WO2022166576A1

WO2022166576A1 - Access method, apparatus and system, and readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2022166576A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/072526
Authority: WO
Inventors: 郭永康; 王同波; 夏芳
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-02-04
Filing date: 2022-01-18
Publication date: 2022-08-11
Also published as: CN114938507A; CN114938507B

Abstract

Provided in the present application are an access method, apparatus and system, and a readable storage medium. The method is applied to an access system, and the access system comprises: a first station (STA) device, a second STA device, a first access point (AP) and a second AP, wherein the first STA device has accessed the second AP. The method comprises: a second STA device broadcasting a probe frame in response to detecting that a wireless fidelity (WiFi) network signal intensity from a first AP is lower than a first intensity threshold value; a first STA device sending a response frame to the second STA device; and the second STA device sending an authentication request frame to the first STA device, so as to access the first STA device. In the present application, a first STA device which has already accessed a second AP is used as a relay, and a second STA device can access the first STA device, so as to access the Internet. By means of the method, without a network being set by a user, the coverage range of a WiFi network signal can be expanded, thereby improving the user experience.

Description

Access method, apparatus, system and readable storage medium

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number of 202110153455.7 and the application title of "Access Method, Device, System and Readable Storage Medium" filed with the China Patent Office on February 4, 2021, the entire contents of which are by reference Incorporated in this application.

technical field

The embodiments of the present application relate to communication technologies, and in particular, to an access method, apparatus, system, and readable storage medium.

Background technique

A station (station, STA) device within the coverage of an access point (AP) can access the Internet through the AP. STA devices in the home, such as mobile phones, computers, speakers, etc., can access the Internet through the router. The coverage of the router is limited. The farther away from the router, the weaker the Wi-Fi network signal strength, and STA devices farther away from the router cannot access the Internet.

At present, users can set up multiple routers to form a master-slave routing network to expand the coverage of Wi-Fi network signals. However, in this way, users need to set routers one by one, and the operation is complicated and the efficiency is low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present application provide an access method, device, system, and readable storage medium, which do not require a user to set up a network, can expand the coverage of Wi-Fi network signals, and improve user experience.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access method, and the method is applied to an access system, where the access system includes: a first site STA device, a second STA device, a first access point AP, and a second AP , the first STA device has accessed the second AP. It should be understood that, for the process of accessing the second AP by the first STA device, reference may be made to the relevant description of the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol. The access method may include: the second STA device broadcasts a probe frame in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point is lower than a first strength threshold; the first The STA device sends a response frame to the second STA device; the second STA device sends an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device. In one embodiment, the first AP may be the same as the second AP, or the first AP may be different from the second AP.

The first STA device has access to the second AP. In this application, the existing first STA device that has accessed the second AP can be used as a relay, and the second STA device can access the first STA device to access the Internet. The method can expand the coverage of the Wi-Fi network signal without the need for a user to set up a network, the second STA device has high efficiency in accessing the Internet, can achieve seamless access to the Internet, and improve user experience. It should be understood that the process for the second STA device to send an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device may be the same as the process for the STA device to access the AP defined in the current standard. Exemplarily, the second STA device sends the authentication request frame to the first STA device; the first STA device sends the authentication response frame to the second STA device; the second STA device sends the authentication response frame to the second STA device. The first STA device sends an association request frame; the first STA device sends an association response frame to the second STA device, and the second STA device receives the association response frame from the first STA device, indicating that the second STA device succeeds Access the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, when the first AP may be different from the second AP, the first AP and the second AP may form a master-slave routing network in advance, and the service set identifier SSID and authentication of the first AP and the second AP The method is the same, and both are the same as the SSID and authentication method of the master route. For the formation process of the master-slave routing network, reference may be made to the relevant description in the prior art. In this implementation manner, when the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point is lower than the first strength threshold, and the roaming fails, it can broadcast the above detection frame. Wherein, for the roaming process of the second STA device, reference may be made to the relevant description in the specific implementation manner or the IEEE Std 802.11k/v/r ^TM protocol.

In this implementation manner, when the second STA device fails to access the first AP, it can access the second AP based on the current roaming mechanism, and if the second STA device fails to roam, it can perform the access in this embodiment of the present application. The solution of the first STA device further increases the opportunity for the second STA device to access the Internet.

The following describes the access method in this embodiment of the present application from two possible implementation manners:

The first possible implementation manner: the first STA device supports dynamic switching, that is, when the second STA device requests to access the first STA device, the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role, and enables the second STA device access.

In this manner, when the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold, it can broadcast a probe frame, where the probe frame is used to indicate that the probe frame can be received The devices, such as the first AP, the second AP, and the second STA device, respond to at least one of their respective uplink bandwidth and Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate. The probe frame may be called a private signal probe frame, and the private signal probe frame is different from the probe request frame defined in the IEEE Std 802.11 ^TM -2016 protocol in that the private signal probe frame includes a custom field, the custom The field is used to indicate at least one of feedback uplink bandwidth and Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate. The custom field can be pre-agreed.

The second STA device may receive a response frame from the first STA device, where the response frame may include at least one of an uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and a Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate. The second STA device may determine that the first STA device is the target STA according to at least one of the Wi-Fi network signal strength, the uplink bandwidth, and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate of the first STA device equipment. In one embodiment, the second STA device may receive response frames from multiple devices, and the second STA device may receive response frames according to the Wi-Fi network signal strength, the uplink bandwidth, and the Wi-Fi channel of the multiple devices. At least one of the vacancy rates determines that the device to be accessed is the first STA device, that is, the target STA device.

After the second STA device determines that the first STA device is the target STA device, in order to access the first STA device, because the first STA device is still in the STA role, the second STA device can request the first STA device to switch from the STA role to the medium Following the role, the first STA device can be accessed. The second STA device may send an AP request to the first STA device; the first STA device activates the AP function, and the first STA device activates the AP function to indicate that the first STA device switches from the STA role into a relay role. It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the function of switching the first STA device from the STA role to the relay role is called the AP function, may also be called the relay function, or may also be called other names used to indicate the role switching . After the first STA device activates the AP function, it may send an AP response to the second STA device to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function.

In this way, the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role, and the second STA device can access the first STA device. The process of the second STA device accessing the first STA device may be the same as the process of the STA device accessing the AP. For example, the second STA device sends a probe request frame to the first STA device, the first STA device sends a probe response frame to the second STA device, and the second STA device sends a probe response frame to the first STA device the authentication request frame; the first STA device sends an authentication response frame to the second STA device; the second STA device sends an association request frame to the first STA device; the first STA device sends an authentication response frame to the first STA device; The second STA device sends an association response frame.

It should be noted that after the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role, it can continue to access the second AP as the STA role, or it can act as the relay role (or from the routing role) to enable the access of the second STA device. The configuration information of the first STA device acting as a relay needs to be the same as the configuration information of the second AP, where the configuration information may include, but is not limited to, the SSID and authentication method of the second AP.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first STA device may acquire the configuration information of the second AP in the following two ways:

The first way: the second AP can periodically broadcast the first beacon Beacon frame, and the first Beacon frame includes the configuration information of the second AP. In this way, the first STA device is in the process of accessing the second AP. , or when the second AP is not accessed, or after the second AP has been accessed, the configuration information of the second AP may be acquired based on the first Beacon frame.

The second way: after receiving the AP request from the second STA device, the first STA device may send a parameter synchronization request to the second AP, and the second AP sends the second AP to the first STA device configuration information. After receiving the configuration information of the second AP, the first STA device may broadcast the second beacon Beacon frame, where the second Beacon frame includes the SSID and the authentication method.

Wherein, after receiving the configuration information of the second AP, the first STA device can also start the AP function, and after starting the AP function, it can send an online message to the second AP, the second AP updates the network topology, the The second AP sends a first network topology update response to the first STA device. When the first STA device receives the first network topology update response from the second AP, it may send the AP response to the second STA device.

In the second manner, compared with the first manner, signaling interaction between the first STA device and the second AP can be reduced, thereby saving overhead.

In the first possible implementation manner, when the first STA device requests access by the second STA device, the first STA device can activate the AP function, and then the first STA device can act as a relay to access the second STA device Second AP. Similarly, in the embodiment of the present application, the existing first STA device accessing the second AP is used as the relay, which does not require the user to perform configuration operations, improves user experience, and can expand the coverage of Wi-Fi network signals.

In this first possible implementation manner, when the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first STA device is lower than the second strength threshold, it can exit the first STA device, such as the second STA device. The STA device may send a disassociation request frame to the first STA device; the first STA device sends a disassociation response frame to the second STA device. In this way, the second STA device can exit the first STA device to access a device with stronger signal strength. Wherein, after sending the disassociation response frame, the first STA device may determine whether there is an access STA device in the first STA device. Wherein, if there is an access STA device in the first STA device, the first STA device may continue to play a relay role. If there is no connected STA device in the first STA device, the first STA device may disable the AP function, and the disabling of the AP function indicates that the first STA device switches from the relay role to the STA Role. After the first STA device disables the AP function, it may send an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; the second AP sends the second AP to the The first STA device sends a second network topology update response.

In this way, when there is no access STA device in the first STA device, the first STA device can disable the AP function to save power consumption. It is conceivable that the first STA device may continue to activate the AP function when requested by other STA devices to enable access by other STA devices.

In an embodiment, the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first STA device is lower than the second strength threshold, and can directly exit the first STA device without interacting with the first STA device "Disassociation Request Frame and Disassociation Response Frame" to reduce signaling overhead. In this embodiment, the first STA device may determine in real time or every preset time length whether there is an access STA device in the first STA device, so as to determine whether to exit the AP function.

The second possible implementation manner: the first STA device supports static switching, that is, when the first STA device accesses the second AP, the first STA device can switch from the STA role to the relay role. In this way, when the second STA device cannot access the first AP (or the second AP), it can access the first STA device to access the Internet.

