WO2023134581A1 - Channel contention method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to a channel contention method and apparatus, capable of limiting frequent contention initiated by a station, thereby reducing interference to other devices. In the method, a station acquires a channel contention rule and performs channel contention according to the channel contention rule, wherein the channel contention rule is a first rule or a second rule or a third rule or a fourth rule. The first rule comprises: the number of RTS frames sent by each of a plurality of contention timers during operation being less than or equal to a first threshold; the second rule comprises: performing channel contention after a target duration; the third rule comprises: the station being prohibited to send a CTS-to-self frame; the fourth rule comprises: before an MSD timer expires, the station transmitting an RTS frame as an initial frame to start a TXOP, and the number of started TXOPs being less than or equal to a second threshold; the fourth rule further comprises at least one of the following: before an MSD timer expires, the threshold of a CCA-ED is dot11OFDMEDThreshold, or the condition that an MSD timer reset not be set to 0.

Description

Channel competition method and device

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number 202210032740.8 and the application name "Channel Competition Method and Device" submitted to the State Intellectual Property Office on January 12, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated in this application by reference.

technical field

The present application relates to the communication field, in particular to a channel competition method and device.

Background technique

In order to reduce the conflict between various wireless local area network (wireless local area network, WLAN) devices, WLAN defines a virtual carrier sense mechanism, that is, network allocation vector (network allocation vector, NAV).

In the NAV mechanism, the WLAN device that has obtained the channel may notify other WLAN devices in the frame it sends of the duration that the WLAN device that has obtained the channel currently uses the channel. Other WLAN devices that hear the frame can set a NAV timer with a duration of this duration, and stop channel competition during the running of the timer.

However, in practical applications, there may be a situation where the WLAN device cannot set the NAV timer. At this time, if the WLAN device competes for the channel to access the channel, it may affect communication of other WLAN devices.

Contents of the invention

The present application provides a channel competition method and device, which can limit the frequent initiation of channel competition by stations, thereby reducing the interference caused to the communication of other devices.

In the first aspect, a channel competition method is provided, which can be performed by a site, or by components of the site, such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system of the site, or by a channel that can realize all or part of the site's functions. logic modules or software implementations. The method includes: the station acquires a channel competition rule, and performs channel competition according to the channel competition rule, and the channel competition rule is the first rule or the second rule or the third rule. Wherein, the first rule includes: the number of request-to-send RTS frames sent during the operation of each contention timer in a plurality of contention timers is less than or equal to the threshold; the second rule includes: performing channel competition after the target duration; the third The rules include: the station is prohibited from sending a clear-to-send CTS frame whose destination address is the station; the fourth rule includes: before the expiration of the media synchronization delay MSD timer, the station transmits the RTS frame as the initial frame to open the transmission opportunity TXOP, and the individual TXOP opened The number is less than or equal to the second threshold, and the fourth rule also includes at least one of the following: before the expiration of the MSD timer, the threshold of idle channel evaluation-energy detection is the point 11 OFDM energy detection threshold dot11OFDMEDThreshold, or MSD is not set Condition to reset the timer to 0.

Based on this scheme, when the channel competition rule is the first rule or the fourth rule, the number of RTS frames sent by the station during the timer running period can be limited, that is, the station is restricted from frequently initiating channel competition, and the interference caused to the communication of other devices can be reduced . When the competition rule is the second rule, the station can delay the channel competition time, thereby limiting the frequent initiation of channel competition by the station and avoiding interference to other devices within the target duration. When the competition rule is the third rule, by prohibiting the station from sending a CTS-to-self frame, the station can be restricted from reserving channel resources through the CTS-to-self frame, preventing the station from reserving resources that other devices need to use, and reducing the impact on other devices. Impact. In addition, prohibiting the sending of the CTS-to-self frame can prevent the collision between the CTS-to-self frame and frames sent by other devices, thereby reducing interference.

In a possible design, the first rule further includes at least one of the following items: the number of request-to-send RTS frames sent during the running of each contention timer in the plurality of contention timers is greater than or equal to 1, the number of contention timers to The pre-empty channel assessment-energy detection threshold is dot11 OFDMEDThreshold, or the condition that the contention timer is reset to 0 is not set.

Based on this possible design, dot11OFDMEDThreshold is used as the CCA-ED threshold before the timer expires, so that the station can use the same threshold during the running of the timer and under normal conditions, avoiding the use of different thresholds in different situations, and reducing implementation complexity. In addition, without setting the condition for the timer to be reset to 0, compared with resetting the timer to 0 in some cases, the restriction time on the site can be extended, thereby reducing the impact on other devices for a long period of time. Interference caused by communication. In addition, it can reduce the station's judgment on the condition of resetting to 0, and reduce the implementation complexity.

In a possible design, the running times of multiple contention timers do not overlap; or, multiple contention timers include a first contention timer and a second contention timer, and the start time of the second contention timer is located at the first The running time of the contention timer. Based on this possible design, the running time of multiple timers can be flexibly set to improve flexibility.

In a possible design, the method further includes: detecting a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU. If no PPDU is detected, or the first PPDU is detected but the target field of the first PPDU is not correctly received, the channel competition rule is the first rule or the fourth rule; if the first PPDU is detected and the target field of the first PPDU is correctly received field, the channel contention rule is the second rule. Wherein, the target field is used to indicate the length of the first PPDU.

Based on this possible design, the channel competition rules can be selected accordingly by whether the PPDU is detected and the target field of the PPDU is received, and the match between the channel competition rules and the actual situation can be improved, so that the station can choose a more suitable channel according to the actual situation Competition rules to improve the rationality of restricting channel competition.

In a possible design, the target duration is the length of the first PPDU; or, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU and the interframe space IFS; or, the target duration is the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the preset or, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of the Ack frame of the first PPDU.

