", so that the control frame is not forwarded to the data frame, and the corresponding control frame is returned to allow the terminal to send the data frame, so that the terminal receives the data. Data can be sent after the control frame of the response.

518. When the WiFi frame is a data frame and the first association list stores the source MAC address in the data frame, reconstruct a new data frame that can be sent to the base station AP, where the source MAC address carried in the new data frame is the first MAC address. The field of the address, the user data in the new data frame is the same as the user data in the received data frame;

This step can be performed after S16, and does not need to be performed after step S17. Of course, if there is step S17, it can also be executed after S17 (first request to send data frame permission through S17, and then process the received data frame).

The source MAC address in the data frame in the first association list indicates that the data frame is associated with the relay and needs to be processed, that is, a new data frame is reconstructed. When constructing a new data frame, the user data (in the FRAMebody field) is still the user data in the data frame sent by the WiFi terminal, and the data frame carries the source MAC address. When the terminal sends the relay to the relay, the first MAC address It is located in the Address2 field. In this embodiment, the value of this field is still not modified, that is, it is still set to the first MAC address. In order to be able to send to the base station AP (that is, the base station AP can receive and perform normal processing, no discarding occurs, and an error occurs), some other fields need to be modified in this step, for example, in the Address1 field of the data frame received from the terminal. The BSSID is changed from the original BSS_2 (identification relay) to BSS_1 (identification base station), in addition, the FCS field needs to be refilled (this field It is used to verify the data frame. The remaining fields can be adaptively adjusted or remain unchanged, so that the new data frame can be transmitted to the base station AP.

The key here is to maintain the value of the field of the first MAC address unchanged, so that after receiving the second association list, the base station AP knows that the data is sent by the associated terminal, and then processes it. The final purpose of the modification of the remaining fields is to maintain the integrity of the packet and to enable the packet to be transmitted to the AP of the base station, which may be modified according to actual conditions, and details are not described herein again.

S19. Send a new data frame to the base station AP, so that the base station AP receives the new data frame and determines that the second association list stores the first MAC address carried by the new data frame, and then the user data of the WiFi terminal corresponding to the first MAC address. Conduct business processing.

When the base station AP determines that the second association list stores the first MAC address carried in the new data frame, it performs service processing on the user data of the WiFi terminal corresponding to the first MAC address. The specific processing may be determined according to the actual application, for example, the service request corresponding to the terminal user data may be determined, and then the corresponding service data is returned to the terminal.

In this embodiment, after the WiFi terminal (corresponding to the first MAC address) initiates the association request, the relay saves the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal, and the relay still uses the first MAC address to initiate an association request to the base station AP, so that After receiving the base station AP, the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal is also saved, so that the WiFi is associated with the relay and the base station AP. After the association, the relay terminates the control frame sent by the terminal and replies to the response to the control frame, and adaptively modifies the data frame sent by the terminal to construct a new data frame and send it to the base station AP, so that the base station AP can receive The new data frame processes the user data therein, thus realizing the "perception" of the base station AP to the terminal (ie, because the base station AP has the second associated list, it can know which terminal is the data), and the base station AP Generally, operators deploy them. Therefore, operators can better manage WiFi terminals (for example, IP address management, accounting, and authentication based on DHCP). Embodiment 2 Based on the first embodiment, the solution is described in more detail in this embodiment. The application scenario of the present embodiment can still be seen in the application scenario shown in FIG. 1 , where the internal structure of the WiFi relay is as shown in FIG. 3 , which mainly includes : RFIC (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit), baseband processor, MAC (Medium Access Controller) controller, etc., where RFIC is used to transmit and receive RF signals (such as 2.4G RF signals) of WiFi protocol (in combination with antenna); Modulating the signal, transmitting it through the RFIC, or demodulating the signal received by the RFIC, and transmitting the demodulated signal to the MAC controller (in conjunction with an analog-to-digital converter ADC or a digital-to-analog converter DAC); The device is used to process the signal demodulated by the baseband processor, or the signal to be transmitted is modulated by the baseband processor and then transmitted through the RFIC. In addition, it can also include RAM, flash memory, etc. RAM is generally used to store data during the running of the program. For example, the frame can be cached, and the flash memory or other memory can store the program running code for the MAC controller. Read and execute.

