WO2015061949A1

WO2015061949A1 - Joint scheduling method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2015061949A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/086086
Authority: WO
Inventors: 姜艳平; 杨浔; 赵牧
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2013-10-28
Filing date: 2013-10-28
Publication date: 2015-05-07
Also published as: CN105409266A; CN105409266B

Abstract

Provided are a joint scheduling method and apparatus, which relate to the field of wireless communications and can ensure that adjacent access points can simultaneously perform normal communication. The method comprises: acquiring, by a first access point, information about a sector currently used by a second access point, and determining, by the first access point, the sector currently used by the second access point according to the information, wherein the second access point is an access point which has the same frequency as and has an overlapped coverage range with the first access point; determining, by the first access point, a sector to be currently used by itself according to the sector currently used by the second access point so that interference between the determined sector and the sector currently used by the second access point can be less than a preset value; and communicating, by the first access point, with a station thereof using the determined sector. The present invention is used for wireless local area network communication.

Description

Method and device for joint scheduling

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for joint scheduling.

Background technique

Wireless network (Wi reles s Loca l Area Network, WLAN) technology is well received by the market due to its advantages of wireless, high speed and low cost. With the gradual popularization of wireless local area networks and the increasing demand for communication capacity, the deployment of wireless local area networks has become more and more dense, and the probability of adjacent basic service sets (Basic Server Sets, BSS) communicating simultaneously using the same channel It is also getting higher and higher, where a basic service set consists of an access point (AP) and several associated stations (Sta tine, STA).

In this case, whether or not the respective communication of the adjacent basic service sets can be simultaneously performed and the interference between the two is small is a key to improving the communication quality. To this end, there are techniques in the prior art for directional transmission. Different from omnidirectional transmission technology, directional transmission technology divides the area covered by one access point into several sectors, which stipulates that only one sector can communicate at a certain time. When the Reques t To Send/Clear To Send (RTS/CTS) mechanism is turned off, two adjacent access points use only one sector for communication, if the coverage of the two sectors is If the ranges do not overlap, then the interference between them will be smaller. Compared with the omnidirectional transmission technology, when the access points are densely distributed, the directional transmission technology does improve the communication effect because the coverage of adjacent access points overlaps and cannot communicate at the same time.

However, when the RTS/CTS mechanism is turned off, the sectors of two adjacent access points that use directional transmission technology and communicate simultaneously may overlap in coverage. At this time, adjacent access points Although it can communicate at the same time, the interference is large, and even because the interference is particularly serious, the two access points cannot communicate normally; Moreover, when the RTS/CTS mechanism is turned on, in order to avoid interference, the neighboring access point is being monitored to communicate. The other access point will choose to retrace, so that there is no interference between adjacent access points, but simultaneous communication is not possible. Summary of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for joint scheduling to ensure that adjacent access points can communicate normally at the same time.

In a first aspect, a method for joint scheduling is provided, including:

Obtaining, by the first access point, information about a sector currently used by the second access point, where the first access point determines, according to the information, a sector currently used by the second access point, where The second access point is an access point that has the same frequency as the first access point and has overlapping coverage;

Determining, by the first access point, a sector that is currently used by the first access point according to a sector currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector and the second access point are currently used. The interference between sectors is less than a preset value;

The first access point communicates with the station using the determined sector.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the information that the first access point acquires a sector currently used by the second access point includes:

The first access point acquires media access control of a current communication site of the second access point

MAC address;

And obtaining, by the first access point, information about a sector currently used by the second access point according to a correspondence between the MAC address and a pre-acquired MAC address and information of a sector.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first access point acquires media access control of a current communication site of the second access point The MAC address includes:

If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives a control frame or a data frame sent by the second access point, or receives the first a control frame or a data frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame and the data frame include a MAC address of a current communication station of the second access point;

Or, if the first access point is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point is in the first access point and the second access point at the same time. The site within the coverage sends a MAC address request message, and receives the second access point through the same at the same time as the first a MAC address response message returned by the access point and a site within the coverage of the second access point, the MAC address response message including a MAC address of a current communication site of the second access point.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first access point obtains the correspondence between the information of the MAC address and the sector includes: :

If the first access point is in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives a corresponding relationship advertisement message periodically broadcasted by the second access point, where the corresponding relationship is The notification message includes a correspondence between the MAC address and the information of the sector;

Or, if the first access point is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point is in the first access point and the second access point at the same time. The site in the coverage area sends a correspondence request message, and receives a correspondence returned by the second access point by the site that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point In response to the message, the correspondence response message includes a correspondence between the MAC address and the information of the sector.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the information that the first access point acquires the sector currently used by the second access point includes:

If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives the current access station of the second access point or the second access point to send Control frame, the control frame includes information of a sector currently used by the second access point;

Or, if the first access point is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point is in the first access point and the second access point at the same time. a site within the coverage area sends a sector information request message, and receives a fan returned by the second access point through the site that is simultaneously within the coverage of the first access point and the second access point a zone information response message, the sector information response message containing information of a sector currently used by the second access point.

In conjunction with the second or fourth possible implementation of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation of the first aspect, the control frame is a request to send an RTS frame and/or a clear to send a CTS frame.

With reference to the first aspect, or any one of the first to fifth possible implementations of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sector currently used by the second access point Letter The information includes: a number of the sector currently used by the second access point or a direction of the main lobe.

With reference to the first aspect, or any one of the first to sixth possible implementations of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second access is obtained by the first access point Before the information of the sector currently used, the method further includes:

The first access point acquires a priority of itself and the second access point;

The acquiring, by the first access point, the information about the sector currently used by the second access point includes: when the priority of the second access point is higher than the priority of the first access point, The first access point acquires information of a sector currently used by the second access point.

In conjunction with the seventh possible implementation of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second access point is in the same frequency as the first access point, and the coverage is overlapped. And obtaining, by the first access point, information about a sector currently used by the second access point, where the first access point acquires a priority ratio of the second access point Information about sectors currently used by each access point that is higher by the first access point;

Determining, by the first access point, the sector currently used by the second access point according to the information includes:

Determining, according to the information, the sector currently used by each access point of the second access point with a higher priority than the first access point;

Determining, by the first access point, a sector that is currently used by the first access point according to a sector currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector and the second access point are currently used. The interference between sectors is less than the preset value, including:

Determining, by the first access point, a sector that is currently used by each access point that is higher in priority than the first access point in the second access point, so that a sector that is currently used by the first access point is determined. The determined interference between the sector and the sector currently used by each of the access points is less than a preset value.

With reference to any one of the first to the eighth possible implementations of the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first access point is currently according to the second access point The sector used, determining the sector to be used by itself, such that the interference between the determined sector and the sector currently used by the second access point is less than a preset value includes: The first access point selects, from a sector having a communication task, a sector that does not overlap with a sector currently used by the second access point and whose relative difference in the direction of the main lobe direction is not less than a threshold. The sector that you are currently using.

With reference to the ninth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first access point selects a second access from a sector that has a communication task A sector in which the sector currently used has no overlap and the relative difference in the direction of the main lobe direction is not less than the threshold, and the sector to be used as its own includes:

If there is a plurality of sectors in the first access point having a communication task, there is no overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point, and the relative difference of the main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than a threshold. a sector, the first access point selects, from among the plurality of sectors, a relative difference between a main lobe direction pointing angle and a main lobe direction pointing angle of a sector currently used by the second access point The largest sector, as the sector that it is currently using.

With reference to the ninth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eleventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first access point selects a second connection from a sector having a communication task The sector in which the in-situ sector currently used has no overlap and the relative difference in the direction of the main lobe direction is not less than the threshold, and the sector to be used as its own includes:

If there is a plurality of sectors in the first access point having a communication task, there is no overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point, and the relative difference of the main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than a threshold. a sector, the first access point selects, from the plurality of the sectors, a communication duration that is not longer than a communication duration of a sector currently used by the second access point, as the current use of the sector itself Sector.