In this way, when the first STA device accesses the second AP, for example, when the first STA device receives the association response frame from the second AP, it can start the AP function, and then when the second STA device needs to access, the first STA device can start the AP function. The second STA device can directly access the first STA device. It should be noted that, in the second possible implementation manner, for the interaction with the second AP when the first STA device starts the AP function, reference may be made to the relevant description of the above-mentioned first possible implementation manner. In addition, for the first STA device to obtain the configuration information of the second AP, reference may also be made to the relevant descriptions of the above-mentioned "first manner and second manner". In this method, because the first STA device has switched to the relay role when accessing the second AP, that is, the first STA device can already enable the access of the second STA device, and it can be regarded as a slave router. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, when the second STA device accesses the first STA device, it may refer to the steps defined in the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol to access the first STA device.

In this manner, when the first STA device is powered off, the AP function can be disabled. The first STA device sends an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; the second AP sends the second network to the first STA device topology update response; the first STA device sends a disassociation request frame to the second AP; the second AP sends a disassociation response frame to the first STA device.

In an embodiment, when the first STA device is powered off, the signaling exchanged with the second AP may be less or more, so that the first STA device disables the AP function and the second AP updates the network topology, namely Can.

In the second possible implementation manner, when the third STA device accesses the second AP, the AP function can be activated. The third STA device may act as a relay to enable the second STA device to access the second AP. Similarly, in this embodiment of the present application, the existing third STA device accessing the second AP is used as a relay, which does not require a user to perform configuration operations, improves user experience, and can expand the coverage of Wi-Fi network signals.

After the second STA device accesses the first STA device, the first STA device can act as a STA to perform services in itself, or act as a relay to transmit services from the second STA device to the AP. In this embodiment of the present application, the first STA device puts a first service packet into a service queue of a first priority, where the first service packet is a packet of a service in the first STA device; The first STA device puts a second service packet into a service queue of a second priority, where the second service packet is a packet of a service in the second STA device, and the second priority lower than the first priority; the first STA device sends the first feature, the first service packet and the second service packet to the second AP, and the first feature is the The feature of the first service packet, where the first feature is used by the second AP to identify the first service packet.

In this embodiment, the first STA device may put the services of the first STA device into a high-priority queue, and put the services of the second STA device into a low-priority queue, and then the first STA device may execute The service of the first STA device is performed, and then the service of the second STA device is executed, thereby ensuring that when the second STA device is attached to the first STA device, the purpose of not affecting the service in the first STA device itself is achieved.

Similarly, in the embodiment of the present application, the second AP puts the third service packet into the service queue of the first priority; the second AP puts the fourth service packet into the service queue of the second priority. in the service queue; the second AP sends the third service packet and the fourth service packet to the first STA device. Accordingly, the second AP can preferentially transmit the service packets in the target STA device, and then transmit the service packets in the second STA device. In an embodiment, the third service message is a message in response to the first service message, and the fourth service message is a message in response to the second service message.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access method, which is applied to a STA device of a second site. The method includes: in response to detecting that the signal strength of the Wi-Fi network from the first access point AP is lower than The first intensity threshold, broadcast a probe frame; receive a response frame from the first STA device, the first STA device is an STA device that has accessed the second AP; send an authentication request frame to the first STA device to receive into the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the response frame includes at least one of the uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate; before the sending of the authentication request frame to the first STA device , and further comprising: determining the first STA device as a target STA device according to at least one of the Wi-Fi network signal strength, the uplink bandwidth and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate of the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, after determining that the first STA device is the target STA device, the method further includes: sending an AP request to the first STA device, where the AP request is used to indicate the first STA The device starts the AP function, and the first STA device starts the AP function to indicate that the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role; receives an AP response from the first STA device, and the AP response is used to represent the The first STA device has activated the AP function; sends a probe request frame to the first STA device; and receives a probe response frame from the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the probe frame is a probe request frame, the response frame is a probe response frame, the first STA device starts the AP function when accessing the second AP, and the first STA device starts the AP function. The activation of the AP function by the STA device indicates that the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role.

In a possible implementation manner, the broadcasting of the probe frame in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point AP is lower than the first strength threshold includes: in response to detecting that the signal strength from the first access point AP is lower than the first strength threshold When the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold and the roaming fails, the detection frame is broadcast.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device includes: sending the authentication request frame to the first STA device; receiving an authentication response frame from the first STA device; sending an association request frame to the first STA device; and receiving an association response frame from the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first STA device is lower than a second strength threshold, sending a disassociation to the first STA device request frame; receive a disassociation response frame from the first STA device.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access method, which is applied to a STA device of a first site, where the first STA device is a STA device that has accessed an AP of a second access point, and the method includes: receiving data from a second STA device's probe frame; send a response frame to the second STA device; receive an authentication request frame from the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the response frame includes at least one of the uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate, and after sending the response frame to the second STA device, It also includes: receiving an AP request from the second STA device; enabling an AP function, where the enabling AP function indicates that the first STA device is switched from a STA role to a relay role; sending an AP response to the second STA device , the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function.

In a possible implementation manner, before the receiving the authentication request frame from the second STA device, the method further includes: receiving a probe request frame from the second STA device; sending a probe to the second STA device response frame.

In a possible implementation manner, the probe frame is a probe request frame, and the response frame is a probe response frame; before the receiving the probe frame from the second STA device, the method further includes: starting the AP function, and the starting The AP function represents the switching of the first STA device from the STA role to the relay role.

In a possible implementation manner, before starting the AP function, the method further includes: acquiring configuration information of the second AP, where the configuration information includes a service set identifier SSID and an authentication method of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring the configuration information of the second AP includes: receiving a first beacon Beacon frame from the second AP, where the first Beacon frame includes the configuration information of the second AP. configuration information.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring the configuration information of the second AP includes: sending a parameter synchronization request to the second AP; and receiving the configuration information from the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, after starting the AP function, the method further includes: sending an online message to the second AP, where the online message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; The first network topology update response of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, after starting the AP function, the method further includes: broadcasting a second beacon Beacon frame, where the second Beacon frame includes the SSID and the authentication method.

In a possible implementation manner, after receiving the authentication request frame from the second STA device, the method further includes: sending an authentication response frame to the second STA device; receiving an association from the second STA device request frame; send an association response frame to the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: putting a first service packet into a service queue of a first priority, where the first service packet is a part of the service in the first STA device message; put the second service message into the service queue of the second priority, the second service message is the message of the service in the second STA device, and the second priority is lower than the the first priority; send the first feature, the first service packet, and the second service packet to the second AP, where the first feature is the feature of the first service packet, and the The first feature is used for the second AP to identify the first service packet.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving a third service packet in a service queue of the first priority from the second AP; receiving the first service packet from the second AP A fourth service packet in the service queue of the second priority; sending the fourth service packet to the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the third service packet is a packet in response to the first service packet, and the fourth service packet is a packet in response to the second service packet .

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving a disassociation request frame from the second STA device; sending a disassociation response frame to the second STA device; Whether there is still an access STA device; if so, do not process it; if not, disable the AP function, and the closing of the AP function indicates that the first STA device switches from the relay role to the STA Role.

In a possible implementation manner, after disabling the AP function, the method further includes: sending an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; receiving A second network topology update response from the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: when the power is turned off, disabling the AP function, and disabling the AP function indicates that the first STA device switches from the relay role to the STA role; send an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; receive a second network topology update response from the second AP; The AP sends a disassociation request frame; and receives a disassociation response frame from the second AP.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access method, which is applied to a second access point, where the STA device of the first site is an STA device that has accessed the second access point, and the method includes: receiving a message from a first site. A parameter synchronization request of a STA device; sending configuration information of the second access point to the first STA device, where the configuration information includes a service set identifier SSID and an authentication method of the second access point; Receive an online message from the first STA device; update the network topology; and send a first network topology update response to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: placing the third service packet into the service queue of the first priority; placing the fourth service packet into the service queue of the second priority, so that the The second priority is lower than the first priority; and the third service packet and the fourth service packet are sent to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the third service packet is a packet in response to a first service packet, the fourth service packet is a packet in response to a second service packet, and the third service packet is a packet in response to a second service packet. A service packet is a packet of a service in the first STA device, the second service packet is a packet of a service in a second STA device, and the second STA device has accessed the first STA device. STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving an offline message from the first STA device, where the offline message is used to instruct the second access point to update the network topology; update the network topology sending a second network topology update response to the first STA device; receiving a disassociation request frame from the first STA device; and sending a disassociation response frame to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: broadcasting a first beacon Beacon frame, where the first Beacon frame includes configuration information of the second access point.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access apparatus, where the access apparatus may be the second STA device described in the second aspect, and the access apparatus may include: a processing module and a transceiver module.

The transceiver module is configured to: in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point AP is lower than the first strength threshold, broadcast a probe frame; receive a response frame from the first STA device , the first STA device is a STA device that has accessed the second AP; an authentication request frame is sent to the first STA device to access the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the response frame includes at least one of the uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate; the processing module is configured to At least one of the Wi-Fi network signal strength, the uplink bandwidth and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate, determine the first STA device as the target STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to: send an AP request to the first STA device, where the AP request is used to instruct the first STA device to start the AP function, the first STA device The STA device starts the AP function to indicate that the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role; receives an AP response from the first STA device, the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function; sending a probe request frame to the first STA device; receiving a probe response frame from the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is specifically configured to: in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold and the roaming fails, broadcast the probe frame.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to: send the authentication request frame to the first STA device; receive an authentication response frame from the first STA device; send the authentication response frame to the first STA device; The STA device sends an association request frame; and receives an association response frame from the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to: in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first STA device is lower than a second strength threshold, send the first STA device to the Send a disassociation request frame; receive a disassociation response frame from the first STA device.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access apparatus, where the access apparatus may be the first STA device described in the third aspect, and the access apparatus may include: a processing module and a transceiver module.