The method in this embodiment may be performed based on the relay having the hardware architecture described above. For convenience of description, the hardware unit through which each method step passes is not specifically described herein. The "processing" step can be understood as follows: the relay receives (via the antenna) through the RFIC to the wireless signal carrying the "some kind of frame", and then demodulates the signal through the baseband processor to obtain the "some kind" The frame ", then the "some kind of frame" is passed to the MAC processor, and the MAC processor performs "some processing."

Suppose now there is a trunk, two WiFi terminals, and one base station AP. The relay includes two modules, one of which is used to perform the function as a terminal with respect to the base station AP. This embodiment is called a "relay terminal", and the other module is used to perform the function as an AP with respect to the WiFi terminal. "Relay AP", therefore, the relay will have two MAC addresses, named MAC0 (as the terminal) and MAC_Relay AP (as the AP). These two MAC addresses can be implemented using two different The physical MAC address of the physical chip, or a physical MAC address is also used.

It should be noted that the above "relay terminal" and "relay AP" are not physically strict areas. The two modules are divided into a logical division. In actual use, you can share the same hardware (such as RFIC, baseband processor, etc.). When "relay" is mentioned hereinafter, a person skilled in the art can judge which module is completed by the signal flow direction unless otherwise specified. It should also be noted that, in addition to the modules in the two logical senses, the relay may include other processing modules in a logical sense. Of course, some or even all functions of other processing modules may be placed on the two modules. One or two of them are implemented. Therefore, the relay is not strictly logically divided below, and those skilled in the art can implement the solution in combination with the steps given in this embodiment.

The two terminals include a first terminal and a second terminal, which use MAC1 and MAC2 to identify the MAC addresses of the two WiFi terminals, respectively. The MAC address of the base station AP is identified by the MAC_Base Station AP. This embodiment introduces the solution in detail based on the above application scenarios. Specifically, it mainly includes two phases of association and data transmission. The following two phases are specifically introduced:

(1) association phase

The association phase in this embodiment corresponds to the steps S11-S14 in the embodiment, and is mainly used to complete the association between each terminal and the relay, and the association between each terminal and the AP. Of course, the relay can be performed with the base station AP. Communication also associates itself with the base station AP. Referring to Figure 4 (for the sake of convenience in the figure, a rectangular box labeled "WiFi Terminal" in the upper left corner is used to indicate two WiFi terminals), including:

S41. The relay sends an Association request to the AP. After receiving the Association request, the AP associates the relay with the AP, and sends an Association request to the relay. After the relay is powered on, the AP scans the signal. The above methods are associated, obviously, this part of the function can be completed by the relay terminal module. The association request is a management frame defined by the WiFi protocol. See FIG. 5, which is a structural diagram of a WiFi frame. The meaning of the specific field is defined in the standard, and is not described here. Those skilled in the art can send different frames (such as management frames, control frames, data frames, etc.) by setting the Type and Subtype sub-segments in the FRAMe Control field to different values. See Figure 6, the meaning of each frame represented by Type and Subtype:

When Type=00, it means a management (Management) frame; When Type=01, it indicates a control (Control) frame;

When Type=10, it means data (Data) frame;

At the same time, each Type can be combined with Subtype to represent a plurality of different specific subtypes, such as the Association request mentioned in this step is Type=00, and Subtype=0000 represents a management frame with a specific meaning; similarly, If you want to transfer the Association response, just set the Type to 00 and set the Subtype to 0001.

After the trunk is associated with the AP, the trunk sets its own relay wireless parameters according to the wireless parameters of the AP, and enables its own "downlink relay AP" function. For example, the relay sets the wireless parameter SSID to the same SSID as the AP (assuming all are SSID_1), and sets the BSSID from the base station AP's BSSID (such as BSSID_1) to its own BSSID (such as BSSID_2). The function of relay to enable its own "downlink relay AP" means that the relay itself becomes an "AP" through the MAC processor, baseband processor and RFIC (here "AP" does not mean "base station AP" It is used to provide a WiFi signal for the terminal in the room. In order to distinguish it from the base station AP, this function of the relay is referred to as a "downlink relay AP" function. The above-mentioned relays are associated with each other, and the parameters are set to enable the downlink relay AP function to be known to those skilled in the art, and details are not described herein again.

S42. Perform association between the first terminal and the relay, and the base station AP.