With reference to the tenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first access point selects a main lobe direction direction from the plurality of the sectors The method further includes: a sector having a maximum relative difference between the angle and the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point, as the sector to be used by the second access point, the method further includes:

If there are a plurality of stations having communication tasks in a sector in which the relative difference between the main lobe direction pointing angle and the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point is the largest, The first access point selects the station with the highest priority of the communication task as the station with which to communicate. In a second aspect, a device for joint scheduling is provided, including:

An acquiring unit, configured to acquire information about a sector currently used by the second access point;

a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the information acquired by the acquiring unit, a sector currently used by the second access point, where the second access point is in the same frequency as the jointly scheduled device And coverage points have overlapping access points;

The determining unit is further configured to determine, according to a sector currently used by the second access point, a sector that is currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector and the second access point are currently used. The interference between the sectors is less than the preset value;

And a communication unit, configured to communicate with the station by using the determined sector.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the acquiring unit includes:

The first obtaining module is specifically configured to: obtain a medium access control MAC address of a current communication site of the second access point;

The second obtaining module is configured to: obtain, according to the correspondence between the MAC address acquired by the first acquiring module and the pre-acquired MAC address and the information of the sector, the current access point of the second access point is used. The information of the sector.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first acquiring module is specifically configured to:

If the device that is jointly scheduled is in the coverage of the second access point, the first acquiring module receives a control frame or a data frame sent by the second access point, or receives the second interface. a control frame or a data frame sent by the current communication station of the inbound point, where the control frame and the data frame include a MAC address of a current communication station of the second access point;

Or, if the jointly scheduled device is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first acquiring module is in the coverage of the device that is both in the joint scheduling and the second access point The station sends a MAC address request message, and receives a MAC address response message returned by the second access point by the station that is in the coverage of the joint scheduling device and the second access point. The MAC address response message includes the current communication site of the second access point MAC address.

In conjunction with the first possible implementation of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second acquiring module is specifically configured to:

If the device that is jointly scheduled is in the coverage of the second access point, the second acquiring module receives a corresponding relationship advertisement message periodically broadcasted by the second access point, where the corresponding relationship notification message is received. Determining a correspondence between the MAC address and the information of the sector, and acquiring, according to the MAC address acquired by the first acquiring module, the corresponding relationship advertisement message, the current use of the second access point Sector information

Or, if the jointly scheduled device is not in the coverage of the second access point, the second acquiring module is in the coverage of the device that is both in the joint scheduling and the second access point The station sends a correspondence request message, and receives a correspondence response message returned by the second access point by the device that is in the joint scheduling device and the site in the coverage of the second access point, The corresponding relationship response message includes a correspondence between the MAC address and the information of the sector, and the second access point is obtained according to the MAC address acquired by the first obtaining module and the corresponding relationship response message. Information about the sector currently in use.

With reference to the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the acquiring unit is specifically configured to:

If the jointly scheduled device is within the coverage of the second access point, the acquiring unit receives a control frame sent by the current access station of the second access point or the second access point, The control frame includes information about a sector currently used by the second access point;

Or, if the jointly scheduled device is not in the coverage of the second access point, the acquiring unit sends a site that is in the coverage of the device that is both the joint scheduling and the second access point Transmitting a sector information request message, and receiving a sector information response message returned by the second access point by the device that is in the joint scheduling device and the second coverage point, The sector information response message contains information of the sector currently used by the second access point.

In combination with the second or fourth possible implementation of the second aspect, the fifth aspect of the second aspect In a possible implementation manner, the control frame is a request to send an RTS frame and/or a clear to send a CTS frame. With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the first to fifth possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the sector currently used by the second access point The information includes: a number of the sector currently used by the second access point or a direction of the main lobe.

With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the first to the sixth possible implementations of the second aspect, in the seventh possible implementation of the second aspect, the acquiring unit is further configured to:

Before obtaining, by the acquiring unit, the information about the sector currently used by the second access point, acquiring the priority of the jointly scheduled device and the second access point;

The obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

And acquiring, when the priority of the second access point is higher than the priority of the jointly scheduled device, acquiring information about a sector currently used by the second access point.

With reference to the seventh possible implementation of the second aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second access point is in the same frequency as the jointly scheduled device, and the coverage is overlapped. a plurality of access points, where the acquiring unit is specifically configured to:

Obtaining, by the second access point, information of a sector currently used by each access point that has a higher priority than the jointly scheduled device;

The determining unit is specifically configured to:

Determining, according to the information of the sector currently used by each access point that is higher in priority than the jointly scheduled device, by the acquiring unit, determining that the second access point is in the second access point a sector currently used by each access point having a higher priority than the jointly scheduled device;

Determining, according to the sector in the second access point that the priority is higher than that of the jointly scheduled device, the sector currently used by each access point, so that the sector and the determined sector are determined. The interference between the sectors currently used by each access point is less than a preset value.

With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the first to the eighth possible implementations of the second aspect, in the ninth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the determining unit is specifically configured to:

Selecting, from the sector having the communication task, a sector that does not overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point and whose relative difference in the direction of the main lobe direction is not less than a threshold, as the joint scheduling With reference to the ninth possible implementation of the second aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the determining unit is specifically configured to:

If in the sector in which the jointly scheduled device has a communication task, there are a plurality of fans that do not overlap with a sector currently used by the second access point and whose relative difference in the direction of the main lobe direction is not less than a threshold And determining, by the determining unit, a sector having the largest difference between the main lobe direction pointing angle and the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point from the plurality of the sectors , as the sector currently to be used by the joint scheduling device.

With reference to the ninth possible implementation of the second aspect, in the eleventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the determining unit is specifically configured to:

If in the sector in which the jointly scheduled device has a communication task, there are a plurality of fans that do not overlap with a sector currently used by the second access point and whose relative difference in the direction of the main lobe direction is not less than a threshold And determining, by the determining unit, a sector in which the communication duration is not greater than a communication duration of a sector currently used by the second access point from the plurality of sectors, as the joint scheduling device currently needs The sector used.

In conjunction with the tenth possible implementation of the second aspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the determining unit is further configured to:

If there are a plurality of stations having communication tasks in a sector in which the relative difference between the main lobe direction pointing angle and the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point is the largest, The determining unit selects the station with the highest priority of the communication task as the station that communicates with the jointly scheduled device.

The method and device for joint scheduling provided by the present invention are applied to the occasion of wireless local area network communication. In the present invention, the second access point is an access point that has the same frequency as the first access point and has overlapping coverage. After acquiring the information about the sector currently used by the second access point, the first access point can determine, according to the information, a sector currently used by the second access point. Then, the first access point determines, according to the sector currently used by the second access point, a sector with a sector interference currently used by the second access point that is less than a preset value, as the The sector to be used currently, and the use of the The fixed sectors communicate. In this way, the sector determined by the first access point and the sector currently used by the second access point can communicate normally at the same time. Compared with the two adjacent access point RTS/CTS mechanisms in the prior art, when the sectors of the respective directional communication are improperly scheduled, the interference between the sectors is large, or when the RTS/CTS mechanism is turned on. The method for joint scheduling provided by the embodiments of the present invention can ensure that adjacent access points can be used, because the access points that are being communicated by neighboring access points are selected to avoid the communication, and the neighboring access points cannot be simultaneously communicated. At the same time, normal communication. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for joint scheduling according to the present invention;

2A is a schematic diagram of sector division;

2B is a schematic diagram of the sector main lobe direction of the second access point facing away from the first access point;

2C is a schematic diagram of a sector main lobe direction of a second access point pointing to a first access point;

3 is a schematic diagram of a specific embodiment of a method for joint scheduling according to the present invention;

4A is a schematic diagram of a beacon frame and a communication duration;

4B is a schematic diagram of comparison of a beacon frame and a communication duration;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another specific embodiment of a method for joint scheduling according to the present invention; FIG.

6 is a structural block diagram of an embodiment of a device for joint scheduling according to the present invention;

Figure Ί is a structural block diagram of an embodiment of an access point of the present invention. detailed description

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts are within the scope of the present invention.

1 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of joint scheduling of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the method for joint scheduling provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes:

1 1 , the first access point acquires information about a sector currently used by the second access point, where the first interface Determining, according to the information, a sector currently used by the second access point, where the second access point is an uplink that has the same frequency as the first access point and overlaps coverage. point.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first access point may be an access point, and the second access point may be another access point or a group other than the first access point. An access point, where the second access point and the first access point both use the same frequency for communication, and the coverage ranges of the two are overlapped, that is, when the two perform omnidirectional communication respectively, the communication There will be mutual interference. In the remainder of the description, the proximity of the access points indicates that the access points communicate using the same frequency and the coverage overlaps. It should be noted that, the second access point is adjacent to the first access point, and is based on a basic service set corresponding to the second access point and a basic service corresponding to the first access point. The set neighbors, wherein the basic service set exists in an infrastructure type wireless local area network architecture, and includes an access point and a plurality of stations associated with the coverage area thereof. In the wireless LAN communication where the service set is densely distributed, that is, the wireless LAN communication in which the access point is densely distributed, and the RTS/CTS mechanism only needs to be turned on when the control frame is used.