The transceiver module is configured to: receive a probe frame from the second STA device; send a response frame to the second STA device; and receive an authentication request frame from the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the response frame includes at least one of an uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and a Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate. Wherein, the transceiver module is further configured to receive an AP request from the second STA device. The processing module is configured to activate the AP function, and the activation of the AP function represents that the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role. The transceiver module is further configured to send an AP response to the second STA device, where the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to receive a probe request frame from the second STA device; and send a probe response frame to the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the probe frame is a probe request frame, and the response frame is a probe response frame; before the transceiver module receives the probe frame from the second STA device, the processing module is configured to start The AP function, the enabling of the AP function indicates that the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is further configured to acquire configuration information of the second AP, where the configuration information includes a service set identifier SSID and an authentication method of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to receive a first beacon Beacon frame from the second AP, where the first Beacon frame includes configuration information of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to send a parameter synchronization request to the second AP; and receive configuration information from the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to send an online message to the second AP, where the online message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; The first network topology update response.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to broadcast a second beacon Beacon frame, where the second Beacon frame includes the SSID and the authentication method.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to send an authentication response frame to the second STA device; receive an association request frame from the second STA device; send to the second STA device Correlation response frame.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is further configured to put a first service packet into a service queue of a first priority, where the first service packet is the first service packet in the first STA device. A service message; put a second service message into a service queue with a second priority, where the second service message is a service message in the second STA device, and the second priority is low at the first priority. The transceiver module is further configured to send the first feature, the first service message and the second service message to the second AP, where the first feature is the feature of the first service message , the first feature is used for the second AP to identify the first service packet.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to receive a third service packet in the service queue of the first priority from the second AP; and send the fourth service packet to the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to receive a disassociation request frame from the second STA device; and send a disassociation response frame to the second STA device. The processing module is further configured to determine whether there is an access STA device in the first STA device; if so, do not process; if not, disable the AP function, and the closing the AP function represents the The first STA device switches from the relay role to the STA role.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to send an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; The second network topology update response of the two APs.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is further configured to disable the AP function when the power is turned off, and the disabling of the AP function indicates that the first STA device switches from the relay role to the Describe the STA role. The transceiver module is further configured to send an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; and receive a second network topology update response from the second AP ; Send a disassociation request frame to the second AP; and receive a disassociation response frame from the second AP.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access device, where the access device may be the second AP described in the fourth aspect, and the access device may include: a processing module and a transceiver module.

The processing module is configured to receive a parameter synchronization request from a first STA device; and send configuration information of the second access point to the first STA device, where the configuration information includes the second access point. service set identifier SSID and authentication mode of the ingress point; receiving an online message from the first STA device; updating the network topology; sending a first network topology update response to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is configured to put the third service packet into the service queue of the first priority; put the fourth service packet into the service queue of the second priority, The second priority is lower than the first priority. The transceiver module is further configured to send the third service packet and the fourth service packet to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to receive an offline message from the first STA device, where the offline message is used to instruct the second access point to update the network topology. The processing module is also used for updating the network topology. The transceiver module is further configured to send a second network topology update response to the first STA device; receive a disassociation request frame from the first STA device; and send a disassociation response frame to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to broadcast a first beacon Beacon frame, where the first Beacon frame includes configuration information of the second access point.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access system, including the access device of the fifth aspect, the access device of the sixth aspect, and the access device of the seventh aspect.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access device, where the access device includes: a processor, a memory, and a transceiver; the transceiver is coupled to the processor, and the processor controls the transceiver wherein, the memory is used for storing computer-executable program codes, and the program codes include instructions; when the processor executes the instructions, the instructions cause the access device to perform the methods provided in the second to fourth aspects.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access device, including a unit, a module, or a circuit for executing the methods provided in the second to fourth aspects above. The access device may be an electronic device, or may be a module applied to the electronic device, for example, may be a chip applied to the electronic device. For example, the electronic device may be a second STA device, a first STA device, and a second AP.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access device (eg, a chip), where a computer program is stored on the access device, and when the computer program is executed by the access device, the second aspect is implemented to the method provided by the fourth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product including instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the methods provided in the second to fourth aspects above.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer-readable storage medium is run on a computer, the computer is made to execute the above-mentioned second to fourth aspects. provided method.

It should be understood that for the technical effects of the foregoing second aspect to the thirteenth aspect, reference may be made to the relevant description in the foregoing first aspect.

Embodiments of the present application provide an access method, apparatus, system, and readable storage medium. The method is applied to an access system, and the access system includes: a first site STA device, a second STA device, and a first access point AP and the second AP, the first STA device has accessed the second AP. The method includes: the second STA device broadcasts a probe frame in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point is lower than a first strength threshold; the first STA device sends a response to the second STA device frame; the second STA device sends an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device. In this embodiment of the present application, the existing first STA device that accesses the second AP is used as a relay, and the second STA device can access the first STA device to access the Internet. The method does not require the user to set up a network, can expand the coverage of the Wi-Fi network signal, and improve user experience.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a STA device accesses the Internet;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another scenario in which a STA device accesses the Internet;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

4 is a schematic flowchart of an access method;

5A is a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of an access method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5B is a schematic flowchart of another embodiment of an access method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

6 is a schematic diagram of an interface change of a STA device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of another interface change of a STA device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram of another interface change of a STA device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of service processing of a STA device according to an embodiment of the present application;

9A is a schematic diagram of a service queue provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9B is a schematic diagram of another service queue provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic flowchart of another embodiment of an access method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of another embodiment of an access method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an access device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is another schematic structural diagram of an access device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is another schematic structural diagram of an access device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is another schematic structural diagram of an access device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of an access system provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a station (station, STA) device accesses the Internet. As shown in Figure 1, a home may include routers and STA devices. The STA device can be connected to the router, and the router acts as an access point (AP), which can connect the STA device to the Internet. STA devices and routers can form a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) mesh network. In this embodiment of the present application, the AP may be other electronic devices or network devices, such as customer premise equipment (customer premise equipment, CPE). An AP can support access of multiple STA devices. Wherein, any device accessing the AP may be called a STA device, and the STA device may be a mobile device or a fixed device. STA devices can be but are not limited to: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops, speakers, wearable devices, smart sockets, smart screens, smart home appliances, Internet of things (IoT) devices, camera devices, etc. with Wi-Fi functional device. Optionally, the STA device may also be a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with a wireless communication function, a computing device, a virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) terminal device, a drone device, an augmented reality ( augmented reality (AR) terminal equipment, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in smart homes, etc. The form of the STA device is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. FIG. 1 is a scenario to which the embodiments of the present application are applied, and the access method of the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to other scenarios such as factories, hospitals, and schools. It should be understood that the solid line between the STA device and the router in FIG. 1 indicates that the STA device and the router are in a connected state, rather than the connection line between the STA device and the router.

As shown in Figure 1, mobile phones and tablet computers are far away from the router. Due to the limited coverage of Wi-Fi network signals, mobile phones and tablet computers cannot access the router. In a possible implementation, mobile phones and tablet computers can access the Internet, but the Wi-Fi network signal is poor, resulting in poor user experience on the Internet. In order to expand the coverage of Wi-Fi network signals and improve the Wi-Fi network signal strength of mobile phones and tablets, users can set up multiple routers in the home, and the multiple routers can form a master-slave routing network. As shown in Figure 2, router 1 can be used as a master router, and router 2 can be used as a slave router to access the master router. Router 1 and router 2 form a master-slave routing network. The router 2 can retransmit or forward the data signal, so as to expand the distance of network transmission, thereby expanding the coverage of the Wi-Fi network signal. Mobile phones and tablets that are far from the main router can connect to the secondary router to access the Internet. In this method, the user needs to purchase multiple routers and manually set the master and slave routers for networking, which is complicated.

The role of the STA device shown in FIG. 2 is fixed, for example, the STA device can only play the role of STA and access the AP. This embodiment of the present application provides an access method, in which the role of the STA device can be switched between the STA role and the relay role, and the STA device in the relay role can not only access the AP, but also enable other STA devices to access, This in turn expands the coverage of the Wi-Fi network signal. In the embodiment of the present application, the existing STA device accessing the AP is used as the AP, which can avoid the problem of setting additional slave routers, expand the coverage of the Wi-Fi network signal, and improve the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the STA device. , thereby improving the user experience. As shown in FIG. 3, exemplarily, the smart screen of the access router can activate the AP function to expand the coverage of the Wi-Fi network signal. Mobile phones and tablets can be connected to smart screens, and then connected to routers, which can improve the Wi-Fi network signal strength of mobile phones and tablets.

Before introducing the access method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the current process of accessing the AP by the STA device is briefly described. For more detailed steps, refer to the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol. The access of the STA device to the AP may include: a scanning phase, an authentication phase and an association phase. FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of an access method. As shown in Figure 4, the access method may include:

S401, the STA device sends a probe request frame (probe request).

The STA device may send the probe request frame in a broadcast or unicast manner. Here, the STA device broadcasts the probe request frame as an example, and the STA device unicast probe request frame may refer to the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol. Exemplarily, the STA device may broadcast a probe request frame on a channel supported by the STA device to detect APs existing around it. The probe request frame can be divided into two categories, one is a service set identifier (service set identifier, SSID) of an unspecified AP, and the other is an SSID of an AP specified. The SSID of the AP is used to distinguish different APs. The SSID of the AP can also be understood as the Wi-Fi name. It should be understood that the manner in which the probe request frame specifies the SSID of the AP may be that the probe request frame includes the SSID of the AP.

Wherein, if the SSID of the AP is not specified in the probe request frame, all APs that receive the probe request frame will respond to the STA device. If the probe request frame specifies the SSID of the AP, the AP corresponding to the SSID can respond to the STA device after receiving the probe request frame. Here, the STA device actively scans the AP as an example for description. The STA device can also scan passively, that is, the AP scans the STA device. For details, refer to the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol.

S402, the AP sends a probe response frame (probe response) to the STA device.

In response to the probe request frame of the STA device, the AP sends a probe response frame to the STA device. The SSID of the AP may be included in the probe response frame. In a possible implementation manner, when the STA device receives the probe response frame from the AP, the STA device can display the SSID of the AP, that is, the user can view the SSID of the AP scanned by the STA device on the STA device ( Wi-Fi name).