In a possible design, IFS is any of the following: short interframe space SIFS, extended interframe space EIFS, distributed coordination function interframe space DIFS, point coordination function interframe space PIFS, shortened interframe space RIFS, Arbitrary interframe spacing AIFS.

In a second aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the above various methods. The communication device may be the station in the first aspect, or a device included in the station, such as a chip. The communication device includes a corresponding module, unit, or means (means) for implementing the above method, and the module, unit, or means can be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing corresponding software on hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

In some possible designs, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module can be used to realize the functions of receiving and sending in any of the above aspects and any possible designs thereof. The processing module may be used to realize the processing functions in any of the above aspects and any possible designs thereof.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device executes the method described in any one of the above aspects. The communication device may be the station in the first aspect, or a device included in the station, such as a chip.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to communicate with modules other than the communication device; the processor is used to execute computer programs or instructions, so that the communication device Perform the method described in any one of the above aspects. The communication device may be the station in the first aspect, or a device included in the station, such as a chip.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: an interface circuit and a processor, the interface circuit is a code/data read and write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer-executed instructions (computer-executed instructions are stored in a memory, possibly read directly from the memory, or possibly through other devices) and transmit to the processor; the processor is used to execute computer-executed instructions to enable the communication device to perform the method described in any aspect above. The communication device may be the station in the first aspect, or a device included in the station, such as a chip.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, including: at least one processor; the processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions, so that the communication device executes the method described in any one of the above aspects. The communication device may be the station in the first aspect, or a device included in the station, such as a chip.

In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary computer programs or instructions. The memory can be coupled to the processor, or it can be independent of the processor.

In some possible designs, the communication device may be a chip or system-on-a-chip. When the device is a system-on-a-chip, the system-on-a-chip may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, the method described in any one of the above-mentioned aspects is executed implement.

In an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided. When the computer program product is executed by a processor, the method described in any one of the above aspects is executed.

It can be understood that when the communication device provided by any one of the second to eighth aspects is a chip, the above-mentioned sending action/function can be understood as output information, and the above-mentioned receiving action/function can be understood as input information.

Wherein, the technical effects brought about by any one of the design methods in the second aspect to the eighth aspect can refer to the technical effects brought about by the different design methods in the above-mentioned first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi-link between multi-link devices provided by the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a plurality of links provided by the present application that cannot transmit and receive at the same time;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an enhanced single radio multi-link technology provided by the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a hidden node provided by the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a blind problem provided by the present application;

FIG. 6 is an architecture diagram of a WLAN system provided by the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a WLAN device provided by the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a channel access method provided by the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic distribution diagram of a plurality of timers provided by the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the distribution of another multiple timers provided by the present application;

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

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a site provided by the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application.

Detailed ways

In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "/" means that the objects associated with each other are an "or" relationship, for example, A/B can mean A or B; "and/or" in this application is only It is an association relationship describing associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, among which A, B Can be singular or plural.

In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one item (piece) of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple .

In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same or similar items with basically the same function and effect. Those skilled in the art can understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit the difference.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used as examples, illustrations or illustrations. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application shall not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. To be precise, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete manner for easy understanding.

It is to be understood that references to "an embodiment" throughout the specification mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic related to the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, various embodiments are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment throughout the specification. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It can be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the serial numbers of the processes do not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined by their functions and internal logic, and should not be used in the embodiments of the present application. The implementation process constitutes no limitation.

It can be understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application, in some scenarios, can be independently implemented without relying on other features, such as the current solution on which they are based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects , and can also be combined with other features according to requirements in some scenarios. Correspondingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application can also correspondingly implement these features or functions, which will not be repeated here.

In this application, unless otherwise specified, the parts that are the same or similar among the various embodiments can be referred to each other. In each embodiment of this application, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and/or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other. The technical features in different embodiments are based on their inherent Logical relationships can be combined to form new embodiments. The following embodiments of the present application are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction of related technologies of the present application is given as follows.

1. Multi-link operation (MLO):

Continuously improving the throughput rate is a continuous technical goal of the development and evolution of cellular networks and wireless local area networks (WLAN). The protocol of the WLAN system is mainly discussed in the 802.11 standard group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In standards such as 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, the throughput rate of the WLAN system is obtained continuous improvement. The next-generation standard IEEE 802.11be is called the extremely high throughput (EHT) standard, and it will significantly improve the peak throughput as its most important technical goal.

In order to achieve the technical goal of extremely high throughput, the next-generation standard IEEE 802.11be uses MLO as one of the key technologies. Its core idea is that WLAN devices that support the next-generation IEEE 802.11 standard have the ability to transmit and receive in multi-band (Multi-band), so that they can use a larger bandwidth for data transmission, thereby significantly improving throughput. Exemplarily, the above multiple frequency bands include but are not limited to: 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, Wi-Fi) frequency band, 5GHz Wi-Fi frequency band and 6GHz Wi-Fi frequency band.

Among them, accessing and transmitting on a frequency band can be called a link, or accessing and transmitting on a frequency interval on the same frequency band can be called a link, so that a network composed of multiple links Access and transmission is called MLO.

Exemplarily, when access and transmission performed on a frequency range on the same frequency band are called a link, the access frequency bands of different links may be the same, that is, different links may be located on the same frequency band. In this case, different links can access different channels (or different frequency intervals) of the same frequency band, so as to perform data transmission on different channels.

2. Multi-link device (MLD):

The next-generation IEEE802.11 standard station device that supports multiple links at the same time is called a multi-link device (multi-link device, MLD). That is, multi-link devices have the ability to transmit and receive on multiple frequency bands. Compared with devices that only support single-link transmission, multi-link devices have higher transmission efficiency and higher throughput.

The multi-link device includes at least two affiliated stations (affiliated stations, affiliated STAs). Among them, a site can be understood as an internal entity responsible for a link. The affiliated station can be an access point station (access point station, AP STA) or a non-access point station (non-access point station, non-AP STA). A multi-link device whose affiliated station is an AP STA can be called an AP multi-link device (AP multi-link device, AP MLD); a multi-link device whose affiliated station is a non-AP STA can be called a non-AP multi-link device. Link device (non-AP MLD).