The specific process of this step is performed based on steps S11-S14, specifically:

The first terminal sends an association request to the relay, and the source MAC address carried is its own MAC address, that is, MAC1, and the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the WiFi relay. Here, the WiFi relay is a "relative to the first terminal". AP", therefore, the destination MAC address uses the MAC_Relay AP;

After receiving the association request, the relay sends a first terminal reply association response, and records the MAC1 of the first terminal in the first association list, so that the first terminal can be associated with the relay; After the association request sent by the first terminal, the association request is also sent to the base station AP. At this time, the relay does not use its own MAC address (MAC0), but still uses the address MAC1 of the first terminal as the source MAC address, the destination address. Fill in the base station's MAC address MAC_ base station AP, the purpose of this is to let the base station receive the association request that is considered to be from the first terminal; it should be noted that the "simultaneous" here does not mean the same moment in absolute sense, but the representation is two Steps to be performed, in this embodiment, the step of replying the association response to the first terminal and the step of sending the association request to the base station AP by the relay are not strictly sequential, as long as the two steps can be completed;

After receiving the association request sent by the relay, the base station AP adds the MAC1 to the second association list, and sends an association response to the relay to complete the association between the first terminal and the base station AP. When the base station AP sends the association response, the source MAC address is filled with its own MAC address (MAC_base station AP), and the destination MAC address is filled with the MAC address of the first terminal (MAC1). This is because the base station AP does not pay attention to it. Which physical device is actually sent, it will only judge which terminal to send according to the received MAC address. Since it receives MAC1, the reply is also for MAC1. The base station AP does not need to be modified relative to the prior art, and the manner of adding the association list and other methods can refer to the existing base station AP processing flow.

Through the foregoing processing procedure, the association between the first terminal and the relay and the association between the first terminal and the base station AP can be completed. Since the first terminal does not directly send a message to the base station AP, the first terminal is associated with the base station AP by "forging" an association request with the source destination address being MAC1, from a certain point of view. It can also be considered that there is a "virtual terminal" (actually, it can be regarded as a functional module corresponding to the step of "associating with the base station AP"), and the association between the virtual terminal and the base station AP is completed by the virtual terminal, and Both the virtual terminal and the actual first terminal use the MAC 1 address. Therefore, the association between the first terminal and the base station AP is completed indirectly.

S43. Complete association between the second terminal and the relay, and the base station AP.

The specific processing method is similar to that of S42, and will not be described in detail here. The execution time of S43 is not to be after S42. These two steps are parallel steps, and the order of execution is not strictly sequential. By performing this step, the MAC address (MAC2) of the second terminal is also stored in the first association list of the relay and the second association list of the base station AP, and the second terminal and the relay and the base station AP are completed. The relationship between.

(2) Data transmission phase

When the terminal completes the association with the relay (the terminal receives the association response sent by the relay), the data frame can be sent. There are two ways to send a data frame: One method is to send it directly. Another method is that the terminal first sends a control frame request to send a data frame permission, and then acquires the right and then sends the data frame. For example, you can use the exemption service to obtain the permission to send data frames. This method is also called Point Coordination Function. When the terminal sends data to the AP, it sends an RTS control frame first. A CTS control frame is replied, and the terminal starts transmitting data after receiving the CTS control frame.

In this embodiment, when the relay receives a control frame for requesting data transmission authority from the terminal, the relay returns a corresponding control frame to the terminal to allow the terminal to send the data frame. At the same time, the relay terminates the control frames sent by these terminals, and does not allow these control frames to be transmitted to the base station AP.

Referring to FIG. 7, a flow chart of data transmission based on a control frame in this embodiment includes the following steps:

551. The WiFi terminal sends an RTS control frame to the WiFi relay, requests the sending permission, and the relay returns a CTS response to the WiFi terminal, and terminates the frame, and does not pass it to the base station AP.

The WiFi terminal in the step here is assumed to be the second WiFi terminal mentioned above, and the MAC address is MAC2, the time source MAC address of the RTS request is MAC2, and the destination MAC address is the MAC_Relay AP. When the relay responds to the CTS response, the destination MAC address is MAC2.

552. After receiving the CTS reply, the WiFi terminal starts to send a data frame, and the WiFi relay responds with an ACK response and buffers the data frame.

The source MAC address carried in the data frame is MAC2, and the destination MAC address is MAC_Relay AP. The destination MAC address in the ACK response is MAC2.