S403, the STA device sends an authentication request frame (authentication request) to the AP.

The manner in which the AP authenticates the STA device may include, but is not limited to, open system authentication (open system authentication) and shared-key authentication (shared-key authentication). In a possible implementation manner, the authentication request frame may carry the authentication mode supported by the AP.

S404, the AP sends an authentication response frame (authentication response) to the STA device.

When the STA device passes the authentication, the AP can send an authentication response to the STA device to indicate that the STA device passes the authentication.

S405, the STA device sends an association request frame (association request) to the AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the association is initiated by the STA device, and the association phase is a process of negotiating a wireless link service between the STA device and the AP. In a possible implementation manner, the association request frame may include various parameters of the STA device itself, and various parameters selected by the STA device according to the service configuration. For example, the association request frame may include the rate, channel, and quality of service (quality of service, QoS) capability supported by the STA device, as well as the access authentication and encryption algorithm selected by the STA device, and the like.

S406, the AP sends an association response frame (association response) to the STA device.

When the STA device receives the association response frame from the AP, it indicates that a Wi-Fi wireless link is established between the STA device and the AP, and the STA device accesses the Internet through the AP.

In one embodiment, the first STA device may enable AP functionality. The first STA device is a STA device that supports dynamic handover. Supporting dynamic handover can be understood as: when the second STA device requests to access the first STA device, the first STA device can switch from the STA role to the relay role. If the first STA device has accessed the second AP, when the second STA device requests to access the first STA device, the first STA device activates the AP function and enables the second STA device to access the first STA device to access the first STA device. Second AP. In an embodiment, the first STA device may occupy a large air interface resource for its own service, and/or a STA device that is not plugged in and used. Exemplarily, the first STA device may be, but not limited to, a smart screen, a mobile phone, or a tablet computer. The first STA device may be at least one. The second STA device may be any STA device.

The process of initiating the AP function by the first STA device will be described below with reference to FIG. 5A . As shown in FIG. 5A , the access mode provided by this embodiment of the present application may include:

S501, the first STA device sends a probe request frame.

S502, the second AP sends a probe response frame to the first STA device.

S503, the first STA device sends an authentication request frame to the second AP.

S504, the second AP sends an authentication response frame to the first STA device.

For S501-S504, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the above-mentioned S401-S404, which will not be repeated here.

S505, the first STA device sends an association request frame to the second AP.

Different from the above FIG. 4 , in this embodiment of the present application, the association request frame may include not only the parameters specified in the IEEE Std 802.11 ^TM -2016 protocol, but also the mesh capability and mesh switching type of the first STA device. information. In one embodiment, the probe request frame and/or the authentication request frame may include information on the mesh capability and mesh switching type of the first STA device.

Wherein, the mesh capability of the first STA device may be understood as whether the first STA device supports the capability of mutual assistance mesh, that is, whether the first STA device has the capability of enabling the AP function. Generally speaking, the mesh capability of the first STA device can be understood as: the first STA device can switch from the STA role to the relay role, enabling the second STA device to access the first STA device. The mesh switching type can be dynamic switching or static switching. The dynamic handover refers to: when the second STA device requests to access the first STA device, the first STA device activates the AP function. The static handover refers to: when the first STA device accesses the second AP, the first STA device activates the AP function. It can be understood that the first STA device starts the AP function as: the first STA device can switch from the STA role to the relay role, and assist the second STA device to access the second AP through the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the association request frame may include an identifier indicating "the mesh capability and mesh switching type of the first STA device", or the association request frame may include an identifier indicating "the first STA device" Mesh capability" identifier and an identifier used to indicate the "mesh switching type". The identifier is pre-agreed, whether it is one identifier or two identifiers, the second AP can determine the mesh capability of the first STA device and the mesh switching type supported by the first STA device according to the identifier in the association request frame. It should be understood that the identification is not limited to numbers, letters, and character strings.

In a possible implementation manner, an identifier used to indicate "mesh capability and mesh switching type of the first STA device", or an identifier used to indicate "mesh capability of the first STA device" and an identifier used to indicate "mesh capability of the first STA device" The identifier of "Handover Type" can be included in the specified field of the association request frame, and the specified field can be a field private to Huawei. It should be understood that Huawei private fields may also be referred to as Huawei custom fields.

S506, the second AP sends an association response frame to the first STA device.

After receiving the association request frame from the first STA device, the second AP may acquire the mesh capability and mesh switching type of the first STA device, and then feed back the association response frame. In the embodiments of the present application, the first STA device supports mutual assistance mesh, and the mesh switching type of the first STA device is dynamic switching for description.

S507, the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold, and broadcasts a private signal detection frame.

In one embodiment, the first AP and the second AP may be different. In one embodiment, the first AP and the second AP may be the same.

In an embodiment, the second STA device may be a device whose Wi-Fi network signal strength is lower than the first strength threshold and cannot access the first AP. Alternatively, the second STA device may be an STA device that has accessed the first AP, but the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold. In this embodiment of the present application, the access state of the second STA device is not limited. In one embodiment, the private signal probe frame may be referred to as a probe frame.

When the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold, it may broadcast the private signal probe frame. In one embodiment, the private signal probe frame may be received by the second AP and the STA device accessing the second AP. When the second AP and the STA device accessing the second AP receive the private signal probe frame, the second AP and the STA device accessing the second AP may feed back a probe response frame.

In this embodiment of the present application, the private signal probe frame is different from the probe request frame in S401 or S501 in that the private signal probe frame may include a specified field, where the specified field is used to indicate the second AP and the STA accessing the second AP The device feeds back a probe response frame. Exemplarily, the specified field may be a field private to Huawei.

In a possible implementation manner, when the second STA device detects that the signal strength of the Wi-Fi network is lower than the first strength threshold, it may broadcast the private signal probe frame on the channel supported by the second STA device. In a possible implementation manner, S507 may be replaced by: when the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold and the roaming fails, broadcasts a private signal probe frame.

In one embodiment, when the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the strength threshold, the second STA device may send a roaming request to the first AP, and the first AP may send the neighbor The channel of the AP (eg, the second AP) is sent to the second STA device. The second STA device may scan and detect on the channel of the neighbor AP to obtain the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the neighbor AP, and then determine whether to access the neighbor AP according to the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the neighbor AP. Wherein, if the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the neighbor AP is lower than the first strength threshold, it determines that the roaming fails. The neighbor AP may be other slave routing devices that access the first AP. This embodiment is only an example for the roaming of the second STA device, and other roaming manners of the second STA device may refer to the IEEE Std 802.11k/v/r ^TM protocol.

S508, the first STA device sends a probe response frame to the second STA device.

In this embodiment of the present application, all devices (including the first STA device and the second AP) that receive the private signal probe frame from the second STA device can feed back probe response frames to the second STA device. Different from the above FIG. 4 , the probe response frame may include, in addition to the parameters specified in the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol, information such as the uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate. In one embodiment, the probe response frame in S508 may be referred to as a response frame.

S509, the second STA device determines the target STA device.

The target STA device may be the STA device to be activated with the AP function, and may also be understood as the STA device to be accessed by the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, when the first STA device is a STA device, the second STA device may use the first STA device as the target STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, when the first STA device is multiple STA devices, the second STA device may use the Wi-Fi network signal strength, uplink bandwidth, and Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate information of the first STA device according to the information At least one, determine whether the first STA device is a target STA device. Exemplarily, if the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the first STA device is greater than the preset strength, the second STA device may use the first STA device as the target STA device. Alternatively, if the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the first STA device is greater than the preset strength, the uplink bandwidth is greater than the preset bandwidth, and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate is greater than the preset ratio, the second STA device may use the first STA device as the target STA equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, when the first STA device includes multiple STA devices, the second STA device may use Wi-Fi network signal strength, uplink bandwidth, and Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate information of the first STA device according to At least one, the target STA device is determined in the first STA device. Exemplarily, the second STA device may use the first STA device with the highest Wi-Fi network signal strength as the target STA device. Alternatively, the second STA device may use the first STA device whose Wi-Fi network signal strength is greater than the preset strength and whose Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate is the largest as the target STA device.

The above three possible implementation manners are the manners in which the second STA device autonomously determines the target STA device, and the user does not perceive the process. That is, the user does not participate in the selection of the target STA device accessed by the second STA device, and the second STA device determines the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the user may participate in determining the target STA device accessed by the second STA device. Wherein, when the second STA device receives the probe response frame from the first STA device, it can output the identifier of the first STA device, such as the SSID, so that the user can perceive the first STA device that the second STA device can access. In this implementation manner, the user can select the first STA device, and the second STA device can use the first STA device selected by the user as the target STA device.

Exemplarily, the second STA device may output the SSID of the first STA device in the WLAN setting list. As shown in a in Figure 6, the WLAN setting list of the second STA device may include two first STA devices with the SSID "Huawei-employee", and the two first STA devices may be a smart screen and a tablet computer respectively . The type of the first STA device may be displayed on the Wi-Fi icon corresponding to the SSID. For example, the Wi-Fi icon may be a Wi-Fi icon 601 including a smart screen and a Wi-Fi icon 602 including a tablet computer. If the user selects the smart screen in a in FIG. 6 , the second STA device may use the smart screen as the target STA device.

Exemplarily, the second STA device may identify the first STA device in the smart life application. As shown in a in FIG. 7A , when the user opens the smart life application in the second STA device, the interface can jump to the main page of the smart life application, as shown in b in FIG. 7A . The home page of the smart life application can display the STA device, the first STA device, and the third STA device in the family. The STA devices in the family include online STA devices and offline STA devices. The first STA device is an online STA device (that is, a STA device that has accessed the second AP), but is not marked as a "relay" device, such as a smart screen. The third STA device is an online device marked as "relay", such as the speakers in the master bedroom. The third STA device is a STA device supporting static handover, and reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the following embodiments. In a possible implementation manner, in b of FIG. 7A, “the device can be temporarily used as a relay” may be introduced below the first STA device, and “the relay can be accessed to connect to the third STA device” may be introduced below the third STA device Access the Internet", and then prompt the user to select the target STA device that can be accessed. If the user selects the smart screen as the target STA device in b in FIG. 7A , the second STA device may use the smart screen as the target STA device.