In the case where only two access points are adjacent, the second access point communicates with the site corresponding to the communication task when a communication task (a packet of the following line) occurs, and then, according to the prior art In the manner, an optimal sector is selected for the station, and the sector in which the station is located is the sector currently used by the second access point. After the second access point selects the currently used sector, the information of the sector currently used by the second access point is sent out, where the information of the currently used sector includes the sector number or the main The direction of the petals, etc. The number of the sector is determined by the sector division mode of the access point, and the sectors in the different main lobe directions correspond to different sector numbers (for simplicity, only the numbering is used in the following description). In this way, the first access point receives the information sent by the second access point in a direct or indirect manner, and can obtain the number of the sector currently used by the second access point.

In this step, the first access point may determine a sector currently used by the second access point by using a control frame, a data frame, or a MAC address response message, and a correspondence relationship advertisement message or a correspondence relationship response message. The second access point may also be determined by a control frame or sector information response message. The sector currently in use. The response message is sent by the site for the request message, and the information requested by the request message may be sent in multiple formats. The following is a brief description of the two situations.

a first case: determining, by the first access point, a sector that is currently used by the second access point by using a control frame, a data frame, or a MAC address response message, and a correspondence relationship advertisement message or a correspondence relationship response message In the case of information, first, the first access point may acquire a correspondence between a MAC address of a station to be communicated by the second access point and information of a used sector by using the following manner: Receiving, in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives a corresponding relationship announcement message periodically broadcasted by the second access point; if the first access point is not in the second Within the coverage of the access point, the corresponding relationship request message is sent to the station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point, and the corresponding relationship response message returned by the station is received. The correspondence relationship advertisement message may specifically be a beacon frame or a custom frame. Then, the first access point may acquire the MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point by: if the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, And receiving a control frame (RTS frame and/or CTS frame) or a data frame sent when the second access point interacts with the station with which the second access point interacts; if the first access point is not in the second connection Within the coverage of the ingress, the MAC address request message may be sent to the station that is within the coverage of the first access point and the second access point, and then the MAC address response message returned by the station is received. After acquiring a correspondence between a MAC address of a station to be communicated by the second access point and information of a used sector and a MAC address of a current communication station of the second access point, the first The access point may determine the sector currently used by the second access point according to the MAC address of the station and the number of the sector, the corresponding relationship.

a second case: the first access point may be used when the first access point determines a sector currently used by the second access point by using a control frame or a sector information response message. Determining a sector currently used by the second access point in the following manner: if the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, receiving the second access point or the Current communication of the second access point a control frame sent by the station; if the first access point is not in the coverage of the second access point, the coverage of the first access point and the second access point may be simultaneously The station within the station sends a sector information request message, and receives a sector information response message returned by the station, where the control frame and the sector information response message each include a sector currently used by the second access point. Number or main lobe direction information.

Further, prior to the start of the data communication task, priority may be set for each access point, where the priority of the access point corresponds to the priority of the basic service set in which the access point is located, and the priority of the access point is set. This is achieved by setting the priority of the basic service set. It should be noted that the purpose of setting the priority is to specify that an access point should adjust its own sector according to the sector currently used by all the access points whose priority is higher than the priority. The sector currently used by the access point adjusts its own sector, which can prevent adjacent access points from interfering with each other according to the sector currently used by the other party to adjust its own sector.

The priority setting applies when two or more access points are adjacent. Taking the access point of three or more access points as an example, the first access point is an access point, and the second access point is a plurality of access points adjacent to the first access point. And the first access point acquires information about a sector currently used by each access point with a higher priority than the first access point in the second access point, and determines, according to the acquired information, The sector currently used by each access point whose priority is higher than itself in the second access point.

12: The first access point determines, according to a sector currently used by the second access point, a sector that is currently to be used by the first access point, so that the determined sector and the second access point are currently located. The interference between the sectors used is less than the preset value.

Inter-sector interference refers to the interference between one access point's directional communication with the station within one sector and the directional communication of another access point with another station within another sector. When using the same frequency for simultaneous communication between different sectors, if there is overlap between sectors, the interference of the sectors may be large, and if the sectors do not overlap, the interference may be reduced. In the present invention, the purpose to be achieved is that the communication interference between the same frequency access points is at least less than the interference when the sectors overlap, and the relative difference in the pointing angle of the main lobe direction between the non-overlapping sectors is Large, the more interference between sectors small. Wherein, the relative difference of the pointing angles is equal to the degree of the angle of the pointing angle of the main lobe direction between the sectors or the degree of the complementary angle of the included angle, how to determine the relative difference of the pointing angles, in the following A detailed description will be made in conjunction with the drawings. If the relative difference in the pointing angle of the main lobe direction between the non-overlapping sectors is sufficiently large, the interference between the sectors is significantly smaller than the interference when the sectors overlap. In actual use, depending on the application scenario, the preset value can be determined according to actual needs. In the embodiment of the present invention, for example, the interference value corresponding to the main lobe directions of the two sectors may be set to a preset value, and for example, the interference corresponding to the main lobe direction of the sectors may be pointed to each other. A certain percentage of the value is set to a preset value, such as 85% or 60% of the interference value corresponding to when the sectors are completely overlapped. In the rest of the description, the small interference means that the interference between the sectors is less than a preset value, and after the sector division of the access point is determined, the interference between the sectors of the adjacent access points A small number combination has been determined.

The relative difference between the interference between sectors and the pointing angle of the main lobe direction between sectors will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is assumed that the main lobe direction of the access point sector is a fixed number of directions, for example, as shown in Fig. 2A, fixed to eight directions numbered 1 to 8. As shown in FIG. 2B, if the sector (5) currently used by the second access point AP2 is facing away from the first access point API, the sector in the first access point API facing away from the second access point AP2 ( 1, 2 or 8) The interference between the sector (5) currently used by the second access point AP2 is small. As shown in FIG. 2C, if the sector (1) currently used by the second access point AP2 points to the first access point API, the sector in the first access point API that faces the second access point AP2 (1) The interference between 2, or 8) and the sector (1) currently used by the second access point AP2 is small. Whether the sector currently used by the second access point AP2 is backward or pointing to the first access point API can be determined by: introducing a ray from the second access point AP2 to the first access point API, if If the angle between the main lobe direction of the sector currently used by the access point AP2 and the ray is greater than 90 degrees, it is determined that the sector currently used by the second access point AP2 is facing away from the first access point API; If the angle between the main lobe direction of the sector currently used by the access point AP2 and the ray is less than 90 degrees, it is determined that the sector currently used by the second access point AP2 points to the first access point AP1.

Determining whether the sector currently used by the second access point AP2 is backward or pointing to the first access point API Thereafter, the relative difference in the pointing angle of the main lobe direction between the sectors of the first access point API and the second access point AP2 can be calculated as follows. As shown in FIG. 2B, the sector number currently used by the second access point AP2 is 5, which is back to the first access point AP1. The first access point API may select sectors numbered 1, 2 or 8. At this time, the degree of the angle of the main sector direction of the two sectors (ranging from 0 to 180 degrees, including 0 degrees and 180 degrees) is selected as the relative difference of the pointing angles between the sectors. For example, the angle between the main lobe directions of sectors numbered 1 and 5 is 180 degrees, the angle of the main lobe direction of sectors numbered 1 and 5 is 135 degrees, and the mains of sectors numbered 8 and 5 The angle of the flap is 135 degrees. It can be seen that if the first access point API selects the sector numbered 1, the relative difference between the direction of the main lobe direction of the first access point API and the sector of the second access point AP2 is the largest, which is 180. degree.