553. The relay requests the base station AP to send the data frame permission through the control frame, and also sends the RTS control frame, but the source MAC address is filled in the MAC2, and is still "forged" into the second terminal to send to the base station AP, so that the base station AP is from the MAC2. The control frame of this address is processed, and after receiving by the base station AP, the ACK control frame is returned for the MAC2 address. S54. The relay obtains the sending right after receiving the ACK control frame, and after constructing the new data frame by using the method shown in step S17, sending a data frame to the base station AP (using MAC2 as the source MAC address), so that the base station AP receives the data frame. The user data in the data frame is then processed. And, as in step S52, the base station AP also replies to the ACK control frame, notifying that the relay has received the data frame.

The step of refactoring is not strictly limited to be performed in this step. In practice, it is only necessary to complete the reconstruction before sending, for example, it may be reconstructed after being cached in step S52, or may be after the RTS is sent in step S53. Start refactoring and more.

For the schematic diagram of the reconstruction process, the key to the reconstruction is to maintain the value of the field carrying the terminal MAC address in the data frame and the user data unchanged. Specifically, see Figure 8, the upper part of Figure 8 is the frame format of a received WiFi frame, and the table in the lower part of Figure 8 is an explanation of the meaning of the Address bit.

When a data frame is sent from a terminal to a relay, when the terminal constructs a data frame, it selects which field to carry its own source MAC address according to the sending direction (defined by To DS and From DS conditions), for example, when the direction is When the terminal sends the relay to the relay (To DS is 1 and From DS is 0), the terminal records its own MAC address in the Address2 field, and the To DS is 1 in the meaning table of the Address bit in the lower part of Figure 8. The value of TA under the condition that From DS is 0 is the terminal MAC address, such as MAC1 or MAC2.

When the relay receives the data frame to reconstruct a new data frame, the sending direction of the new data frame is relayed to the base station AP. For the relay, the address is still in the meaning of the Address bit table. From DS is a 0" transmission scenario. At this time, the relay keeps the TA value in Address2 unchanged (still the terminal's MAC address, such as MAC1 or MAC2), and keeps the user data unchanged (the FRAMe Body field is used here to carry user data, therefore, the FRAMe Body field The value is unchanged, and the remaining values are adaptively modified so that the new data frame can be sent to the base station AP. For example, the RA value in Address1 is changed from the original BSS_2 (originally identified to the relay) to BSS_1 (now identified) Send to the base station AP); and recalculate the value of the FCS (ie, the check value). These adaptive modifications are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail herein. After the new data frame is constructed, the data frame can be sent, so that the base station AP can receive the data frame and process it, because the terminal can directly "see,"("perceive") the terminal (that is, the MAC address of the terminal is saved) The processing can be performed based on the MAC address of the terminal, and the data frame is processed. Therefore, the AP side (operator) can better manage the WiFi terminal.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, this embodiment provides a method for how a relay processes a data frame sent by a base station AP. Referring to FIG. 9, the following steps are included:

561. Receive a second data frame sent by the base station, where the destination MAC address carried in the second data frame is the first MAC address.

After the base station AP processes the message from the terminal, it can reply to a data frame. Since the base station AP directly "perceives" the WiFi terminal, the destination MAC address is the first MAC address, and the first MAC address in this embodiment. The meaning of "address" is the same as in the first embodiment.

562. When determining that the first MAC address is located in the first association list according to the first association list, reconstruct a new second data frame that can be sent to the WiFi terminal, where the destination MAC address carried in the new second data frame is the first MAC address. The field of the address, the user data in the new data frame is the user data in the received second data frame;

The data frame sent by the relay processing base station AP is similar to the processing method of processing the data frame sent by the WiFi terminal, and is also constructed to construct a new data frame. Since this frame is to be forwarded to the WiFi terminal, when constructing the frame, the purpose is The MAC address is to be filled with the MAC address of the WiFi terminal, and the user data is kept unchanged. For the changes of the remaining fields (such as BSSID, FCS), refer to the description of the previous embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

563. Send a new second data frame to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal acquires the user data in the new second data frame.

With this embodiment, the data sent by the base station AP can be transmitted to the WiFi terminal.