It should be understood that, in both FIG. 6 and FIG. 7A , the second STA device is a mobile phone as an example for description.

S510, the second STA device sends an AP request to the target STA device.

The AP request is used to instruct the target STA device to start the AP function. In a possible implementation manner, the AP request may include a specified field for instructing the target STA device to activate the AP function. Exemplarily, the specified field may be a field privately owned by Huawei. It should be understood that, in FIG. 5A , the first STA device is used as an example for description as the target STA device.

S511, the target STA device sends a parameter synchronization request to the second AP.

The parameter synchronization request is used to instruct the second AP to synchronize the configuration information of the second AP to the target STA device. The configuration information of the second AP may include, but is not limited to, the SSID and authentication mode of the second AP.

S512, the second AP synchronizes the configuration information of the second AP to the target STA device.

After the second AP receives the parameter synchronization request from the target STA device, the second AP may synchronize the configuration information of the second AP to the target STA device. The target STA device receives the configuration information from the second AP, and can store the configuration information of the second AP. Optionally, the second AP may synchronize the configuration information of the second AP to the target STA device in a Huawei HiLink synchronization manner. The manner of synchronizing the configuration information of the second AP is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

S513, the target STA device starts the AP function.

It can be understood that the target STA device starts the AP function as: the target STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role for connecting the second STA device and the second AP. In an embodiment, after the target STA device starts the AP function, it may periodically broadcast a second beacon Beacon frame, and the second Beacon frame may include the SSID and authentication method of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the program of the Soft AP may be preset in the first STA device, and the function of starting the AP by the first STA device may be understood as: the first STA device creates a process to run the program of the Soft AP. It should be understood that Soft AP can be understood as a program with AP function in the target STA device. Compared with a router, the target STA device in the embodiment of the present application can implement the AP function for the second STA device to access, and the target STA device can also play the role of STA and can access the second AP.

S514, the target STA device sends an online message to the second AP.

The online message is used to notify the second AP that the target STA device has started the AP function. In a possible implementation manner, the online message may include identification information of the target STA device, where the identification information is used to indicate the target STA device, so as to notify the second AP that the target STA device starts the AP function.

S515, the second AP updates the mesh network topology.

The second AP updates the mesh network topology according to the online message from the target STA device. It should be understood that if there is no other STA device attached to the second AP except the target STA device, the mesh network topology before the update includes the second AP, and the updated network topology includes the second AP and the target STA device. . The second AP may be a master router, and the target STA device may be a slave router.

In a possible implementation, the user can view the mesh network topology through the smart life application. Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 7B , a and b in FIG. 7B are respectively the same as a and b in FIG. 7A . When the user selects the router (second AP) on the interface displayed by b in FIG. 7B , FIG. b in 7B can jump to c in Figure 7B. c in Figure 7B can show the mesh network topology. Wherein, before the smart screen starts the AP function, the mesh network topology may be as shown in c in FIG. 7B , and the mesh network topology includes the second AP and the speaker (third STA device). After the smart screen starts the AP function, the router updates the mesh network topology. The updated mesh network topology can be shown as d in Figure 7B. The updated network topology includes the second AP, the speaker, and the target STA device (the first STA device) composed of master-slave routing mesh network topology. It should be understood that d in FIG. 7B can be an interface of the mesh network topology displayed by the mobile phone after the second AP updates the mesh network topology after the user selects the smart screen in b in FIG. 7A . In a possible implementation manner, the mesh network topology may also include STA devices connected to smart screens and speakers.

In an embodiment, after the second AP updates the mesh network topology, the fourth STA device may send a probe request frame when accessing the Internet. The second AP may enable the fourth STA device to access the Internet through the target STA device according to the roaming mechanism. Specifically, the roaming mechanism may refer to the IEEE Std 802.11k/v/r ^TM protocol. The fourth STA device may be any STA device.

S516, the second AP sends a first mesh network topology update response to the target STA device.

After the second AP updates the mesh network topology, it can send a first mesh network topology update response to the target STA device to notify that the mesh network topology update is complete, and the target STA device can enable the second STA device to access the target STA device.

S517, the target STA device sends an AP response to the second STA device.

The AP response is used to indicate that the target STA device has successfully activated the AP function, and the second STA device can access the target STA device. The second STA device receives the AP response from the target STA device, and can access the target STA device.

In an embodiment, during the process of accessing the access point by the target STA device (such as S501-S506 above), the target STA device may acquire the configuration information of the second AP. Exemplarily, for example, the second AP may broadcast a first beacon Beacon frame, and the first Beacon frame may include the SSID and authentication method of the second AP, and then the target STA device may obtain configuration information of the second AP. In an embodiment, when the second STA device performs the above S510, S513-S517 may be performed. Alternatively, in an embodiment, when the second STA device performs the foregoing S510, S513 and S517 may be performed. In both embodiments, signaling interaction between the first STA device and the access point can be reduced.

The process for the second STA device to access the target STA device may be the same as the process for the second STA device to access the second AP. As shown in the following S518-S523:

S518, the second STA device sends a probe request frame.

It should be understood that the second STA device may send the probe request frame in a broadcast or unicast manner. Wherein, because the second STA device has determined the target STA device, in an embodiment, the probe request frame may include the SSID of the target STA device, so that the target STA device responds to the probe request frame. Alternatively, the second STA device may unicast the probe request frame to the target STA device corresponding to the SSID. In this embodiment of the present application, the manner in which the second STA device sends the probe request frame is not limited.

S519, the target STA device sends a probe response frame to the second STA device.

S520, the second STA device sends an authentication request frame to the target STA device.

S521, the target STA device sends an authentication response frame to the second STA device.

S522, the second STA device sends an association request frame to the target STA device.

S523, the target STA device sends an association response frame to the second STA device.

Exemplarily, if the second STA device successfully accesses the target STA device, a in the foregoing FIG. 6 may jump to b in FIG. 6 . In b in Figure 6, a prompt message such as "connection is successful" may be displayed on the mobile phone to prompt the mobile phone to successfully access the smart screen. It is conceivable that before jumping from a to b in Figure 6, it can jump to c in Figure 6, and c in Figure 6 shows "connecting", indicating that the mobile phone is connecting to the smart screen.

Similarly, exemplarily, if the second STA device successfully accesses the target STA device, b in FIG. 7A may jump to c in FIG. 7A . In c in Figure 7A, the smart screen can be switched from the STA role to the relay role, and the mobile phone can display "relay" to indicate that the smart screen is switched from the STA role to the relay role, the mobile phone is successfully connected to the smart screen, and the mobile phone can display Such as "connection successful" prompt information. It is conceivable that before jumping from b to c in FIG. 7A, you can jump to d in FIG. 7A, and d in FIG. 7A shows "relay", and the mobile phone is currently connected to the smart screen, as shown on the interface. The prompt message "connecting" can be displayed, indicating that the mobile phone is connecting to the smart screen.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first STA device accessing the second AP may enable the AP function. Wherein, when the first STA device requests access by the second STA device, the first STA device may activate the AP function, and then the first STA device may act as a relay to connect the second STA device to the second AP. In the embodiment of the present application, the existing first STA device accessing the second AP is used as a relay, which does not require a user to perform configuration operations, improves user experience, and can expand the coverage of Wi-Fi network signals.

In an embodiment, after the target STA device starts the AP function, the target STA device can either act as a STA device to perform services in itself, or act as a relay to assist the second STA device to perform services in the second STA device. In this embodiment, the target STA device can identify the service in itself and the service in the second STA device, put the service in the target STA into a high-priority queue, process the service in the target STA first, and then process the service in the second STA The service in the device is further ensured that when the target STA device is attached to the second STA device, the service in the target STA device itself is not affected.

As shown in Figure 8, after the target STA device starts the AP function, the target STA device may include the STA module and the Soft AP module. It should be noted that when the target STA device acts as the STA device, the STA module is included in the target STA device. Wherein, the STA module is used to realize the role of the target STA device as a STA, and is used to execute services in the target STA device. The Soft AP module is used to implement the target STA device as a relay role, and is used to assist the second STA device to perform services in the second STA device. In the following, the service in the target STA device is the first service, the message of the first service is the first service message, the service in the second STA device is the second service, and the message of the second service is the second service message. This article is used as an example to describe the service processing process of the target STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the second STA device may send the second service message to the target STA device, the Soft AP module may receive the second service message, and the Soft AP module may send the second service message to the STA module. The STA module may acquire the first feature of the first service packet. The first feature is used to identify the first service packet. The first feature may be, but is not limited to, a quintuple or a process identifier (PID). The quintuple includes a source Internet protocol address (IP) address, a destination IP address, a transport layer protocol number, a source port, and a destination port of the first service packet. The process identifier is used to indicate the process that executes the first service. It should be understood that the first service may have one or more processes, which may correspond to one or more process identifiers. In this manner, the STA module may send the first service packet, the second service packet and the first feature to the second AP. It should be understood that the first service packet, the second service packet and the first feature may be sent at the same time, or may be sent in a time-sharing manner. The first service message, the second service message, and the first feature may be sent in the same signaling, or may be sent in separate signaling, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the sending manner of the message and feature.

In the current QoS mechanism, the priorities of the queues executing services are: voice (video, VI) queue, video (voice, VO) queue, best effort (best effort, BE) queue and background ( background, BK) queue. When the STA module sends the first service packet, the second service packet, and the first feature to the second AP, the first service packet can be put into the high-priority VI queue or VO queue, and the second service packet can be placed in the high-priority VI queue or VO queue. The file is placed in the low-priority BE queue or BK queue. Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 9A , the target STA device is a smart screen, the second STA device is a mobile phone, and the target STA device can put the first service packet into the high-priority VI queue, and put the second service packet into the high-priority VI queue. Put into the low-priority BE queue. Accordingly, the target STA device can preferentially transmit the service packets in the target STA device, and then transmit the service packets in the second STA device.