As shown in FIG. 2C, the sector number currently used by the second access point AP2 is 1 and points to the first access point AP1. The first access point API can select sectors numbered 1, 2 or 8. At this time, the degree of complement angle of the angle between the main sectors of the two sectors (ranging from 0 to 180 degrees, including 0 degrees and 180 degrees) is selected as the relative difference in the pointing angle between the sectors. The angle between the main lobe directions of the sectors numbered 1 and 1 is 0 degrees, and the complementary angle of the included angle is 180 degrees; the angle of the main lobe direction of the sectors numbered 2 and 1 is 45 degrees, at an angle The complementary angle is 135 degrees; the angle between the main lobe directions of the sectors numbered 8 and 1 is 45 degrees, and the complementary angle of the included angle is 135 degrees. It can be seen that if the first access point API selects the sector numbered 1, the relative difference between the pointing angles of the main lobe direction between the first access point API and the sector of the second access point AP2 is the largest, 180 degree.

If the direction of the access point sector can be flexibly adjusted, not a fixed number of points, the threshold of small sector interference can be set to, for example, 90 degrees, that is, the sector of the first access point and the second access point. The relative difference in the pointing angle of the sector satisfying the direction of the main lobe with less interference is at least 90 degrees. At this time, the relative difference in the pointing angle of the main lobe direction between the sectors is determined in the same manner as the case where the main lobe direction of the access point sector is fixed.

If there are multiple sectors having communication tasks and satisfying a sector interference that is currently used by the second access point, the first access point may select a current location from the second access point The sector with the smallest sector interference is used as the sector that it is currently using. If said and said second The station having the smallest sector interference currently used by the access point has a plurality of stations capable of communicating with the first access point, and the first access point may select from the plurality of the stations. The site with the highest priority for communication tasks, as the site with which it communicates.

Further, in a sector having a communication task, the first access point may select a sector in which the duration of one communication is not greater than the duration of the second access point, as the sector to be used by itself. . The first access point may acquire the communication duration of the second access point from the second access point, or acquire the second access point by using a station that communicates with the second access point. The length of communication. For example, if there is a sector in the sector of the first access point that is less interfered with the second access point, respectively, API. Sector l, API. Sector2, or API. Sector 3, the first access The communication duration of the point with the station STA11, the communication duration of the first access point and the station STA12 are not greater than the communication duration of the second access point and its station, and the first access point may select the numbering API. The sector corresponding to Sectorl and API. Sector2. At this time, the first access point may select a sector AP1. Sector2 corresponding to the STA12 with a higher service priority as the sector to be used by itself. In addition, by obtaining the size of the packet and the communication rate, the communication duration can also be calculated using both.

In the case where there are more than three access points adjacent, the first access point may be one access point, and the second access point may be a group access with higher priority than the first access point. point. For example, the second access point includes a third access point and a fourth access point with a higher priority than the third access point. It should be noted that, before the first access point determines the sector that it is currently to use, the sector currently used by the third access point satisfies the fan currently used by the fourth access point. The condition that the area interference is small, the communication duration of the third access point and its communication station is not greater than the communication duration of the fourth access point and its communication station. In this way, when the first access point determines the sector that it is currently using, the determined sector should simultaneously satisfy the sector currently used by the third access point and the fourth access point. The interference between the first access point and its communication station should simultaneously satisfy not more than the communication duration of the third access point and its communication station, and the communication between the fourth access point and its communication site. Duration, where the determined method is adjacent to two access points The same, will not be described here. In this way, when the neighboring access points are extended from two to more than three, the joint scheduling method provided by this embodiment is also applicable.

13. The first access point communicates with the station by using the determined sector.

After the first access point determines the sector that it is currently using, the first access point communicates with its associated site on the determined sector. At the same time, the second access point also communicates with its associated site on the sector it is currently using. Because the first access point adjusts a sector according to a sector currently used by the second access point, the sector determined by the first access point and the second access point currently The interference of the used sector is small, so that the first access point and the second access point can simultaneously communicate and have less interference, thereby achieving the effect of space division multiplexing and improving communication efficiency.

In this embodiment, the joint scheduling method is applied to the occasion of wireless local area network communication. After determining the sector currently used by the second access point, the first access point does not select backoff to avoid interference, but determines the number according to the sector currently used by the second access point. The sector currently used by the two access points interferes with the smaller sector and communicates using the determined sector. Thus, due to proper scheduling, the sector determined by the first access point and the sector currently used by the second access point can communicate not only simultaneously but also with low interference. Compared with two adjacent access points in the prior art, when the RTS/CTS mechanism is turned off, the sectors of the respective directional communication are caused by the improper scheduling, and the interference between the sectors is large, or the RTS/CTS mechanism is enabled. When the access point selects the escaping because the neighboring access point is being communicated, the neighboring access point cannot perform the simultaneous communication. The joint scheduling method provided by the embodiment of the present invention can ensure the adjacent access. Points can communicate at the same time and the interference is small.

In order to better understand the present invention, the above two cases will be described in detail in several specific embodiments. It is also to be noted that the embodiments exemplified below are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can easily conceive other embodiments, which are within the scope of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart of a specific embodiment of a method for joint scheduling according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the method for joint scheduling provided by the specific embodiment of the present invention includes: 31. The first access point acquires the priority of the second access point and the second access point, and learns that the priority of the second access point is higher than its own priority.

In this embodiment, the first access point may be an access point, and the second access point may be another access point, where the second access point and the first An access point communicates using the same frequency, and the coverage of the two overlaps.

Prior to the start of the data communication task, the priority of the access point has been determined. The first access point may obtain the priority of the second access point by using an access controller (Acces s Controller, AC), or may compare the parameters that affect the priority setting between the access points. Determining the relationship between the priority of the access points. The parameters may be, for example, the number of stations within the coverage of the access point, and the like. In this embodiment, the first access point is set to have a lower priority than the second access point. The second access point may learn that its priority is higher than the first access point in the same manner as the first access point.

32. If the first access point is in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives a corresponding relationship advertisement message periodically broadcasted by the second access point, where The correspondence relationship notification message includes a correspondence between a MAC address of the station to which the second access point is to communicate and information of the sector.

If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point can directly receive the message sent by the second access point. After the first access point learns that the priority of the second access point is higher than its own priority, the first access point may receive a corresponding relationship announcement periodically broadcast by the second access point. a message, where the corresponding relationship advertisement message may be broadcasted in a manner of a beacon frame, a custom frame, or the like, where the correspondence relationship advertisement message includes a MAC address of a station to which the second access point is to communicate and the station The correspondence between the information of the sectors used, that is, the correspondence between the MAC address of the station and the number of the sector.

The second access point may periodically broadcast to a surrounding access point and a station in a manner of a broadcast beacon frame (ie, a beacon broadcast), where the information contained in the beacon frame is: The number of sectors to which the second access point is to be performed with which stations are to be performed for a period of time Communication, that is, the correspondence between the number of the sector and the MAC address of the station. That is, the second access point may notify one of the adjacent access points or stations of one or more downlink communication tasks and their corresponding sectors through a beacon frame, and correspondingly, corresponding to the site. The sectors can be the same or different. The first access point may directly receive the beacon frame, and then, according to the received beacon frame, determine, between the number of the sector that the second access point is about to communicate with the MAC address of the station. Correspondence.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the MAC address of the beacon frame broadcasted by the second access point AP2 corresponds to three stations STA21, STA22, and STA23, and the number of the sector corresponding to the three stations may be AP2. Tor l, AP2. Sec tor2 and AP2. Sec tor 3. Of course, the sectors corresponding to the three sites can also have the same number. After receiving the beacon frame, the first access point API may determine the sector AP2. Sec tor1 corresponds to the station STA21, the sector AP2. Sec tor2 corresponds to the station STA22, and the sector AP2. Sec tor3 corresponds to the station STA23.

Further, if the first access point is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point cannot directly receive the correspondence relationship notification message from the second access point, and Transmitting a correspondence request message to a station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point to request a MAC address and a fan of the station that the second access point is about to communicate with Corresponding relationship between the information of the area; the station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point may return a target after receiving the corresponding relationship request message Corresponding relationship response message of the correspondence request message, where the correspondence relationship response message includes the correspondence relationship. It should be noted that the station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point may be a station that is in communication with the second access point, or may not The site where the second access point communicates. The station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point may learn the corresponding relationship by receiving a corresponding relationship advertisement message broadcast by the second access point. Certainly, the station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point may also need to trigger the request of the first access point, and directly send one that includes the corresponding The message of the relationship is received by the first access point. Place The correspondence request message and the correspondence response message may be sent in the form of a management frame or a custom frame. After receiving the corresponding relationship response message, the first access point may determine the corresponding relationship.