Exemplarily, a STA in a multi-link device may establish a link with a STA in another multi-link device to communicate, and refer to the schematic diagram shown in FIG. 1 .

It should be noted that the station in this application may refer to AP STA, or may refer to non-AP STA. For the convenience of description, AP STA is referred to as AP for short in the following embodiments of this application.

Multi-link devices can be divided into simultaneous transmitting and receiving (STR) multi-link devices (STR MLD) and non-simultaneous transmitting and receiving (NSTR) multi-link devices (non-STR MLD).

When the frequency interval between multiple frequency bands supported by non-STR MLD is relatively close, sending signals in one frequency band will affect the reception of signals in another frequency band, that is, among the multiple links of non-STR MLD, there are at least two links Routes cannot send and receive at the same time. For example, as shown in Figure 2, among multiple links established between a non-STR MLD and another multi-link device, if the frequency interval between link 1 and link 2 is small, the transmission on link 2 When the time of block acknowledgment (BA) 2 of physical protocol data unit (physical protocol data unit, PPDU) 2 overlaps with the time of receiving PPDU1 on link 1, the transmission process of BA2 on link 2 leaks The energy on link 1 will block the reception of PPDU1 on link 1, thereby affecting the reception of PPDU1.

3. Enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR):

When non-AP MLD only has single-radio transceiver capability, in order to make it enjoy the advantage of multi-link, IEEE 802.11be introduces EMLSR capability. The non-AP MLD that supports EMLSR can perform listening operations on multiple links at the same time (Listening Operation). In listening operation, the non-AP MLD uses one radio (e.g., one antenna) on each link to receive.

After the AP MLD successfully sends the initial control frame (Initial Control Frame) to the non-AP MLD on any link i, the non-AP MLD can switch the radio on each link to link i and AP MLD for frame interact. After the frame exchange is over, the non-AP MLD switches the radio to each link and performs a listening operation.

Exemplarily, as shown in Figure 3, link 1 is established between AP 1 of AP MLD and non-AP STA 1 of non-AP MLD, AP 2 of AP MLD and non-AP STA 2 of non-AP MLD Link 2 is established as an example. Before the AP MLD successfully sends the initial control frame, the non-AP MLD uses one antenna on each of link 1 and link 2 to perform listening operations. After the AP MLD successfully sends the initial control frame on link 1, the non-AP MLD uses 2 antennas on link 1 to exchange frames with the AP MLD. After the frame interaction ends, the non-AP MLD uses one antenna on link 1 and link 2 to continue the listening operation.

For the PPDU receiving capability of EMLSR STAs in listening operation, one possible provision is that legacy preamble and limited types of PPDU/frames (legacy preamble and limited types of PPDU/frames) can be received in listening operation, and according to EMLSR PPDUs/frames that STAs can parse set a network allocation vector (NAV) timer.

However, for a PPDU/frame that EMLSR STAs cannot parse during a listen operation, EMLSR STAs cannot set the NAV timer as indicated by that PPDU/frame. At this time, if the EMLSR STAs compete for the channel to access the channel, it may affect the communication of other stations.

Exemplarily, as shown in Figure 4, non-AP STA 1 and EMLSR STA 2 are associated with the same AP, but they cannot detect each other's signals. For example, the listening range of non-AP STA 1 is range 1, EMLSR The listening range of STA 2 is range 2. Assume that EMLSR STA 2 cannot parse the data packet (data packet) sent by AP to non-AP STA 1, so it cannot set the NAV timer according to the indication of the data packet. In addition, since the BA frame sent by non-AP STA 1 is outside the listening range of EMLSR STA 2, EMLSR STA 2 cannot listen to the BA frame sent by non-AP STA 1, so it may think that the channel is idle when the BA frame is transmitted. Further channel competition, such as sending a request to send (RTS) frame, this operation may cause interference to the communication of non-AP STA 1.

4. Blindness problem:

For non-STR MLD, the transmission on one link will cause interference to other links, which may affect the clear channel assessment (clear channel access, CCA) on other links, making other links enter blind state (blindness period or deaf period), resulting in no signal being heard on that other link, and thus the setting or refreshing of the NAV timer may be missed. Since the NAV timer is not set or refreshed, the non-AP MLD may collide with an overlapping basic service set (OBSS) frame when re-competing for the channel after the transmission on the transmission link ends. The problem is called the blind problem.

Exemplarily, as shown in Figure 5, AP 1 of AP MLD communicates with non-AP STA1 of non-AP MLD 1 through link 1; from the perspective of non-AP STA 2 of non-AP MLD 1, it communicates with AP AP 2 of MLD communicates through link 2 (denoted as link 2#1); from the perspective of non-AP STA 3 of non-AP MLD 2, it communicates with AP 2 of AP MLD through link 2 (denoted as link 2#2) Communication. Wherein, link 2#1 and link 2#2 overlap in space and frequency domain, and belong to two different basic service sets (basic service set, BSS), and the two BSSs are OBSS.

In the example shown in Figure 5, when non-AP STA 1 sends RTS frames and data (data) on link 1, link 2#1 is in the blind state. When AP 1 sends a clear to send (CTS) frame and data BA frame on link 1, link 2#1 is in a normal state. If non-AP STA3 and AP 2 exchange RTS frames, CTS frames, and some data on link 2#2 when link 2#1 is in the blind state, since link 2#1 is in the blind state, the non-AP STA2 cannot set the NAV timer according to the RTS frame, CTS frame, and some data on link 2#2, so after the interaction on link 1 is completed, non-AP STA2 may think that link 2#1 is idle, and then Send RTS frame on link 2#1 for channel competition. However, the RTS frame will collide with the data on the link 2#2, thereby affecting the communication of the non-AP STA 3.