The second AP may receive the first service packet, the second service packet and the first feature from the STA module. The second AP may identify the first service packet in the target STA device according to the first feature. Optionally, the second AP may take the message that meets the first feature as the first service message in the target STA device, and the message that does not meet the first feature as the second service message in the second STA device, To distinguish the packets in the target STA device and the second STA device. Correspondingly, the second AP can put the third service packet in response to the first service packet into the high-priority VI queue or VO queue, feed it back to the STA module, and place the third service packet in response to the second service packet. Four service packets are put into the low-priority BE queue or BK queue and fed back to the STA module. Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 9B , the target STA device is a smart screen, the second STA device is a mobile phone, the second AP is a router, and the second AP can put the third service packet into the high-priority VI queue, Put the fourth service packet into the low-priority BE queue. Accordingly, the second AP can preferentially transmit the service packets in the target STA device, and then transmit the service packets in the second STA device. In a possible implementation manner, the third service packet may be a packet actively sent by the second AP to the first STA device, and the fourth service packet may be a packet actively sent by the second AP to the second STA device . Similarly, the second AP can put the third service packet into the high-priority VI queue and put the fourth service packet into the low-priority BE queue, so that the second AP can preferentially transmit the target STA device. The service packets in the second STA device are then transmitted.

When the STA module receives the third service packet and the fourth service packet from the second AP, it can identify that the third service packet is a service packet in the target STA device through the first feature of the service packet, The fourth service packet is a service packet in the second STA device, and then the fourth service packet is sent to the second STA device through the Soft AP module.

In a possible implementation manner, a whitelist may be pre-stored in the target STA device, and the whitelist may include attributes of services in the target STA device. The attribute of the service can be, but is not limited to, a quintuple or a process identifier. When the target STA device receives the message from the second AP in response to the first service message or the second service message, it can identify that the third service message is in the target STA device according to the attributes of the services in the whitelist. The service packet, the fourth service packet is a service packet in the second STA device, and also achieves the purpose of distinguishing the service in the target STA device and the service in the second STA device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the target STA device may identify services of the target STA device and the second STA device. The target STA device can put the service of the target STA device into the high-priority queue, and put the service of the second STA device into the low-priority queue, and then the target STA device can execute the service of the target STA device first, and then execute the first STA device. The service of the second STA device, thereby ensuring that when the second STA device is attached to the target STA device, the purpose of not affecting the service in the target STA device itself is achieved.

In an embodiment, when the target STA device determines that there is no attached second STA device, the target STA device may disable the AP function to reduce the power consumption of the target STA device. As shown in FIG. 5B , after the above S523, the following steps may be included. FIG. 5B takes the target STA device as the first STA device as an example for description.

S524, the target STA device receives the disassociation request frame from the second STA device.

In an embodiment, when the second STA device can access the first AP or other STA devices with higher Wi-Fi network signal strength, it can send a disassociation request frame to the target STA device. For the disassociation request frame, refer to the relevant description in the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol.

In one embodiment, when the second STA device detects that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the target STA device is lower than the second strength threshold, it may send a disassociation request frame to the target STA device. Wherein, the second intensity threshold may be the same as or different from the first intensity threshold.

S525, the target STA device sends a disassociation response frame to the second STA device.

For the disassociation response frame, refer to the relevant description in the IEEE Std 802.11 ^™ -2016 protocol.

S526, the target STA device determines whether there is a second STA device that is accessed therein. If yes, execute S531. If not, execute S527.

The target STA device can access multiple STA devices, so the target STA device needs to determine whether a second STA device is also connected to itself. Wherein, if there is a second STA device to be accessed in the target STA device, the target STA device needs to continue to act as a relay to enable the access of the second STA device. If there is no connected second STA device in the target STA device, the target STA device can disable the AP function, so as to reduce the power consumption of the AP and save its own power.

S527, the target STA device disables the AP function.

It can be understood that the target STA device closes the AP function: the target STA device can terminate the process to terminate the program running the Soft AP, that is, the AP function can be closed. Wherein, after the target STA device disables the AP function, it can access the second AP as a STA, but cannot enable the access of the second STA device.

S528, the target STA device sends an offline message to the second AP.

The offline message is used to notify the second AP that the target STA device closes the AP function to request the second AP to update the mesh network topology. In a possible implementation manner, the offline message may include identification information of the target STA device, where the identification information is used to indicate the target STA device to notify the second AP that the target STA device closes the AP function.

In a possible implementation manner, the offline message may not include the identification information of the target STA device, and the second AP may determine, according to the media access control (media access control, MAC) address of the target STA device that sends the offline message, The target STA device goes offline to update the mesh network topology.

S529, the second AP updates the mesh network topology.

It should be understood that for the manner in which the second AP updates the mesh network topology, reference may be made to the relevant description of the above S515. Exemplarily, after the smart screen disables the second AP function, the updated mesh network topology may be as shown in c in FIG. 7B .

S530, the second AP sends a second mesh network topology update response to the target STA device.

After the second AP updates the mesh network topology, it may send a second mesh network topology update response to the target STA device to instruct the target STA device to exit the mesh network topology.

S531, the target STA device does not perform processing.

In this embodiment of the present application, when there is no STA device attached to the target STA device, the target STA device may disable the AP function to switch from the relay role to the STA role, thereby reducing power consumption.

In one embodiment, the third STA device may enable AP functionality. The third STA device is a STA device that supports static handover, and the support of static handover can be understood as: when the third STA device accesses the third AP, the third STA device can activate the AP function. It should be understood that the third AP may or may not be the same as the second AP. In order to facilitate the association with the above-mentioned embodiments, the following description will be given by using the second AP to represent the third AP. Compared with the above-mentioned method in which the target STA device activates the AP function when the second STA device accesses the target STA device, in this method, the second STA device can directly access the third STA device, reducing the number of the second STA device and the AP function. Signaling interaction between third STA devices. The third STA device can be, but is not limited to, a speaker, a wearable device, or an IoT device. In an embodiment, the third STA device may occupy a STA device with smaller air interface resources and larger remaining air interface resources for its own service. The third STA device may be one or more STA devices.

It should be understood that the third STA device may also be referred to as the first STA device, and when the third STA device is the first STA device, the first STA device is a STA device that supports static handover. In this embodiment of the present application, in order to facilitate the distinction between STA devices that support dynamic handover and STA devices that support static handover, the first STA device (STA device supporting dynamic handover) and the third STA device (STA device supporting static handover) are respectively used. ) as an example.

The following describes the process of initiating the AP function by the third STA device with reference to FIG. 10 . As shown in FIG. 10 , the access mode provided by this embodiment of the present application may include:

S1001, a third STA device sends a probe request frame.

S1002, the second AP sends a probe response frame to the third STA device.

S1003, the third STA device sends an authentication request frame to the second AP.

S1004, the second AP sends an authentication response frame to the third STA device.

For S1001-S1004, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the above-mentioned S401-S404, which will not be repeated here.

S1005, the third STA device sends an association request frame to the second AP.

The association request frame may include information about the mesh capability and mesh switching type of the third STA device. In the embodiments of the present application, the third STA device supports mutual assistance mesh, and the mesh switching type of the third STA device is static switching for description.

S1006, the second AP sends an association response frame to the third STA device.

After receiving the association request frame from the third STA device, the second AP can obtain the mesh capability and mesh switching type of the third STA device, and then can determine that the third STA device supports mutual assistance mesh and the mesh switching type of the third STA device for static switching. The second AP may send an association response frame to the third STA device, where the association response frame may be used to instruct the third STA device to activate the AP function.

S1007, the third STA device sends a parameter synchronization request to the second AP.

S1008, the second AP synchronizes the configuration information of the second AP to the target STA device.

S1009, the third STA device enables the AP function.

S1010, the third STA device sends an online message to the second AP.

S1011, the second AP updates the mesh network topology.

S1012, the second AP sends a first mesh network topology update response to the target STA device.

It should be understood that for S1007-S1012, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions of the above-mentioned S511-S516.

To sum up, the third STA device can activate the AP function, and then when the second STA device accesses the Internet, the third STA device can assist the second STA device to access the second AP.

In an embodiment, after S1012, if the second STA device accesses the Internet, it may further include:

S1013, the third STA device receives the probe request frame from the second STA device.

S1014, the third STA device sends a probe response frame to the second STA device.

In one embodiment, the probe request frame in S1013 may be referred to as a probe frame, and the probe response frame in S1014 may be referred to as a response frame, and the probe request frame and probe response frame are defined in the IEEE Std ^802.11TM -2016 protocol Probe Request Frames and Probe Response Frames.

Wherein, if the second STA device determines to access the third STA device, it may continue to perform the following steps:

S1015, the second STA device sends an authentication request frame to the third STA device.

S1016, the third STA device sends an authentication response frame to the second STA device.

S1017, the second STA device sends an association request frame to the third STA device.

S1018, the third STA device sends an association response frame to the second STA device.

Wherein, S1013-S1018 can refer to the relevant descriptions of the above-mentioned S401-S406.

To sum up, the second STA device can access the third STA device to access the second AP. For the process of processing the service by the third STA device, reference may be made to the relevant description of the service processing by the second STA device.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the third STA device accesses the second AP, the AP function may be enabled. The third STA device may act as a relay to enable the second STA device to access the second AP. In the embodiment of the present application, the existing third STA device accessing the second AP is used as a relay, which does not require a user to perform configuration operations, improves user experience, and can expand the coverage of Wi-Fi network signals.

In an embodiment, when the third STA device is powered off, the third STA device can disable the AP function. For this process, refer to FIG. 11 :

S1101, when the third STA device is powered off, the AP function is disabled.

S1102, the third STA device sends an offline message to the second AP.

S1103, the second AP updates the mesh network topology.

S1104, the second AP sends a second mesh network topology update response to the third STA device.