33. If the first access point is in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives a control frame or a data frame sent by the second access point, or receives a a control frame or a data frame sent by a current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame and the data frame include a MAC address of a current communication station of the second access point.

The control frame may be an RTS frame and/or a CTS frame, and the data frame is a data DATA frame sent when the access point communicates with the station. If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point learns the number of the sector to be communicated by the second access point and the MAC of the station. After the corresponding relationship between the addresses, the control frame sent by the second access point may be directly received, or the control frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point may be directly received, where the control frame includes The MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point. Additionally, the second access point transmits a data frame to the station with which it communicates when communicating with the station with which it communicates. After receiving the data frame, the first access point may determine a MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point. In addition, in the uplink communication, the first access point may receive a data frame sent by a station that communicates with the second access point, and according to the data frame, determine a current communication station of the second access point. MAC address.

Further, if the first access point is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point is simultaneously in the first access point and the second access point The station in the coverage area sends a MAC address request message to request the MAC address of the current communication station of the second access point; the coverage of the first access point and the second access point is simultaneously After receiving the MAC address request message, the intra-site may return a MAC address response message for the MAC address request message, where the MAC address response message includes the MAC of the current communication site of the second access point. address. It should be noted that the station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point is configured to receive the control frame sent by the second access point or a data frame, or a control frame or a data frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point to learn the MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point. The MAC address request message and the MAC address response message may be sent in the form of a management frame or a custom frame. After receiving the MAC address response message, the first access point may determine a MAC address of a current communication station of the second access point.

34. The first access point determines, according to a correspondence between a number of a sector of the second access point and a MAC address of the site, and a MAC address of the site, a fan currently used by the second access point. The number of the area.

After acquiring a correspondence between a MAC address of a station used by the second access point to communicate and information of a sector, and a MAC address of a current communication station of the second access point, the An access point may determine the sector currently used by the second access point according to the MAC address of the station and the number of the sector, the corresponding relationship.

For example, the second access point AP2 first performs an RTS/CTS frame interaction with the station STA21, and if the first access point API is within the coverage of the second access point AP2 or the station STA21, the first access point The API may receive the RTS/CTS frame and determine the MAC address of the station STA 21 that is communicating with the second access point AP2 accordingly. The first access point learns, according to the pre-acquired beacon frame, the MAC address of the station to be communicated by the second access point and the number of the sector-corresponding relationship. As shown in FIG. 4A, since the sector AP2. Sectorl corresponds to the station STA21, the first access point API can determine the second access point AP2 after determining that the station that is communicating with the second access point AP2 is the station STA21. The sector currently used is the sector AP2. Sectorl. After the communication between the second access point AP2 and the station STA21 is completed, if the second access point AP2 and the station STA22 perform the RTS/CTS frame interaction, the first access point API may also receive the RTS/CTS frame according to This determines the MAC address of the station STA22 that is communicating with the second access point AP2. Since the sector AP2. Sector2 corresponds to the station STA22 in advance, the first access point API can determine that when the second access point AP2 communicates with the station STA22, the sector currently used by the second access point AP2 is a fan. Area AP2. Sector2. 35. The first access point determines, according to a sector currently used by the second access point, a sector that is currently used by itself.

After the first access point learns the number of the sector currently used by the second access point, the first access point may select a sector number corresponding thereto, so that the sector corresponding to the selected number and the second interface The interference between the currently used sectors of the in point is minimal. The first access point may further select, in the sector with the least interference, the station with the highest priority of the communication task as the station with which to communicate. In addition, the first access point may select, in a sector in which a communication task exists, a communication duration that is not greater than a communication duration of a sector currently used by the second access point as a sector to be used by itself. It is said that the two communication durations are the smallest.

The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 4A, the first access point API selects a downlink communication sector according to the information of the sector of the second access point AP2, and the communication duration corresponding to the selected site of the first access point API is T1, the communication duration of the second access point AP2 in the time period of the same sector oriented communication is T21, and the communication duration T1 should not be greater than the communication duration T21. This is because the working mode of the access point is half-duplex. If the communication duration T1 is greater than the communication duration T21 (refer to Figure 4Β), the first access point API sends the data packet yet to end and misses receiving the second access. The sector information of the new round of downlink communication of the AP2; and, because the second access point AP2 whose priority is higher than the first access point API does not perform according to the information of the sector currently used by the first access point API The sector adjustment may cause a large interference between the sector of the new round of downlink communication of the second access point AP2 and the sector currently used by the first access point API. It can be seen that by specifying that the communication duration of the site selected by the first access point is not greater than the communication duration of the site selected by the second access point, it can be ensured that the first access point does not miss the location. The sector information of the new round of downlink communication of the second access point may also be avoided between the sector currently used by the first access point and the sector of the second access point of the second access point. Interference.

36. The first access point communicates with the station by using the determined sector.

After the first access point determines a sector with a small interference with the sector according to a sector currently used by the second access point, the first access point communicates with a station that is to communicate with the determined sector. . At the same time, the second access point also communicates with the communication site on the sector it is currently using. In this way, the first access point and the second access point can communicate at the same time and the interference is small.

In this embodiment, the joint scheduling method is applied to the occasion of wireless local area network communication. After acquiring the information of the sector currently used by the second access point, the first access point does not select backoff to avoid interference, but according to the information of the sector currently used by the second access point, A sector that is less interfered with the sector currently used by the second access point is determined and communicated using the determined sector. In this way, due to proper scheduling, the sector currently determined by the first access point and the sector currently used by the second access point can communicate not only simultaneously but also less than a preset value.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a specific embodiment of the method for joint scheduling according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the method for joint scheduling provided by the specific embodiment of the present invention includes:

The first access point acquires the priority of the second access point and the second access point, and learns that the priority of the second access point is higher than its own priority.

In this embodiment, the first access point may be an access point, and the second access point may be another access point or a group other than the first access point. An ingress point, wherein the second access point and the first access point both communicate using the same frequency, and the coverage areas of the two overlap.

Prior to the start of the data communication task, the priority of the access point has been determined. In the case that the second access point is an access point, the first access point learns that the priority of the second access point is higher than its own priority, and the second access point learns The priority of the first access point is lower than the priority of the first access point, and the method is the same as that of step 31, and details are not described herein again.

Where the second access point is a group of access points having a higher priority than the first access point, the second access point may include a third access point and a higher priority than The fourth access point of the third access point. The first access point learns that the priority of the third access point and the fourth access point is higher than itself. The third access point learns that the priority of the first access point is lower than itself, and learns that the priority of the fourth access point is higher than itself. The fourth access point learns that the priority of the first access point and the third access point is lower than itself. 52. If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives current communication of the second access point or the second access point. a control frame sent by the station, where the control frame includes information about a sector currently used by the second access point.

If the two access points are adjacent to each other, if the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point is aware of the second access point. After the priority of the priority is higher than the priority of the first access point, the second access point can directly receive the RTS frame and/or the CTS frame in the interaction process, and determine according to the RTS frame and/or the CTS frame. The number of the sector currently used by the second access point. If the first access point is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first access point may be aware that the priority of the second access point is higher than its own priority. Transmitting a sector information request message to a station that is within the coverage of the first access point and the second access point to request information of a sector currently used by the second access point; At the same time, the station in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point may return a sector information for the sector information request message after receiving the sector information request message. In response to the message, the sector information response message includes information of a sector currently used by the second access point. It should be noted that the station that is in the coverage of the first access point and the second access point learns the second by receiving a control frame sent by the second access point. Information about the sector currently used by the access point. The sector information request message and the sector information response message may be transmitted in the form of a management frame or a custom frame. The first access point determines a sector currently used by the second access point according to the received sector information response message.

In the case where three or more access points are adjacent, the first access point needs to determine a sector currently used by the second access point having a higher priority than itself. In the second access point, an access point with a lower priority (such as the third access point) needs to determine all access points (such as the fourth access point) whose priority is higher than itself. The sector used.

53. The first access point determines, according to the number of the sector currently used by the second access point or the direction of the main lobe, a sector that is currently used by itself.