To sum up, in the EMLSR and blind problem scenarios, there are situations where the station cannot set or refresh the NAV timer. At this time, if the station competes for the channel to access the channel, it may affect the communication of other devices. Based on this, the present application provides a channel competition method, which can limit the frequent initiation of channel competition by stations, thereby reducing the interference caused to the communication of other devices.

The scheme of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The embodiment of the present application can be applied to WLAN scenarios, and can be applied to IEEE 802.11 system standards, such as 802.11a/b/g standard, 802.11n standard, 802.11ac standard, 802.11ax standard, or its next generation, such as 802.11be standard, Also known as Wi-Fi7 or EHT standard or the next-generation standard. Alternatively, the embodiments of the present application may also be applicable to wireless local area network systems such as an Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT) network or a Vehicle to X (Vehicle to X, V2X) network. Certainly, the embodiment of the present application can also be applicable to other possible communication systems, for example, long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division) duplex, TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), worldwide interconnection microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX) communication system, and the fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) communication system or below A generation of communication systems, etc.

First, the present application provides a WLAN communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable, and the WLAN communication system may include one or more stations. Wherein, the station may include AP and non-AP STA. It should be noted that the non-AP STA involved in the embodiment of this application can also be called a terminal, and the two can be replaced with each other, and the method provided by this application does not specifically limit this.

As an example, please refer to FIG. 6 , which shows an architecture diagram of a WLAN communication system provided by the present application. Figure 6 takes the WLAN including an AP, non-AP STA1, non-AP STA2, non-AP STA3, non-AP STA4, and non-AP STA5 as an example. The AP can schedule wireless resources for its associated non-AP STA, and/or unassociated non-AP STA, and transmit data for the non-AP STA on the scheduled wireless resource. For example, the AP can schedule wireless resources for non-AP STA1, non-AP STA2, non-AP STA3, non-AP STA4, and non-AP STA5, and provide non-AP STA1, non-AP STA2 on the scheduled wireless resources , non-AP STA3, non-AP STA4, and non-AP STA5 transmit data, including uplink data information and/or downlink data information.

In addition, the AP and non-AP STA in this embodiment of the present application may be stations in the MLD. The number of APs and non-AP STAs in Figure 6 is just an example, and may be more or less.

The non-AP STA involved in this embodiment of the present application may be a wireless communication chip, a wireless sensor, or a wireless communication terminal. For example, user terminals, user devices, access devices, subscriber stations, subscriber units, mobile stations, user agents, and user equipment supporting Wi-Fi communication functions, among which, user terminals may include various handheld devices with wireless communication functions, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, and various forms of user equipment (UE), mobile station (mobile station, MS ), terminal, terminal equipment, portable communication device, handset, portable computing device, entertainment device, gaming device or system, GPS device or any other device configured for network communication via a wireless medium suitable equipment etc. In addition, the STA can support 802.11be or 802.11be next-generation standards. Non-AP STA can also support multiple WLAN standards such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a.

The AP involved in the embodiment of the present application can be a device deployed in a wireless communication network to provide wireless communication functions for its associated non-AP STA, and is mainly deployed in homes, buildings and parks, with a typical coverage radius of tens of meters Of course, it can also be deployed outdoors. The AP is equivalent to a bridge connecting the wired network and the wireless network. Its main function is to connect various wireless network clients together, and then connect the wireless network to the Ethernet. Specifically, the AP can be a communication device such as a base station with a WiFi chip, a router, a gateway, a repeater, a communication server, a switch or a bridge, wherein the base station can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, and relay stations. wait. In addition, the AP can support the 802.11be standard or the 802.11be next generation standard. The AP can also support WLAN standards such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a.

In some embodiments, the APs and non-AP STAs involved in this application may be collectively referred to as WLAN devices. In specific implementation, the WLAN devices may adopt the composition structure shown in FIG. 7 , or include the components shown in FIG. 7 .

Referring to FIG. 7 , it is a schematic diagram of the composition of a WLAN device 700 provided in the embodiment of the present application. The WLAN device 700 may be a non-AP STA or a chip or a chip system (or called a system on a chip) in a non-AP STA; also It may be an AP or a chip in the AP or a chip system (or called a system on chip). In the embodiment of the present application, the system-on-a-chip may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the WLAN device 700 includes a processor 701 and a transceiver 702 . Further, the WLAN device 700 may also include a memory 704 . Wherein, the processor 701 , the memory 704 and the transceiver 702 may be connected through a communication line 703 .

Optionally, the processor 701 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (network processor, NP), a digital signal processor (digital signal processing, DSP), a microprocessor, a microprocessor Controller, programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 701 may also be other devices with processing functions, such as circuits, devices or software modules, which are not limited.

In an example, the processor 701 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 7 . The WLAN device 700 may include multiple processors, for example, in addition to the processor 701 in FIG. 7 , it may also include other processors (not shown in FIG. 7 ).

The transceiver 702 is used for communicating with other devices or other communication networks. Other communication networks may be Ethernet, radio access network (radio access network, RAN), etc. The transceiver 702 may be a module, a circuit, a transceiver, or any device capable of implementing communication.

The communication line 703 is used for transmitting information among the components included in the WLAN device 700 .

The memory 704 is used for storing instructions. Wherein, the instruction may be a computer program. The memory 704 can be a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and/or instructions, and can also be a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or can store information and/or other types of dynamic storage devices for instructions, and can also be electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disc storage media or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

It should be noted that the memory 704 may exist independently of the processor 701 or may be integrated with the processor 701 . The memory 704 can be used to store instructions or program codes or some data, etc. The memory 704 may be located in the WLAN device 700 or outside the WLAN device 700, without limitation. The processor 701 may execute instructions stored in the memory 704, so as to implement the methods provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

As an optional implementation manner, the WLAN device 700 further includes an output device 705 and an input device 706 . Exemplarily, the input device 706 is a device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, or a joystick, and the output device 705 is a device such as a display screen and a speaker (speaker).