It should be understood that, for the implementation of S1101-S1104, reference may be made to the above-mentioned related descriptions of S527-S530.

S1105, the third STA device sends a disassociation request frame to the second AP.

S1106, the second AP sends a disassociation response frame to the third STA device.

It should be understood that, for the implementation of S1105-S1106, reference may be made to the above-mentioned related descriptions of S524-S525.

In an embodiment, when the third STA device accesses the second AP, the third STA device may send a heartbeat frame to the second AP, and the second AP may detect whether the third STA device is Access the second AP. Wherein, when the second AP does not detect the heartbeat frame from the third STA device within a preset time period (such as 2-minutes), it can be determined that the third STA device is powered off or offline, and then the network topology update in S1103 can be performed. action.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the third STA device is powered off, the third STA device can disable the AP function, which can reduce the number of response frames processed by the STA device when accessing the second AP, thereby reducing the speed of accessing the second AP. .

The first STA device and the third STA device accessing the second AP can be regarded as a slave router or relay, and the second AP can synchronize mesh network topology information to the slave router, and the mesh network topology information can include accessing the second AP. All of the slave router's address, identification and other information. In one embodiment, if the first STA device detects that its own channel duty cycle is greater than the preset duty cycle when the second STA device accesses the first STA device, the first STA device may use a roaming mechanism to make The second STA device can access other slave routers, such as the third STA device. In an embodiment, if the first STA device detects that the signal strength of the uplink signal from the second STA device is lower than the preset strength when the second STA device accesses the first STA device, the first STA device may use roaming mechanism to enable the second STA device to access other slave routers. In an embodiment, if the second STA device detects that the strength of the signal from the first STA device is less than the preset strength when the second STA device accesses the first STA device, the second STA device may use a roaming mechanism, Access other slave routers. For the specific roaming mechanism, refer to the IEEE Std 802.11k/v/r ^TM protocol.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the STA device accesses any STA device that is switched to the relay role, if the signal strength is low, or the channel duty cycle of the STA device switched to the relay role is large, the roaming mechanism can be used. , to enable the STA device to access other slave routers to ensure that the STA device can access the Internet normally and achieve seamless roaming.

To sum up, with specific reference to the relevant descriptions in FIG. 5A and FIG. 10 , the access method provided in this embodiment of the present application is applied to an access system, and the access system includes: a first STA device, a second STA device, a first AP and second AP, the first STA device has accessed the second AP. The method includes: the second STA device broadcasts a probe frame in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than a first strength threshold; the first STA device sends a response frame to the second STA device; The second STA device sends an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device. It should be understood that the probe frame in FIG. 5A is a private signal probe frame, as shown in S507 of FIG. 5A . The probe frame described in FIG. 10 is a probe request frame, as shown in S1013 in FIG. 10 . In this application, the existing first STA device that has accessed the second AP is used as a relay, and the second STA device can access the first STA device to access the Internet. The method does not require the user to set up a network, can expand the coverage of the Wi-Fi network signal, and improve user experience.

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an access device provided by an embodiment of the present application. The access device involved in this embodiment may be the aforementioned second STA device, or may be a chip applied to the second STA device. The access apparatus may be configured to perform the actions of the second STA device in the foregoing method embodiments. As shown in FIG. 12 , the access device 1200 may include: a processing module 1201 and a transceiver module 1202 .

The transceiver module 1202 is configured to: in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point AP is lower than the first strength threshold, broadcast a probe frame; receive a response from the first STA device frame, the first STA device is an STA device that has accessed the second AP; an authentication request frame is sent to the first STA device to access the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the response frame includes at least one of the uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate; the processing module 1201 is configured to At least one of the Wi-Fi network signal strength of the device, the uplink bandwidth, and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate determines that the first STA device is the target STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1202 is further configured to: send an AP request to the first STA device, where the AP request is used to instruct the first STA device to start the AP function, the first STA device A STA device starts the AP function to indicate that the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role; receives an AP response from the first STA device, the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated all the AP function; sending a probe request frame to the first STA device; and receiving a probe response frame from the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1202 is specifically configured to: in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold and the roaming fails, The probe frame is broadcast.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1202 is further configured to: send the authentication request frame to the first STA device; receive an authentication response frame from the first STA device; An STA device sends an association request frame; and receives an association response frame from the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1202 is further configured to: in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first STA device is lower than a second strength threshold, send a message to the first STA The device sends a disassociation request frame; and receives a disassociation response frame from the first STA device.

FIG. 13 is another schematic structural diagram of an access device provided by an embodiment of the present application. The access apparatus involved in this embodiment may be the aforementioned first STA device, or may be a chip applied to the first STA device. The access apparatus may be configured to perform the actions of the first STA device in the foregoing method embodiments. As shown in FIG. 13 , the access apparatus 1300 may include: a processing module 1301 and a transceiver module 1302 .

The transceiver module 1302 is configured to: receive a probe frame from the second STA device; send a response frame to the second STA device; and receive an authentication request frame from the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the response frame includes at least one of an uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and a Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate. The transceiver module 1302 is further configured to receive an AP request from the second STA device. The processing module 1301 is configured to activate the AP function, where the activation of the AP function indicates that the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role. The transceiver module 1302 is further configured to send an AP response to the second STA device, where the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to receive a probe request frame from the second STA device; and send a probe response frame to the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the probe frame is a probe request frame, and the response frame is a probe response frame; before the transceiver module 1302 receives the probe frame from the second STA device, the processing module 1301 uses For enabling the AP function, the enabling the AP function represents that the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 1301 is further configured to acquire configuration information of the second AP, where the configuration information includes a service set identifier SSID and an authentication method of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to receive a first beacon Beacon frame from the second AP, where the first Beacon frame includes configuration information of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to send a parameter synchronization request to the second AP; and receive configuration information from the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to send an online message to the second AP, where the online message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; The AP's first network topology update response.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to broadcast a second beacon Beacon frame, where the second Beacon frame includes the SSID and the authentication method.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to send an authentication response frame to the second STA device; receive an association request frame from the second STA device; Send an association response frame.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 1301 is further configured to put a first service packet into a service queue of a first priority, where the first service packet is stored in the first STA device the message of the service; put the second service message into the service queue of the second priority, the second service message is the message of the service in the second STA device, the second priority lower than the first priority. The transceiver module 1302 is further configured to send the first feature, the first service packet and the second service packet to the second AP, where the first feature is the value of the first service packet. feature, where the first feature is used by the second AP to identify the first service packet.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to receive a third service packet in the service queue of the first priority from the second AP; A fourth service packet in the service queue of the second priority; and sending the fourth service packet to the second STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to receive a disassociation request frame from the second STA device; and send a disassociation response frame to the second STA device. The processing module 1301 is further configured to determine whether there is an access STA device in the first STA device; if so, no processing is performed; if not, the AP function is closed, and the AP function is deactivated. The first STA device switches from the relay role to the STA role.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1302 is further configured to send an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; The second network topology update response of the second AP.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 1301 is further configured to disable the AP function when the power is turned off, and the disabling of the AP function indicates that the first STA device switches from the relay role to the STA role. The transceiver module 1302 is further configured to send an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology; and receive the second network topology update from the second AP responding; sending a disassociation request frame to the second AP; and receiving a disassociation response frame from the second AP.

FIG. 14 is another schematic structural diagram of an access device provided by an embodiment of the present application. The access device involved in this embodiment may be the aforementioned second AP, or may be a chip applied to the second AP. The access device may be configured to perform the actions of the second AP in the foregoing method embodiments. As shown in FIG. 14 , the access apparatus 1400 may include: a processing module 1401 and a transceiver module 1402 .

The processing module 1401 is configured to receive a parameter synchronization request from a first STA device; send configuration information of the second access point to the first STA device, where the configuration information includes the second access point Service set identifier SSID and authentication mode of the access point; receiving an online message from the first STA device; updating the network topology; sending a first network topology update response to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 1401 is configured to put the third service packet into the service queue of the first priority; put the fourth service packet into the service queue of the second priority , the second priority is lower than the first priority. The transceiver module 1402 is further configured to send the third service packet and the fourth service packet to the first STA device.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1402 is further configured to receive an offline message from the first STA device, where the offline message is used to instruct the second access point to update the network topology. The processing module 1401 is further configured to update the network topology. The transceiver module 1402 is further configured to send a second network topology update response to the first STA device; receive a disassociation request frame from the first STA device; and send a disassociation response frame to the first STA device .

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 1402 is further configured to broadcast a first beacon Beacon frame, where the first Beacon frame includes configuration information of the second access point.

The implementation principle and technical effect of the access device provided in the embodiment of the present application are similar to those of the above-mentioned embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

It should be noted that, it should be understood that the above transceiver module may be a transceiver, or include a transmitter and a receiver when actually implemented. The processing module can be implemented in the form of software calling through processing elements; it can also be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, the processing module may be a separately established processing element, or may be integrated in a certain chip of the above-mentioned device to be implemented, in addition, it may also be stored in the memory of the above-mentioned device in the form of program code, and a certain processing element of the above-mentioned device may be used. Call and execute the functions of the above processing modules. In addition, all or part of these modules can be integrated together, and can also be implemented independently. The processing element described here may be an integrated circuit with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above-mentioned method or each of the above-mentioned modules can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor element or an instruction in the form of software.

For example, the above modules may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), or one or more microprocessors (digital) signal processor, DSP), or, one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA), etc. For another example, when one of the above modules is implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler code, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU) or other processors that can call program codes. For another example, these modules can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

FIG. 15 is another schematic structural diagram of an access apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. The access device may be the access device described in FIG. 12 above, or the access device described in FIG. 13 above, or the access device described in FIG. 14 above. As shown in FIG. 15 , the access device may include: a processor 1501 (for example, a CPU), a memory 1502 , and a transceiver 1503 ; the transceiver 1503 is coupled to the processor 1501 , and the processor 1501 controls the transceiver 1503 to send and receive operations; the memory 1502 May include high-speed random access memory (random-access memory, RAM), may also include non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory, NVM), such as at least one disk memory, the memory 1502 can store various instructions to Used to complete various processing functions and implement the method steps of the present application. Optionally, the access device involved in this application may further include: a power supply 1504 , a communication bus 1505 and a communication port 1506 . The transceiver 1503 may be integrated in the transceiver of the access device, or may be an independent transceiver antenna on the access device. A communication bus 1505 is used to implement communication connections between elements. The above-mentioned communication port 1506 is used to implement connection and communication between the access device and other peripheral devices.