After the first access point learns the number of the sector currently used by the second access point, The sector number corresponding thereto is selected such that the interference between the sector corresponding to the selected number and the sector currently used by the second access point is minimized. The first access point may further select, in the sector with the least interference, the station with the highest priority of the communication task as the station with which to communicate. In addition, the first access point may select, in a sector in which a communication task exists, a communication duration that is not greater than a communication duration of a sector currently used by the second access point as a sector to be used by itself. It is said that the two communication durations are the smallest. Further, when three or more access points are adjacent to each other, as described above, the access point having a lower priority adjusts its own sector based on the sector currently used by the access point having the higher priority.

54. The first access point communicates with a station by using the determined sector.

Corresponding to a method for joint scheduling provided by the embodiment of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a device for joint scheduling. As shown in FIG. 6, a joint scheduling apparatus 61 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

The obtaining unit 611 is configured to obtain information about a sector currently used by the second access point;

a determining unit 612, configured to determine, according to the information acquired by the acquiring unit, a sector currently used by the second access point, where the second access point is the same as the joint scheduling device Frequency and coverage of overlapping access points; The determining unit 612 is further configured to determine, according to a sector currently used by the second access point, a sector that is currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector and the second access point are currently The interference between the sectors used is less than the preset value;

The communication unit 61 3 is configured to communicate with the station by using the determined sector. Optionally, the information about the sector currently used by the second access point includes: a number of a sector currently used by the second access point or a direction of a main lobe.

In this embodiment, the joint scheduling device is applied to the occasion of wireless local area network communication. After acquiring the information of the sector currently used by the second access point, the joint scheduling device does not select backoff to avoid interference, but according to the information of the sector currently used by the second access point. And determining a sector having less interference with a sector currently used by the second access point, and communicating using the determined sector. Thus, due to proper scheduling, the sector determined by the joint scheduling device and the sector currently used by the second access point can communicate not only simultaneously but also less than a preset value.

In another embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the obtaining unit 611 includes:

The first obtaining module 6111 is specifically configured to: obtain a media access control MAC address of a current communication site of the second access point;

The second obtaining module 6112 is configured to: acquire the second access point according to the correspondence between the MAC address acquired by the first obtaining module 61 11 and the pre-acquired MAC address and the information of the sector. Information about the sector currently in use.

Optionally, the first obtaining module 6111 is specifically configured to: if the device 61 that is jointly scheduled is in the coverage of the second access point, the first acquiring module 6111 receives the control frame sent by the second access point. Or a data frame, or a control frame or a data frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame and the data frame include a MAC address of a current communication station of the second access point. Or, if the jointly scheduled device 61 is not in the coverage of the second access point, the first obtaining module 6111 is to the site that is in the coverage of the device 61 and the second access point that are both in the joint scheduling. Sending a MAC address request message, and receiving a MAC address response message returned by the second access point by the device that is in the joint scheduling device 61 and the coverage of the second access point, the MAC address The response message includes the MAC of the current communication site of the second access point address.

Optionally, the second obtaining module 6112 is specifically configured to: if the device 61 that is jointly scheduled is in the coverage of the second access point, the second acquiring module 6112 receives the periodic broadcast of the second access point. Corresponding relationship notification message, the corresponding relationship advertisement message includes a correspondence between the MAC address and the information of the sector, according to the MAC address acquired by the first obtaining module 6111 and the corresponding relationship advertisement message, Obtaining information about a sector currently used by the second access point; or, if the jointly scheduled device 61 is not in the coverage of the second access point, the second obtaining module 6112 is simultaneously in joint scheduling. The device 61 and the station within the coverage of the second access point send a correspondence request message, and receive the second access point by the device 61 and the second access point that are simultaneously in the joint scheduling. Corresponding relationship response message returned by the site in the coverage, the correspondence relationship response message includes a correspondence between the MAC address and the information of the sector, according to the A first acquiring module acquires the MAC address and the corresponding relationship information response message, acquiring a second sector of the access point currently being used.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the acquiring unit 611 is specifically configured to: if the device 61 of the joint scheduling is within the coverage of the second access point, the acquiring unit 611 receives the second interface And a control frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame includes information about a sector currently used by the second access point; or, if the jointly scheduled device 61 is not After the coverage of the second access point, the acquiring unit 611 sends a sector information request message to the station that is in the coverage of the joint scheduling device 61 and the second access point, and receives the a second information access message returned by the second access point by the device 61 that is in the joint scheduling device and the second access point, the sector information response message includes the second access Click on the information of the currently used sector.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the control frame is an RTS frame and/or a CTS frame. Optionally, the obtaining unit 61 1 is further configured to: obtain, after acquiring the information about the sector currently used by the second access point, the priority of the device 61 and the second access point; The obtaining unit 611 is specifically configured to: when the priority of the second access point is higher than the priority of the device 61 that is jointly scheduled, acquire information about a sector currently used by the second access point. Optionally, the second access point is a plurality of access points that are in the same frequency as the jointly scheduled device 61 and have overlapping coverage. The acquiring unit 611 is specifically configured to: obtain a priority in the second access point. The information of the sector currently used by each access point is higher than the jointly scheduled device 61. The determining unit is specifically configured to: determine, according to the information of the sector currently used by each access point that is higher in priority than the jointly scheduled device 61, the second access point acquired by the obtaining unit 611 a sector in the second access point whose priority is higher than that of the jointly scheduled device 61; according to the second access point, the priority is higher than the joint scheduling device 61 The sector currently used by the ingress determines the sector to be used by itself, so that the interference between the determined sector and the sector currently used by each access point is less than a preset value.

Optionally, the determining unit is specifically configured to: select, from a sector having a communication task, a non-overlapping with a sector currently used by the second access point, and a relative difference of a main blade direction pointing angle is not less than a threshold. The sector, as the sector currently to be used by the joint scheduling device 61.

Optionally, the determining unit 612 is specifically configured to: if there is a sector in the jointly scheduled device 61 having the communication task, there is no overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point, and the main lobe direction is pointed If the relative difference of the angles is not less than the threshold of the sector, the determining unit 612 selects the main lobe direction pointing angle from the plurality of the sectors and the main lobe direction pointing of the sector currently used by the second access point The sector with the largest relative difference in angles is the sector currently to be used by the joint scheduling device 61.

Optionally, the determining unit 612 is specifically configured to: if there is a sector in the jointly scheduled device 61 having the communication task, there is no overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point, and the main lobe direction is pointed The determining unit 612 selects, from the plurality of the sectors, a sector whose communication duration is not greater than the communication duration of the sector currently used by the second access point, The sector to be used as the joint scheduling device 61.

Optionally, the determining unit 612 is further configured to: if the relative difference between the main lobe direction pointing angle and the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point is the largest, There are a plurality of stations having communication tasks, and the determining unit 612 selects the station with the highest communication task priority as the station that communicates with the jointly scheduled device 61.

Corresponding to a method and device for joint scheduling provided by an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is implemented The example also provides an access point. As shown in FIG. 7, an access point 71 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a transceiver 711, configured to acquire information about a sector currently used by a second access point;

The processor 712 is configured to determine, according to the information acquired by the transceiver, a sector currently used by the second access point, where the second access point is in the same frequency as the access point. And coverage points have overlapping access points;

The processor 712 is further configured to determine, according to a sector currently used by the second access point, a sector that is currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector and the second access point are currently The interference between the sectors used is less than the preset value;

The transceiver 711 is further configured to communicate with the station by using the determined sector.

Optionally, the information about the sector currently used by the second access point includes: a number of a sector currently used by the second access point or a direction of a main lobe.

In this embodiment, the access point is applied to the occasion of wireless local area network communication. After obtaining the information of the sector currently used by the second access point, the access point does not select backoff to avoid interference, but according to the information of the sector currently used by the second access point, A sector that is less interfered with the sector currently used by the second access point is determined and communicated using the determined sector. Thus, due to proper scheduling, the sector determined by the access point and the sector currently used by the second access point can communicate not only simultaneously but also less than a preset value.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the transceiver 711 is specifically configured to: acquire a media access control MAC address of a current communication site of the second access point; and the MAC address and the pre-acquired MAC address. Corresponding relationship between the address and the information of the sector, acquiring information of the sector currently used by the second access point.

Optionally, the transceiver 71 1 is specifically configured to: if the access point 71 is at the second access point, when the media access control MAC address of the current communication site is used to obtain the second access point The transceiver 711 receives the control frame or data frame sent by the second access point, or receives a control frame or a data frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame is received. And the data frame includes a MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point; if the access point 71 is not within the coverage of the second access point, the transceiver 71 1 is simultaneously accessing Point 71 and the stated The station within the coverage of the second access point sends a MAC address request message, and receives the second access point to return through the site that is simultaneously within the coverage of the access point 71 and the second access point. MAC address response message, the MAC address response message containing the MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point.