It can be understood that the composition structure shown in FIG. 7 does not constitute a limitation to the WLAN device. Except for the components shown in FIG. certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

The method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described below. It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the executive body may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, these steps or operations are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, each step may be performed in a different order presented in the embodiment of the present application, and it may not be necessary to perform all operations in the embodiment of the present application.

As shown in FIG. 8 , it is a channel competition method provided by this application. Exemplarily, the station may execute the channel contention method when the NAV timer cannot be set or refreshed. For example, when the station is unable to parse the detected PPDU or frame as an EMLSR STA, the channel competition method is executed. Or, the station executes the channel contention method when its corresponding link is in a blind state. Of course, the channel competition method may also be implemented in other scenarios where channel competition of stations needs to be restricted, which is not specifically limited in this application. Referring to Figure 8, the communication method includes the following steps:

S801. The station acquires channel competition rules.

Optionally, the station can be a non-AP STA. Alternatively, the stations can be APs. The station may be a legacy (legacy) station, or may be a station in a multi-link device, which is not specifically limited in this application.

S802. The station performs channel competition according to channel competition rules.

Optionally, the channel competition may include: performing a clear channel assessment (clear channel access, CCA), sending an RTS frame when the channel is determined to be idle, to preempt the channel, or enabling a transmission opportunity (transmission opportunity, TXOP). Exemplarily, the manner of CCA may be carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), and/or energy detection (energy detection, ED).

Wherein, the channel competition rule may be the first rule or the second rule or the third rule or the fourth rule.

Wherein, the first rule includes: the number of RTS frames sent during the running of each contention timer among the plurality of contention timers is less than or equal to the first threshold. It can be understood that if the station does not send an RTS frame during the running of the contention timer, that is, the number of sent RTS frames is 0, it may be because the station does not detect that the channel is idle during the running of the contention timer.

It should be noted that the contention timer in this application is only an exemplary name of the timer, and there may be other names in actual applications, which is not specifically limited in this application.

Optionally, the first rule may further include at least one of the following items: 1) The number of RTS frames sent during the running of each contention timer among the plurality of contention timers is greater than or equal to 1. That is to say, the first rule restricts the station to send RTS frames to seize the channel during the running of the contention timer, but the number of sent RTS frames is less than or equal to the first threshold.

2) The threshold of clear channel access-energy detection (CCA-ED) before the timer expires is the dot11OFDMEDThreshold of point 11 OFDMEDThreshold. Among them, OFDM refers to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), and ED refers to energy detection. dot11OFDMEDThreshold can refer to the definition in the IEEE 802.11ax standard, and will not be repeated here.

3) The condition for resetting the competition timer to 0 (timer resets to zero) is not set.

Optionally, when the channel competition rule is the first rule, the station may start multiple contention timers, and perform channel competition according to the first rule during the running of multiple contention timers. For example, when the first rule includes the above rule 1), multiple contention timers are started, RTS frames are sent during the operation of each contention timer in the multiple contention timers, and the number of sent RTS frames is less than or equal to the first a threshold. When the first rule includes the above rule 2), CCA-ED is performed while the contention timer is running, and dot11OFDMEDThreshold is used. When the first rule includes the above rule 3), the condition for resetting the contention timer to 0 is not set, that is, the operation of resetting the contention timer to 0 is not performed, and it runs naturally until it expires. Wherein, the expiration of the timer may also be referred to as the expiration of the timer, and the two may replace each other.

Optionally, the above rule 2) can be replaced by: 2') The threshold of CCA-ED before the contention timer expires is dot11MSDOFDMEDThreshold. The above rule 3) can be replaced by: 3') The condition that the timer is reset to 0 is: the station receives a PPDU including a valid MAC protocol data unit (MAC protocol data unit, MPDU), or the station receives a PPDU, the PPDU The RXVECTOR parameter TXOP_DURATION is not UNSPECIFIED. Wherein, MAC refers to medium access control (medium access control, MAC).

That is to say, the detection threshold of the CCA-ED during the running of the contention timer can be dot11OFDMEDThreshold or dot11OFDMEDThreshold. In addition, the condition under which the contention timer is reset to 0 may or may not be set.

Optionally, when the station starts multiple contention timers, the first contention timer in the multiple contention timers may be started when the station determines that the NAV timer cannot be set or refreshed, or may be started after step S801 is completed , this application does not specifically limit it.

Optionally, the first threshold in the first rule may be defined by the protocol. Or, when the station is a non-AP STA, the first threshold may be configured by the AP. Alternatively, the first threshold may be defined by the site, which is not specifically limited in the present application.

Optionally, the duration of multiple contention timers may be defined by the protocol, or may be configured by the AP, or may be customized by the station, and is not limited. The durations of different contention timers in the plurality of contention timers may be the same or different. This application does not specifically limit it.

Optionally, the running times of the multiple contention timers may not overlap. Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 9, taking the duration of the contention timer as 10 milliseconds (ms) as an example, the running time of the first contention timer can be 1-10 ms, and the running time of the second contention timer can be 11-20ms, the running time of the third contention timer can be 21-30ms, and so on.

Alternatively, the running times of the multiple contention timers may overlap, for example, in a sliding window manner. Specifically, assuming that the plurality of contention timers include a first contention timer and a second contention timer, the start time of the second contention timer may be within the running time of the first contention timer. Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 10, taking the duration of the contention timer as 10 ms as an example, the running time of the first contention timer can be 1-10 ms, and the running time of the second contention timer can be 2-11 ms , the running time of the third contention timer can be 3-12ms, and so on.

Optionally, 1 ms in the above examples shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 may be a relative time, for example, the moment when the station determines that the NAV timer cannot be set or refreshed may be recorded as the position of 1 ms, or step S801 may be completed The moment is recorded as the position of 1ms.