In addition, similar to the case where the WiFi terminal transmits a data frame, when the base station AP sends data to the relay, It can be sent directly, or it can be sent after the transmission permission is obtained through the interaction of the control frame. Referring to Figure x6, a flow diagram for obtaining a transmission right by using a control frame, and then transmitting a data frame, includes the following steps:

571. The base station AP applies for sending permission by using each WiFi relay of the control frame.

The application is made through the RTS control frame, and the relay sends a CTS control frame to indicate the consent. The destination MAC address used in the base station AP control frame is the MAC address of the target WiFi terminal (4 is set as the second terminal in the second embodiment, and the MAC address is MAC2);

572. The base station AP sends a data frame to the WiFi relay, and the relay responds to the response, and buffers the data frame.

573. The relay requests a sending permission to the WiFi terminal by using a control frame.

The source MAC address is the relay's own MAC address. Here, the MAC_Relay AP (which is an AP with respect to the terminal) is used, and the destination MAC address is the MAC address of the WiFi terminal, that is, M AC2.

S74. After obtaining the transmission permission, the relay reconstructs a new data frame and sends it to the WiFi terminal. The source MAC address is the MAC address of the "Relay AP" (MAC-Relay AP), and the destination MAC address is the MAC address (MAC2) of the WiFi terminal.

In this embodiment, the WiFi terminal can also receive the response sent by the base station AP through the processing of the relay, thereby implementing data transmission between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP. Embodiment 4

Based on the above embodiments, the present embodiment provides an apparatus for processing a WiFi frame, which is applied to a WiFi relay, where the WiFi relay is used to connect a WiFi terminal and a base station access point AP. Referring to FIG. 11, the device 110 is provided. Includes:

a first association request receiving unit 111, configured to receive a first association request sent by the WiFi terminal, where a source MAC address carried in the first association request is a first MAC address of the WiFi terminal, and a storage unit 112, configured to: The first MAC address in the first association request received by the first association request receiving unit 111 is stored in the first association list;

a first association response sending unit 113, configured to receive by the first association request receiving unit 111 After the first association request, sending a first association response to the WiFi terminal, thereby completing an association between the WiFi terminal and the WiFi relay;

The second association request sending unit 114 is configured to: after the first association request receiving unit 111 receives the first association request, send a second association request to the base station AP, where the second association request carries the source The MAC address is the first MAC address, so that the base station AP acquires the first MAC address after receiving the second association request, and stores the first MAC address, and stores the information in the second association list. Responding to the second association response after the second association request, where the destination MAC address carried in the second response request is the first MAC address;

The second association response receiving unit 115 is configured to receive the second association response, so as to complete an association between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP.

The WiFi frame receiving unit 116 is configured to receive the WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal, and the first constructing unit 117 is configured to: when the WiFi frame received by the WiFi frame receiving unit 116 is a data frame, and the first associated list is stored Reconstructing a new data frame that can be sent to the base station AP, where the source MAC address carried in the new data frame is a field of the first MAC address, the new The user data in the data frame is the same as the user data in the received data frame;

The data frame sending unit 118 is configured to send the new data frame constructed by the first building unit 117 to the base station AP, so that the base station AP receives the new data frame and determines that the second associated list is stored. After the first MAC address carried by the new data frame, the user data of the WiFi terminal corresponding to the first MAC address is processed.

Referring to FIG. 13, in particular, the first building unit may include a BSSID modifying unit 1171, configured to modify a value of a BSSID field of an original data frame when the new data frame is constructed, and identify the WiFi data by the original The subsequent BSSID value is changed to identify the BSSID value of the base station AP.

Referring to FIG. 13, the embodiment may further include:

a second data frame receiving unit 119, configured to receive a second data frame sent by the base station AP, where the destination MAC address carried in the second data frame is the first MAC address; a second constructing unit 120, configured to: when determining, according to the first association list, that the first MAC address in the second frame received by the second data frame receiving unit 119 is located in the first association list Reconstructing a new second data frame that can be sent to the WiFi terminal, where the destination MAC address carried in the new second data frame is a field of the first MAC address, and user data in the new data frame And the user data in the received second data frame;

a second data frame sending unit 121, configured to send the new second data frame constructed by the second building unit to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal acquires the new second data frame User data.

This embodiment may further include:

The control frame processing unit 122 is configured to: when the received WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal is a control frame, terminate the control frame, so that the control frame is not forwarded to the base station AP, and Responding to the control frame corresponding to the sent control frame by the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal sends the data frame after receiving the corresponding control frame.

The control frame sent by the WiFi terminal is an RTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol; and the control frame corresponding to the sent control frame is a CTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol. It should be noted that the units in this embodiment are logically divided, and the physical units corresponding to the units in the actual product are not strictly limited. For details, refer to the specific implementations in the foregoing embodiments, and the details are not described in detail herein.