In this embodiment of the present application, the above-mentioned memory 1502 is used to store computer-executable program codes, and the program codes include instructions; when the processor 1501 executes the instructions, the instructions cause the processor 1501 of the access device to execute the execution of the terminal equipment in the foregoing method embodiments. The processing action enables the transceiver 1503 to perform the sending and receiving actions of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments. The implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and are not repeated here.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. A computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. Computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website site, computer, server, or data center over a wire (e.g. coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (eg, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) to another website site, computer, server, or data center. A computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, a data center, or the like that includes an integration of one or more available media. Useful media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, DVD), or semiconductor media (eg, Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of an access system provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16 , the access system provided by the present application may include the second STA device (or the access apparatus shown in FIG. 12 ), the first STA device (or the access device shown in FIG. 13 ) in the above embodiment device) and the second AP (or the access device shown in Figure 14). In an embodiment, the access system provided by the present application may further include the above-mentioned first AP.

The term "plurality" as used herein refers to two or more. The term "and/or" in this article is only an association relationship to describe the associated objects, indicating that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, it can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and A and B exist independently B these three cases. In addition, the character "/" in this article generally indicates that the related objects before and after are an "or" relationship; in the formula, the character "/" indicates that the related objects are a "division" relationship.

It can be understood that, the various numbers and numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It can be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not imply the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its functions and internal logic, rather than the implementation of the present application. The implementation of the examples constitutes no limitation.

Claims

An access method, characterized in that it is applied to an access system, wherein the access system includes: a first site STA device, a second STA device, a first access point AP and a second AP, the first STA device has accessing the second AP; the method includes:

The second STA device broadcasts a probe frame in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than a first strength threshold;

sending, by the first STA device, a response frame to the second STA device;

The second STA device sends an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the response frame includes at least one of an uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and a Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate; the second STA device sends a message to the first STA device. Before an STA device sends an authentication request frame, it further includes:

The second STA device determines that the first STA device is the target STA device according to at least one of the Wi-Fi network signal strength, the uplink bandwidth, and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate of the first STA device .
The method according to claim 2, wherein after determining that the first STA device is the target STA device, the method further comprises:

sending, by the second STA device, an AP request to the first STA device;

The first STA device starts the AP function, and the first STA device starts the AP function to indicate that the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role;

The first STA device sends an AP response to the second STA device, where the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function;

sending, by the second STA device, a probe request frame to the first STA device;

The first STA device sends a probe response frame to the second STA device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the detection frame is a detection request frame, and the response frame is a detection response frame; before the broadcast detection frame, further comprising:

The first STA device starts the AP function, and the first STA device starts the AP function to indicate that the first STA device switches from the STA role to the relay role.
The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the second STA device responds to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength Threshold, broadcast probe frames, including:

The second STA device broadcasts the probe frame in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold and the roaming fails.
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the second STA device sends an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device, comprising:

sending, by the second STA device, the authentication request frame to the first STA device;

sending, by the first STA device, an authentication response frame to the second STA device;

sending, by the second STA device, an association request frame to the first STA device;

The first STA device sends an association response frame to the second STA device.
An access method, characterized in that it is applied to a STA device of a second site, the method comprising:

broadcasting a probe frame in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point AP is lower than the first strength threshold;

receiving a response frame from a first STA device, where the first STA device is an STA device that has accessed the second AP;

Send an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the response frame includes at least one of an uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and a Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate; the sending to the first STA device Before the authentication request frame, it also includes:

The first STA device is determined as a target STA device according to at least one of the Wi-Fi network signal strength, the uplink bandwidth, and the Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate of the first STA device.
The method according to claim 8, wherein after determining that the first STA device is the target STA device, the method further comprises:

Send an AP request to the first STA device, where the AP request is used to instruct the first STA device to activate the AP function, and the first STA device to activate the AP function indicates that the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the middle successor role;

receiving an AP response from the first STA device, where the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function;

sending a probe request frame to the first STA device;

A probe response frame from the first STA device is received.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the probe frame is a probe request frame, the response frame is a probe response frame, and the first STA device starts an AP function when accessing the second AP, The activation of the AP function by the first STA device indicates that the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role.
The method according to any one of claims 7-10, wherein in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first access point AP is lower than a first strength threshold, the broadcast Probe frames, including:

The probe frame is broadcast in response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first AP is lower than the first strength threshold and the roaming fails.
The method according to any one of claims 7-11, wherein the sending an authentication request frame to the first STA device to access the first STA device comprises:

sending the authentication request frame to the first STA device;

receiving an authentication response frame from the first STA device;

sending an association request frame to the first STA device;

An association response frame is received from the first STA device.
The method according to any one of claims 7-12, wherein the method further comprises:

In response to detecting that the Wi-Fi network signal strength from the first STA device is lower than a second strength threshold, sending a disassociation request frame to the first STA device;

A disassociation response frame from the first STA device is received.
An access method, characterized in that it is applied to a STA device of a first site, where the first STA device is a STA device that has accessed a second access point AP, the method comprising:

receiving a probe frame from the second STA device;

sending a response frame to the second STA device;

An authentication request frame from the second STA device is received.
The method according to claim 14, wherein the response frame includes at least one of an uplink bandwidth of the first STA device and a Wi-Fi channel vacancy rate, and the sending to the second STA device After the response frame, it also includes:

receiving an AP request from the second STA device;

starting the AP function, where the starting AP function represents that the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role;

Send an AP response to the second STA device, where the AP response is used to indicate that the first STA device has activated the AP function.
The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein before the receiving the authentication request frame from the second STA device, the method further comprises:

receiving a probe request frame from the second STA device;

Send a probe response frame to the second STA device.
The method according to claim 14, wherein the probe frame is a probe request frame, and the response frame is a probe response frame; before the receiving the probe frame from the second STA device, further comprising:

The AP function is activated, and the activation of the AP function indicates that the first STA device is switched from the STA role to the relay role.
The method according to claim 15 or 17, wherein before the starting the AP function, the method further comprises:

Acquire configuration information of the second AP, where the configuration information includes a service set identifier SSID and an authentication method of the second AP.
The method according to claim 18, wherein the acquiring the configuration information of the second AP comprises:

A first beacon Beacon frame from the second AP is received, where the first Beacon frame includes configuration information of the second AP.
The method according to claim 18, wherein the acquiring the configuration information of the second AP comprises:

sending a parameter synchronization request to the second AP;

Receive configuration information from the second AP.
The method according to any one of claims 15, 17-20, wherein after the AP function is started, the method further comprises:

sending an online message to the second AP, where the online message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology;

A first network topology update response from the second AP is received.
The method according to claim 18, wherein after the AP function is started, the method further comprises:

A second beacon Beacon frame is broadcast, and the second Beacon frame includes the SSID and the authentication method.
The method according to any one of claims 14-22, wherein after the receiving the authentication request frame from the second STA device, the method further comprises:

sending an authentication response frame to the second STA device;

receiving an association request frame from the second STA device;

Send an association response frame to the second STA device.
The method according to any one of claims 14-23, wherein the method further comprises:

Putting the first service message into the service queue of the first priority, the first service message is the message of the service in the first STA device;

Put a second service packet into a service queue of a second priority, where the second service packet is a packet of a service in the second STA device, and the second priority is lower than the first priority priority;

Send the first feature, the first service packet, and the second service packet to the second AP, where the first feature is the feature of the first service packet, and the first feature is used for The second AP identifies the first service packet.
The method of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a third service packet in the service queue of the first priority from the second AP;

receiving a fourth service packet in the service queue of the second priority from the second AP;

Send the fourth service packet to the second STA device.
The method according to claim 25, wherein the third service message is a message in response to the first service message, and the fourth service message is a message in response to the second service message text message.
The method according to any one of claims 15, 17-22, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a disassociation request frame from the second STA device;

sending a disassociation response frame to the second STA device;

Judging whether there is still an access STA device in the first STA device;

If so, it will not be dealt with;

If not, the AP function is turned off, and the turning off the AP function indicates that the first STA device switches from the relay role to the STA role.
The method according to claim 27, wherein after the AP function is disabled, the method further comprises:

sending an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology;

A second network topology update response from the second AP is received.
The method according to any one of claims 15, 17-22, wherein the method further comprises:

When the power is turned off, the AP function is turned off, and the turning off the AP function indicates that the first STA device is switched from the relay role to the STA role;

sending an offline message to the second AP, where the offline message is used to instruct the second AP to update the network topology;

receiving a second network topology update response from the second AP;

sending a disassociation request frame to the second AP;

A disassociation response frame from the second AP is received.
An access device, comprising: a memory and a processor;

The processor is configured to be coupled with the memory to read and execute instructions in the memory to implement the method of any one of claims 7-29.
An access system, characterized in that the access system includes: a first site STA device, a second STA device, a first access point AP, and a second AP, and the first STA device has accessed the second AP;

The first STA device is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 14-29, and the second STA device is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 7-13.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer storage medium stores computer instructions, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 7-29 .
A computer program product, comprising computer programs or instructions, characterized in that, when the computer program or instructions are executed by a processor, the method of any one of claims 7-29 is implemented.
A program product, characterized in that the program product comprises a computer program, the computer program is stored in a readable storage medium, and at least one processor of a communication device can read the computer program from the readable storage medium , the at least one processor executes the computer program so that the communication device implements the method according to any one of claims 1-6 or the method according to any one of claims 7-13 or the method according to any one of claims 14-29 any of the methods described.