Optionally, in a possible implementation, the contention timer may be a medium sync delay (medium sync delay, MSD) timer in a medium access recovery procedure (medium access recovery procedure). Correspondingly, the first threshold in the first rule may be the value of the parameter MSD_TXOP_MAX. The media access recovery process, MSD timer, and the value of the parameter MSD_TXOP_MAX can refer to the definition in the existing IEEE 802.11be standard, and will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the station may suspend the execution of the first rule when the communication is successfully initiated (for example, the station successfully initiates communication or the station receives the scheduling of the AP), and after the communication ends, the station continues to execute the first rule, and the channel is performed according to the first rule. compete.

Optionally, in practical applications, the functions of the above-mentioned multiple contention timers can be implemented by a timer on hardware or software. For example, the timer can mark multiple time intervals, and each time interval corresponds to the time interval of a contention timer. operation hours.

Based on this solution, when the channel competition rule is the first rule, the number of RTS frames sent by the station during the running of the timer can be limited, that is, the frequent initiation of channel competition by the station can be restricted, and the interference to the communication of other devices can be reduced. In addition, this application uses multiple timers, which can effectively reduce interference to other devices for stations that cannot correctly set NAV due to their own capabilities, such as EMLSR STAs. On the other hand, the dot11OFDMEDThreshold is used as the CCA-ED threshold before the timer expires, so that the station can use the same threshold during the running of the timer and under normal conditions, avoiding the use of different thresholds in different situations, and reducing implementation complexity. On the other hand, not setting the condition for resetting the timer to 0, compared to resetting the timer to 0 in some cases, can extend the restriction time on the site, thereby reducing the restriction on other sites for a long period of time. Interference caused by the communications of the device. In addition, it can reduce the station's judgment on the condition of resetting to 0, and reduce the implementation complexity.

Wherein, the second rule includes: performing channel competition after the target duration. That is to say, the station can delay the time of channel competition, so as to limit the frequent initiation of channel competition by the station, and avoid causing interference to other devices within the target duration.

Optionally, within the target duration, the station may perform CCA according to the existing protocol (baseline), for example, may perform channel monitoring, and further, may set a NAV timer according to the monitored frames.

Wherein, the third rule includes: prohibiting the station from sending the CTS frame whose destination address is the station, that is, prohibiting the station from sending the CTS-to-self frame. The CTS-to-self frame is a kind of CTS frame, the destination address is the device sending the CTS-to-self frame, which can be used to reserve channel resources, and other devices receiving the CTS-to-self frame can use the CTS-to The -self frame sets the NAV timer. By prohibiting the station from sending the CTS-to-self frame, the station can be restricted from reserving channel resources through the CTS-to-self frame, preventing the station from reserving resources that other devices need to use, and reducing the impact on other devices. In addition, prohibiting the sending of the CTS-to-self frame can prevent the collision between the CTS-to-self frame and frames sent by other devices, thereby reducing interference.

Wherein, the fourth rule includes: before the MSD timer expires, the station transmits an RTS frame as an initial frame to enable TXOP, and the number of enabled TXOPs is less than or equal to a second threshold (for example, MSD_TXOP_MAX). Further, the fourth rule may also include at least one of the following: the threshold from the MSD timer to the CCA-ED is dot11OFDMEDThreshold, or the condition that the MSD is reset to 0 is not set.

Optionally, when the channel competition rule is the fourth rule, the station can start the MSD timer. During the running of the MSD timer, the channel competition is performed according to the fourth rule. Refer to the relevant description of the first rule, which will not be repeated here.

Based on the fourth rule, frequent initiation of channel competition by stations can be restricted, and interference to communications of other devices can be reduced. In addition, by limiting the threshold of CCA-ED and not setting the condition for resetting the MSD timer to 0, the implementation complexity can be reduced. Please refer to the relevant description of the first rule, which will not be repeated here.

Above, the channel contention method provided by this application has been described. The application flow of the channel contention method will be described below. Referring to Figure 11, the process includes the following steps:

S1101. Detect the PPDU.

As a possible implementation, if no PPDU is detected, perform the following step S1102a. If the first PPDU is detected, perform the following step S1102b. Wherein, the first PPDU is any detected PPDU, that is, once a PPDU is detected, the PPDU can be called the first PPDU. In addition, the present application uses an example in which the destination address of the first PPDU is not the station that executes the process shown in FIG. 11 , and if the destination address of the first PPDU is the station, it is executed according to the normal process.

S1102a. Perform operation (operation) 1. Among them, operation 1 can be any one of the following three operations:

(1) Perform channel competition according to the first rule or the fourth rule. That is to say, when no PPDU is detected, the channel contention rule in this application is the first rule or the fourth rule.

(2) Carry out channel competition according to the existing normal process.

(3) Execute the media access recovery process defined in the current IEEE 802.11be standard.

S1102b. Determine whether the target field of the first PPDU is received correctly.

Wherein, the target field is used to indicate the length (length) of the first PPDU. Exemplarily, the target field may be a legacy-signal field (legacy-signal field, L-SIG).

As a possible implementation, if the target field of the first PPDU is not received correctly, the following step S1103a may be performed. If the target field of the first PPDU is correctly received, the following step S1103b is performed.

Optionally, correctly receiving the target field of the first PPDU may be interpreted as correctly parsing the target field.

S1103a, perform operation 2. Among them, operation 2 can be any one of the following two operations:

(1) Perform channel competition according to the first rule or the fourth rule. That is to say, when a PPDU is detected but the target field of the PPDU is not received correctly, the channel competition rule in this application is the first rule or the fourth rule.

(2) Execute the media access recovery process defined in the current IEEE 802.11be standard.

S1103b. Delay the channel access target duration. Optionally, CCA can be performed according to the existing protocol (baseline) within the target duration, such as setting NAV.

That is to say, when a PPDU is detected and the target field of the PPDU is correctly received, the channel contention rule in this application is the second rule.