In this embodiment, the association between the terminal and the relay and the base station AP is implemented by using the relay, so that the base station AP can "see" ("perceive") the terminal, and after the association, the relay can utilize the new data frame. The method transmits the data sent by the terminal to the base station AP, so that the base station AP can process the data after receiving the data. The base station AP is generally deployed by the operator, so the operator can achieve better management of the terminal. Embodiment 5

This embodiment provides a WiFi relay, which is used to connect a WiFi terminal and a base station AP. Figure 13 includes a processor 131 and a memory 132;

The memory 132 is configured to store program instructions, and the processor 131 is configured to read and execute program instructions stored in the memory, wherein when the program instructions stored in the memory 132 are read and executed by the processor, performing the following steps :

Receiving a first association request sent by the WiFi terminal, where the source MAC address carried in the first association request is the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal;

And storing the first MAC address to the first association list;

Sending a second association request to the base station AP, where the source MAC address carried by the second association request is the first MAC address, so that the base station AP acquires the first MAC after receiving the second association request An address is stored in the second association list; and the base station AP is configured to reply to the second association response after receiving the second association request, where the destination MAC address carried in the second response request is the first MAC address Address

Receiving a WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal;

When the program instruction is read and executed by the processor, the method further includes the following steps: receiving a second data frame sent by the base station AP, and the destination carried in the second data frame The MAC address is the first MAC address;

When it is determined that the first MAC address is located in the first association list according to the first association list, reconstruct a new second data frame that can be sent to the WiFi terminal, where the new second data frame is carried The destination MAC address is a field of the first MAC address, and the user data in the new data frame is the user data in the received second data frame;

In addition, when the received WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal is a control frame, the control frame is terminated, so that the control frame is not forwarded to the base station AP, and is replied to the WiFi terminal. And a control frame corresponding to the sent control frame, so that the WiFi terminal sends the data frame after receiving the corresponding control frame.

In this embodiment, the control frame sent by the WiFi terminal is an RTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol, and the control frame corresponding to the sent control frame is a CTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol. In this embodiment, In the new data frame, the value of the BSSID field of the original data frame is modified, and the BSSID value originally identifying the WiFi relay is changed to the BSSID value of the base station AP.

It should be noted that FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a trunking structure of a relay according to an embodiment of the present invention. For a more specific schematic diagram, reference may be made to FIG. 3, and the functions of the physical modules in FIG. 3 have been introduced in the second embodiment. No longer. The processor in this embodiment may be the MAC controller in FIG. 3 or other processors having similar processing capabilities. The memory in this embodiment may be the flash memory in FIG. 3 and the frame buffer RAM or other similar storage medium.

In addition, those skilled in the art can understand that, in a specific implementation process, the processor can send and receive WiFi frames through physical layer processing devices (such as baseband processors, RFICs, antennas, etc.), and some of the techniques are those skilled in the art. The well-known techniques are not described in detail in this embodiment. Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the flow in the method of the above embodiment is implemented. The program may be implemented by a computer program to instruct related hardware, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program may include the flow of an embodiment of the methods as described above. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), or a random access memory (RAM).

The present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims

claims

1. A method of processing WiFi frames, characterized in that it is applied to WiFi relay, and the WiFi relay is used to realize communication between WiFi terminals and base station access points AP. The method includes:

Receive the first association request sent by the WiFi terminal, where the source Mac address carried in the first association request is the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal;

Store the first MAC address in a first association list;

Send a first association response to the WiFi terminal, thereby completing the association between the WiFi terminal and the WiFi relay;

Send a second association request to the base station AP, where the source MAC address carried by the second association request is the first MAC address, so that the base station AP obtains the first MAC after receiving the second association request. address, and store it in the second association list; and, causing the base station AP to reply a second association response after receiving the second association request, and the destination MAC address carried in the second response request is the first MAC address;

Receive the second association response, thereby completing the association between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP;

Receive WiFi frames sent by the WiFi terminal;

When the WiFi frame is a data frame and the first association list stores the source MAC address in the data frame, a new data frame that can be sent to the base station AP is reconstructed, and the new data frame carries The source MAC address is a field of the first MAC address, and the user data in the new data frame is the same as the user data in the received data frame;