Optionally, the transceiver 711 acquires information about a sector currently used by the second access point in a correspondence between the information according to the MAC address and a pre-acquired MAC address and a sector. When the access point 71 is in the coverage of the second access point, the transceiver 711 receives the corresponding relationship advertisement message periodically broadcasted by the second access point, and the corresponding relationship is notified. The message includes a correspondence between the MAC address and the information of the sector, and the information about the sector currently used by the second access point is obtained according to the MAC address and the corresponding relationship advertisement message; The ingress point 71 is not in the coverage of the second access point, and the transceiver 711 sends a correspondence request message to the station that is in the coverage of the access point 71 and the second access point, and receives the Corresponding relationship response message returned by the second access point by the site that is in the coverage of the access point 71 and the second access point, where the corresponding relationship response message includes the MAC address and the fan The correspondence between the information based on the correspondence relationship between the MAC address and response message, acquiring the information of the second access point currently used by the sector.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the transceiver 711 is specifically configured to: if the access point 71 is within the coverage of the second access point, the transceiver 711 receives the second access a control frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame includes information about a sector currently used by the second access point; if the access point 71 is not in the second Within the coverage of the access point, the transceiver 711 sends a sector information request message to the station that is within the coverage of the access point 71 and the second access point, and receives the second access point. a sector information response message returned by the station in the coverage of the access point 71 and the second access point, where the sector information response message includes a fan currently used by the second access point District information.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, optionally, the control frame is an RTS frame and/or a CTS frame. Optionally, the transceiver 711 is further configured to: before the transceiver 711 acquires information about a sector currently used by the second access point, obtain a priority of the access point 71 and the second access point. Transceiver 71 1 Specifically, when the priority of the second access point is higher than the priority of the access point 71, acquiring information about a sector currently used by the second access point.

Optionally, the second access point is a plurality of access points that are in the same frequency as the access point 71 and have overlapping coverage. The transceiver 711 is specifically configured to: obtain a priority ratio of the second access point. The information of the sector currently used by each access point with a higher access point. The processor 712 is specifically configured to: determine, according to information about a sector currently used by each access point that has a higher priority than the access point 71 in the second access point acquired by the transceiver 71 1 a sector currently used by each access point having a higher priority than the access point 71; and an access point higher than the access point 71 in the second access point The sector used determines the sector to be used by itself, such that the interference between the determined sector and the sector currently used by each access point is less than a preset value.

Optionally, the processor 712 is specifically configured to: select, from a sector having a communication task, a sector that does not overlap with a sector currently used by the second access point, and a relative difference between the main lobe direction pointing angles is not less than a threshold. The sector, as the sector currently to be used by the access point 71.

Optionally, the processor 712 is specifically configured to: if there is a sector in the access point 71 that has a communication task, there are multiple sectors that are not currently used by the second access point, and the main lobe direction is directed at an angle The processor 712 selects a main lobe direction pointing angle from the plurality of the sectors and a main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point. The sector with the largest relative difference is the sector currently to be used by the access point 71.

Optionally, the processor 712 is specifically configured to: if there is a sector in the access point 71 that has a communication task, there are multiple sectors that are not currently used by the second access point, and the main lobe direction is directed at an angle The processor 712 selects, from the plurality of the sectors, a sector in which the communication duration is not greater than the communication duration of the sector currently used by the second access point, as the sector having the relative difference is not less than the threshold. The sector that the access point 71 is currently using.

Optionally, the processor 712 is further configured to: if the relative angle between the main lobe direction pointing angle and the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point is the largest, There are a plurality of stations having communication tasks, and the processor 712 selects the station with the highest priority of the communication task as the station that communicates with the access point 71. The various embodiments in the specification have been described in detail, and the same or similar parts between the various embodiments may be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from the other embodiments. In particular, for the device embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description of the method embodiment.

It should be noted that the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, wherein the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as the cells may or may not be physical. Units can be located in one place, or they can be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solution of the embodiment. Further, in the drawings of the apparatus embodiments provided by the present invention, the connection relationship between the modules indicates that there is a communication connection therebetween, and specifically, one or more communication buses or signal lines can be realized. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement without the creative labor.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that various aspects of the present invention, or possible implementations of various aspects, may be embodied as a system, method, or computer program product. Thus, aspects of the invention, or possible implementations of various aspects, may be in the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, etc.), or a combination of software and hardware aspects, They are collectively referred to herein as "circuits," "modules," or "systems." Furthermore, aspects of the invention, or possible implementations of various aspects, may take the form of a computer program product, which is a computer readable program code stored on a computer readable medium.

The computer readable medium can be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium includes, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), Erase programmable read-only memory (EPR0M or flash memory), optical fiber, portable read-only memory (CD-ROM).

A processor in the computer reads a computer readable program stored in a computer readable medium The sequence code enables the processor to perform the functional actions specified in each step or combination of steps in the flowchart; generating means for implementing the functional actions specified in each block of the block diagram or in a combination of blocks.

The computer readable program code can execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a separate software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on the remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. . It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the various steps of the flowchart, or in the blocks in the block diagrams, may not occur in the order noted. For example, two steps, or two blocks shown in succession, may be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.

The above is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

claims

1. A joint scheduling method, characterized by including:

The first access point obtains information about the sector currently used by the second access point, and the first access point determines the sector currently used by the second access point based on the information, where, The second access point is an access point that has the same frequency as the first access point and has overlapping coverage;

The first access point determines the sector currently used by itself based on the sector currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector is consistent with the sector currently used by the second access point. The interference between sectors is less than the preset value;

The first access point communicates with its site using the determined sector.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first access point obtaining information about the sector currently used by the second access point includes:

The first access point obtains the medium access control MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point;

The first access point obtains the information of the sector currently used by the second access point based on the corresponding relationship between the MAC address and the pre-obtained MAC address and sector information.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first access point obtaining the medium access control MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point includes:

If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives the control frame or data frame sent by the second access point, or receives the first access point. A control frame or data frame sent by the current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame and the data frame contain the MAC address of the current communication station of the second access point;

Alternatively, if the first access point is not within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point contacts the first access point and the second access point at the same time. Stations within the coverage area send a MAC address request message, and receive the MAC address returned by the second access point through the station that is within the coverage area of the first access point and the second access point. Response message, the MAC address response message includes the MAC address of the current communication station of the second access point.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first access point obtains the MAC The correspondence between address and sector information includes:

If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives the corresponding relationship notification message periodically broadcast by the second access point, and the corresponding relationship The notification message contains the correspondence between the MAC address and the sector information;

Alternatively, if the first access point is not within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point contacts the first access point and the second access point at the same time. The stations within the coverage area send a correspondence request message, and receive the correspondence relationship returned by the second access point through the station that is within the coverage area of the first access point and the second access point at the same time. Response message, the correspondence response message includes the correspondence between the MAC address and the sector information.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first access point obtaining information about the sector currently used by the second access point includes:

If the first access point is within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point receives the information sent by the second access point or the current communication station of the second access point. The control frame contains information about the sector currently used by the second access point;

Alternatively, if the first access point is not within the coverage of the second access point, the first access point contacts the first access point and the second access point at the same time. The stations within the coverage area send a sector information request message, and receive the sector information returned by the second access point through the station that is within the coverage area of the first access point and the second access point. A zone information response message, the sector information response message includes information about the sector currently used by the second access point.