Optionally, even if the station correctly receives the target field of the first PPDU, it may still be unable to receive other fields in the first PPDU except the target field, so the NAV timer cannot be set or refreshed according to the first PPDU, so that the application's method to reduce interference with other devices.

Optionally, in this scenario, the target duration in the second rule may be the length of the first PPDU. Alternatively, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU and an interframe space (interframe Space, IFS). Alternatively, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of the BA frame of the first PPDU. Alternatively, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of an acknowledgment (acknowledge, Ack) frame of the first PPDU.

Optionally, the above IFS can be any of the following: short interframe space (short IFS, SIFS), extended interframe space (extended IFS, EIFS), distributed coordination function (distributed coordination function, DCF) interframe space ( DCF IFS, DIFS), point coordination function (PCF) interframe space (PCF IFS, PIFS), reduced interframe space (reduced IFS, RIFS), arbitrary interframe space (arbitrary IFS, AIFS).

Optionally, if the channel competition rule is the second rule, the station may start from the start time of the first PPDU and perform channel competition after the target duration. For example, after the target duration, if the station does not set the NAV timer, the station may continue to detect PPDUs. Exemplarily, assuming that the start time of the first PPDU is 8ms and the target duration is 10ms, then the station performs channel competition after 18ms.

Based on the above process, the first rule or the second rule or the fourth rule can be selected for channel competition by detecting the PPDU to reduce the interference caused to the communication of other devices.

In addition, the present application also provides some solutions for restricting channel competition for stations that cannot correctly set or refresh the NAV timer, or to help stations update NAV, for example:

The non-AP STA can be prohibited from performing channel competition, for example, the enhanced distributed channel access (enhanced distributed channel access, EDCA) uplink grabbing channel function of the station is prohibited. At this point, the communication of the non-AP STA can be scheduled by the AP.

Alternatively, the AP helps the non-AP STA to set or update the NAV timer. For example, the AP may send a CTS-to-Self frame because the AP is limited in its ability to know the non-AP STA settings or refresh the NAV timer. Since the CTS-to-Self frame is resolvable for the non-AP STA, the AP can instruct the non-AP STA to set or update the NAV timer through the CTS-to-Self frame to reduce the non-AP STA initiation The channel competition interferes with other devices.

It can be understood that, in the above embodiments, the methods and/or steps implemented by the site may also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) available for the site.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solution provided by the present application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. Correspondingly, the present application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the above various methods. The communication device may be the station in the foregoing method embodiments, or a device including the foregoing station, or a component applicable to the station.

It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a certain function is executed by hardware or computer software drives hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be regarded as exceeding the scope of the present application.

The embodiments of the present application may divide the communication device into functional modules according to the above method embodiments. For example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software function modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation.

In an implementation scenario, taking the communication device as an example of the station in the foregoing method embodiment, FIG. 12 shows a schematic structural diagram of a station 120 . The station 120 includes a processing module 1201 and a transceiver module 1202 .

Optionally, the transceiver module 1202 may also be called a transceiver unit. Transceiver circuitry, transceivers, transceivers, or communication interfaces may be included.

Optionally, the site 120 may also include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 12 ) for storing computer programs or instructions.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1202 may be used to execute the sending and receiving steps performed by the station in the above method embodiments, and/or other processes used to support the technology described herein; the processing module 1201 may be used to execute The steps of processing performed by the site in the above method embodiments, and/or other processes used to support the technology described herein. For example:

The processing module 1201 is configured to obtain channel competition rules; the processing module 1201 is also configured to perform channel competition through the transceiver module 1202 according to the channel competition rules. The channel competition rule is the first rule or the second rule or the third rule or the fourth rule;

The first rule includes: the number of request-to-send RTS frames sent during the operation of each of the multiple contention timers is less than or equal to the first threshold;

The second rule includes: performing channel competition after a target duration;

The third rule includes: the station is prohibited from sending a clear-to-send CTS frame whose destination address is the station;

The fourth rule includes: before the MSD timer expires, the station transmits an RTS frame as an initial frame to open a transmission opportunity TXOP, and the number of opened TXOPs is less than or equal to the second threshold, and the fourth rule also includes at least one of the following: MSD Before the timer expires, the threshold of idle channel assessment-energy detection is the OFDM energy detection threshold dot11OFDMEDThreshold in point 11, or the condition that the MSD timer is reset to 0 is not set.

Optionally, the first rule further includes at least one of the following items: the number of RTS frames sent during the operation of each contention timer among the plurality of contention timers is greater than or equal to 1, and the idle channel evaluation before the contention timer expires- The threshold of energy detection is dot11OFDMEDThreshold, or the condition that the contention timer is reset to 0 is not set.

Optionally, the running times of multiple contention timers do not overlap; or, the multiple contention timers include a first contention timer and a second contention timer, and the start time of the second contention timer is located at the start time of the first contention timer. run time.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1202 is also used to detect the physical layer protocol data unit PPDU; if the PPDU is not detected, or the first PPDU is detected but the target field of the first PPDU is not correctly received, the channel competition rule is the first rule or The fourth rule: if the first PPDU is detected and the target field of the first PPDU is correctly received, the channel contention rule is the second rule; wherein, the target field is used to indicate the length of the first PPDU.

Optionally, the target duration is the length of the first PPDU; or, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU and the interframe space IFS; or, the target duration is the length of the first PPDU, IFS, and the estimated first The sum of the duration of the block confirmation BA frame of the PPDU; or, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of the confirmation Ack frame of the first PPDU.

Optionally, IFS is any of the following: short interframe space SIFS, extended interframe space EIFS, distributed coordination function interframe space DIFS, point coordination function interframe space PIFS, shortened interframe space RIFS, arbitrary interframe space AIFS.

Wherein, all relevant content of each step involved in the above-mentioned method embodiment can be referred to the function description of the corresponding function module, and will not be repeated here.