Send the new data frame to the base station AP, so that after the base station AP receives the new data frame and determines that the second association list stores the first MAC address carried by the new data frame, Perform service processing on the user data of the WiFi terminal corresponding to the first MAC address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

Receive the second data frame sent by the base station AP, the destination MAC carried in the second data frame The address is the first MAC address;

When it is determined according to the first association list that the first MAC address is located in the first association list, a new second data frame that can be sent to the WiFi terminal is reconstructed, and the new second data frame carries The destination MAC address is the field of the first MAC address, and the user data in the new data frame is the same as the user data in the received second data frame;

Send the new second data frame to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal obtains the user data in the new second data frame after receiving it.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

When the received WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal is a control frame, the control frame is terminated so that the control frame is not forwarded to the base station AP, and a reply is sent to the WiFi terminal and sent The control frame corresponding to the control frame causes the WiFi terminal to send the data frame after receiving the corresponding control frame.

4. The method of claim 3, characterized in that:

The control frame sent by the WiFi terminal is an RTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol;

The control frame corresponding to the sent control frame is a CTS control frame defined by the WiFi protocol.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said reconstructing a new data frame that can be sent to the base station AP includes:

When constructing the new data frame, modify the value of the BSSID field of the original data frame from the original BSSID value that identifies the WiFi relay to the BSSID value that identifies the base station AP.

6. A device for processing WiFi frames, characterized in that it is applied to WiFi relay, and the WiFi relay is used to realize communication between WiFi terminals and base station access points AP. The device includes:

The first association request receiving unit is configured to receive the first association request sent by the WiFi terminal, the The source Mac address carried in an association request is the first MAC address of the WiFi terminal; a storage unit configured to store the first MAC address in the first association request received by the first association request receiving unit to the first association list;

A first association response sending unit configured to send a first association response to the WiFi terminal after the first association request receiving unit receives the first association request, thereby completing the connection between the WiFi terminal and the WiFi relay. the connection between;

The second association request sending unit is configured to send a second association request to the base station AP after the first association request receiving unit receives the first association request. The source MAC address carried by the second association request is the first MAC address, so that the base station AP obtains the first MAC address after receiving the second association request, and stores it in the second association list; and, causes the base station AP to receive the first MAC address. Reply a second association response after the second association request, and the destination MAC address carried in the second response request is the first MAC address;

A second association response receiving unit, configured to receive the second association response, thereby completing the association between the WiFi terminal and the base station AP;

A WiFi frame receiving unit, configured to receive WiFi frames sent by the WiFi terminal;

A first construction unit configured to reconstruct a data frame that can be sent to the base station when the WiFi frame received by the WiFi frame receiving unit is a data frame and the first association list stores the source MAC address in the data frame. A new data frame of the AP, the source MAC address carried in the new data frame is the field of the first MAC address, and the user data in the new data frame is the same as the user data in the received data frame;

A data frame sending unit, configured to send the new data frame constructed by the first construction unit to the base station AP, so that the base station AP receives the new data frame and determines that the second association list stores After describing the first MAC address carried in the new data frame, service processing is performed on the user data of the WiFi terminal corresponding to the first MAC address.

7. The device according to claim 6, further comprising: The second data frame receiving unit is configured to receive the second data frame sent by the base station AP, where the destination MAC address carried in the second data frame is the first MAC address;

A second construction unit configured to re- Construct a new second data frame that can be sent to the WiFi terminal, the destination MAC address carried in the new second data frame is the field of the first MAC address, and the user data in the new data frame is the same as User data in the received second data frame;

The second data frame sending unit is configured to send the new second data frame constructed by the second construction unit to the WiFi terminal, so that the WiFi terminal obtains the user information in the new second data frame after receiving the new second data frame. data.

8. The device according to any one of claims 6-7, further comprising:

A control frame processing unit configured to terminate the control frame when the received WiFi frame sent by the WiFi terminal is a control frame so that the control frame is not forwarded to the base station AP, and reply Give the WiFi terminal a control frame corresponding to the sent control frame, so that the WiFi terminal sends the data frame after receiving the corresponding control frame.

9. The device according to claim 8, characterized in that:

10. The device according to any one of claims 6-9, characterized in that:

The first construction unit includes a BSSID modification unit, which is used to modify the value of the BSSID field of the original data frame from the original BSSID value that identifies the WiFi relay to the BSSID value that identifies the new data frame. BSSID value of the base station AP.