6. The method according to claim 3 or 5, characterized in that the control frame is a request to send an RTS frame and/or a clear to send CTS frame.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the information of the sector currently used by the second access point includes: the information of the sector currently used by the second access point. Number or main lobe direction.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, before the first access point obtains the information of the sector currently used by the second access point, the method further includes:

The first access point obtains the priority of itself and the second access point; The first access point obtaining information about the sector currently used by the second access point includes:

When the priority of the second access point is higher than the priority of the first access point, the first access point obtains information about the sector currently used by the second access point.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, the second access point is a plurality of access points that have the same frequency as the first access point and have overlapping coverage areas, and the first access point The entry point obtains information about the sectors currently used by the second access point, including:

The first access point obtains information about sectors currently used by each access point in the second access point that has a higher priority than the first access point;

The first access point determines the sector currently used by the second access point based on the information, including:

The first access point determines, based on the information, the sectors currently used by each access point in the second access point that has a higher priority than the -th access point;

The first access point determines the sector currently used by itself based on the sector currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector is consistent with the sector currently used by the second access point. The interference between sectors is less than the preset value, including:

The first access point determines the sector it currently wants to use based on the sectors currently used by each access point of the second access point with a higher priority than the first access point, such that The determined interference between the sector and the sectors currently used by each access point is less than a preset value.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the first access point determines the sector it currently wants to use based on the sector currently used by the second access point. area, so that the interference between the determined sector and the sector currently used by the second access point is less than a preset value including:

The first access point selects a sector that has no overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point and whose relative difference in main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than a threshold value from the sectors with communication tasks, as The sector currently being used by itself.

1 1. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, the first access point selects a sector with a communication task that does not overlap with a sector currently used by the second access point and is primary. flap direction finger Sectors whose relative difference in direction angle is not less than the threshold include as sectors that they currently want to use: If in the sector where the first access point has a communication task, there are multiple sectors with the second access point If the sector currently used by the point has no overlap and the relative difference of the main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than the threshold, then the first access point selects the main lobe direction pointing angle and the The sector with the largest relative difference in main lobe direction pointing angles of the sectors currently used by the second access point is used as the sector currently used by the second access point.

12. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, the first access point selects a sector with a communication task that does not overlap with a sector currently used by the second access point and has a main lobe. Sectors whose relative difference in direction pointing angle is not less than the threshold, as sectors currently used by themselves, include:

If in the sector where the first access point has a communication task, there are multiple sectors that do not overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point and the relative difference in the main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than the threshold. sector, the first access point selects a sector whose communication duration is not greater than the communication duration of the sector currently used by the second access point from among the plurality of sectors as the sector that it currently wants to use. sectors.

13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, when the first access point selects a main lobe direction pointing angle from a plurality of sectors that is the same as the one currently used by the second access point. After selecting the sector with the largest relative difference in the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector as the sector to be used currently, the method further includes:

If there are multiple stations with communication tasks in the sector with the largest relative difference between the main lobe direction pointing angle and the main lobe direction pointing angle of the sector currently used by the second access point, then The first access point selects the station with the highest communication task priority as the station to communicate with.

14. A joint scheduling device, characterized by including:

An acquisition unit, used to acquire information about the sector currently used by the second access point;

Determining unit, configured to determine the sector currently used by the second access point according to the information obtained by the obtaining unit, wherein the second access point is on the same frequency as the jointly scheduled device. And there are overlapping access points in coverage;

The determining unit is also configured to determine the sector currently used by itself according to the sector currently used by the second access point, so that the determined sector is consistent with the sector currently used by the second access point. sectors The interference between them is less than the preset value;

A communication unit, configured to communicate with the station using the determined sector.

15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the obtaining unit includes: a first obtaining module, specifically configured to: obtain the medium access control MAC address of the current communication site of the second access point;

The second acquisition module is specifically configured to: acquire the MAC address currently used by the second access point according to the corresponding relationship between the MAC address acquired by the first acquisition module and the pre-acquired MAC address and sector information. sector information.

16. The device according to claim 15, characterized in that the first acquisition module is specifically used to:

If the jointly scheduled device is within the coverage of the second access point, the first acquisition module receives the control frame or data frame sent by the second access point, or receives the second access point. A control frame or data frame sent by the current communication station of the entry point, the control frame and the data frame containing the MAC address of the current communication station of the second access point;

Or, if the jointly scheduled device is not within the coverage of the second access point, the first acquisition module will send a signal to the jointly scheduled device that is within the coverage of the jointly scheduled device and the second access point. The station sends a MAC address request message, and receives a MAC address response message returned by the second access point through the station within the coverage of the jointly scheduled device and the second access point, so The MAC address response message includes the MAC address of the current communication station of the second access point.

17. The device according to claim 15, characterized in that the second acquisition module is specifically used to:

If the jointly scheduled device is within the coverage of the second access point, the second acquisition module receives the correspondence notification message periodically broadcast by the second access point, and the correspondence notification message contains the correspondence between the MAC address and sector information, and obtains the current access point used by the second access point according to the MAC address obtained by the first acquisition module and the correspondence notification message. Sector information;

Or, if the jointly scheduled device is not within the coverage of the second access point, then the The second acquisition module sends a correspondence request message to a station that is within the coverage of the jointly scheduled device and the second access point at the same time, and receives a corresponding relationship request message from the second access point through the jointly scheduled device at the same time. a correspondence response message returned by the scheduled device and a station within the coverage of the second access point, where the correspondence response message includes a correspondence between the MAC address and sector information, according to the first 1. Obtain the MAC address and the corresponding relationship response message obtained by the module, and obtain the information of the sector currently used by the second access point.

18. The device according to claim 14, wherein the obtaining unit is specifically configured to: if the jointly scheduled device is within the coverage of the second access point, the obtaining unit receives A control frame sent by the second access point or the current communication station of the second access point, where the control frame contains information about the sector currently used by the second access point;

Alternatively, if the jointly scheduled device is not within the coverage of the second access point, the acquisition unit will send a request to a station that is within the coverage of both the jointly scheduled device and the second access point. Send a sector information request message, and receive a sector information response message returned by the second access point through the station within the coverage of the jointly scheduled device and the second access point, The sector information response message includes information about the sector currently used by the second access point.

19. The device according to claim 16 or 18, characterized in that the control frame is a request to send an RTS frame and/or a clear to send CTS frame.

20. The device according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that, the information of the sector currently used by the second access point includes: the information of the sector currently used by the second access point. Number or main lobe direction.

21. The device according to any one of claims 14-20, characterized in that the acquisition unit is also used for:

Before the obtaining unit obtains the information of the sector currently used by the second access point, obtain the priority of the jointly scheduled device and the second access point;

The acquisition unit is specifically used for:

When the priority of the second access point is higher than the priority of the jointly scheduled device, the obtaining unit obtains information about the sector currently used by the second access point.

22. The device according to claim 21, wherein the second access point is a plurality of access points that are on the same frequency as the jointly scheduled device and have overlapping coverage ranges, and the acquisition unit is specifically used. To: obtain information on sectors currently used by each access point in the second access point that has a higher priority than the jointly scheduled device;

The determination unit is specifically used for:

According to the information of the sectors currently used by each access point in the second access point that has a higher priority than the jointly scheduled device obtained by the acquisition unit, determine Sectors currently used by each access point with a higher priority than the jointly scheduled device;

According to the sectors currently used by each access point in the second access point that has a higher priority than the jointly scheduled device, determine the sector that it currently wants to use, so that the determined sector is consistent with the selected sector. The interference between the sectors currently used by each access point is less than a preset value.

23. The device according to any one of claims 14 to 11, characterized in that the determining unit is specifically used to:

Select a sector that has no overlap with the sector currently used by the second access point and whose relative difference in main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than a threshold value as the current jointly scheduled device from the sectors with communication tasks. The sector to use.

24. The device according to claim 23, wherein the determining unit is specifically configured to: if in the sector where the jointly scheduled device has a communication task, there are multiple connections with the second access point. If the currently used sectors have no overlap and the relative difference of the main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than the threshold, the determination unit selects the main lobe direction pointing angle and the second sector from the plurality of sectors. The sector with the largest relative difference in main lobe direction pointing angles of the sectors currently used by the access point is used as the sector currently used by the jointly scheduled device.

25. The device according to claim 23, wherein the determining unit is specifically configured to: if in the sector where the jointly scheduled device has a communication task, there are multiple access points connected to the second access point. If the currently used sectors have no overlap and the relative difference of the main lobe direction pointing angle is not less than the threshold, then the determination unit selects a sector from multiple sectors whose communication duration is not longer than the second access Point to the sector with the communication duration of the sector currently used as the sector currently to be used by the jointly scheduled device. sectors.

26. The device according to claim 24, wherein the determining unit is further configured to: if the pointing angle in the main lobe direction is consistent with the main lobe direction of the sector currently used by the second access point In the sector with the largest relative difference in pointing angles, there are multiple stations with communication tasks, and then the determination unit selects the station with the highest communication task priority as the station that communicates with the jointly scheduled device.