In this application, the site 120 is presented in the form of dividing various functional modules in an integrated manner. "Module" here may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), circuit, processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuits, and/or other functions that can provide the above functions device.

In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art can imagine that the station 120 may take the form of the WLAN device 700 shown in FIG. 7 .

As an example, the function/implementation process of the processing module 1201 in FIG. 12 can be implemented by the processor 701 in the WLAN device 700 shown in FIG. The function/implementation process of 1202 may be implemented by the transceiver 702 in the WLAN device 700 shown in FIG. 7 .

In some embodiments, when the station 120 in FIG. 12 is a chip or a chip system, the function/implementation process of the transceiver module 1202 can be realized through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or the chip system, and the function of the processing module 1201 The/implementation process may be implemented by a chip or a processor (or processing circuit) of a chip system.

Since the station 120 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effect it can obtain can refer to the above method embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

In some embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, where the communication device includes a processor, configured to implement the method in any one of the foregoing method embodiments.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory is used to store necessary computer programs or instructions, and the processor can invoke the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute the method in any of the above method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be in the communication device.

As another possible implementation, the communication device further includes an interface circuit, the interface circuit is a code/data read and write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer-executed instructions (computer-executed instructions are stored in the memory, and may be directly read from memory read, or possibly through other devices) and transferred to the processor.

As yet another possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a communication interface, where the communication interface is used to communicate with modules other than the communication device.

It can be understood that the communication device may be a chip or a system-on-a-chip. When the communication device is a system-on-a-chip, the system-on-a-chip may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

As a possible product form, the site described in the embodiment of the present application can also be implemented using the following: one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA), programmable logic device (programmable logic devices, PLDs), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuitry, or any combination of circuitry capable of performing the various functions described throughout this application.

As another possible product form, the station described in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by a general bus architecture. For ease of description, refer to FIG. 13 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1300 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to FIG. 13 , the communication device 1300 includes a processor 1301 and a transceiver 1302 . The communication device 1300 may be an access point or a station, or a chip therein. FIG. 13 shows only the main components of the communication device 1300 . In addition to the processor 1301 and the transceiver 1302, the communication device may further include a memory 1303 and an input and output device (not shown in the figure).

Wherein, the processor 1301 is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the entire communication device, executing software programs, and processing data of the software programs. The memory 1303 is mainly used to store software programs and data. The transceiver 1302 may include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna, and the radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting a baseband signal to a radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. Antennas are mainly used to send and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, and keyboards, are mainly used to receive data input by users and output data to users.

Wherein, the processor 1301, the transceiver 1302, and the memory 1303 may be connected through a communication bus.

When the communication device is turned on, the processor 1301 can read the software program in the memory 1303, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 1301 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and then outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. When data is sent to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1301, and the processor 1301 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data deal with.

In another implementation, the radio frequency circuit and the antenna can be set independently from the processor for baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the radio frequency circuit and antenna can be arranged remotely from the communication device. .

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program or instruction is stored, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, the functions of any one of the above method embodiments are realized.

The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any one of the above method embodiments when the computer program product is executed by a processor.

Those skilled in the art can understand that, for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working process of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

It can be understood that the systems, devices and methods described in this application can also be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or May be integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored, or not implemented. In another point, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, that is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Components shown as units may or may not be physical units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, each unit may exist separately physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

In the above embodiments, all or part of them may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present application will be generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The 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, computer, server, or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer, or may be a data storage device including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the medium. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (solid state disk, SSD)), etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the computer may include the aforementioned apparatus.

Although the present application has been described in conjunction with various embodiments here, however, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art can understand and Other variations of the disclosed embodiments are implemented. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that these measures cannot be combined to advantage.

Although the application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely illustrative of the application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of this application. Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. In this way, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims (15)

1. A channel competition method, characterized in that the method comprises:

   The station obtains channel competition rules;

   The station performs channel competition according to the channel competition rule, and the channel competition rule is the first rule or the second rule or the third rule or the fourth rule; wherein:

   The first rule includes: the number of request-to-send RTS frames sent during the operation of each of the multiple contention timers is less than or equal to the first threshold;

   The second rule includes: performing channel competition after a target duration;

   The third rule includes: prohibiting a station from sending a clear-to-send CTS frame whose destination address is the station;

   The fourth rule includes: before the expiration of the media synchronization delay MSD timer, the station transmits an RTS frame as an initial frame to open a transmission opportunity TXOP, and the number of opened TXOPs is less than or equal to a second threshold, the fourth The rules also include at least one of the following: the threshold of idle channel assessment-energy detection before the MSD timer expires is point 11 OFDMEDThreshold, or the MSD timer is not set and reset to 0 conditions of.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first rule further includes at least one of the following: the number of RTS frames sent during the operation of each of the plurality of contention timers greater than or equal to 1, the idle channel assessment-energy detection threshold before the contention timer expires is dot11OFDMEDThreshold, or the condition that the contention timer is reset to 0 is not set.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the running times of the plurality of competition timers do not overlap;

   Alternatively, the multiple contention timers include a first contention timer and a second contention timer, and the start time of the second contention timer is within the running time of the first contention timer.
4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the method further comprises:

   Detect the physical layer protocol data unit PPDU;

   If no PPDU is detected, or the first PPDU is detected but the target field of the first PPDU is not correctly received, the channel competition rule is the first rule or the fourth rule;

   If the first PPDU is detected and the target field of the first PPDU is correctly received, the channel contention rule is the second rule;

   Wherein, the target field is used to indicate the length of the first PPDU.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the target duration is the length of the first PPDU;

   Or, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU and the interframe space IFS;

   Alternatively, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of the block acknowledgment BA frame of the first PPDU;

   Alternatively, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of the Ack frame of the first PPDU.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the IFS is any one of the following:

   Short interframe interval SIFS, extended interframe interval EIFS, distributed coordination function interframe interval DIFS, point coordination function interframe interval PIFS, shortened interframe interval RIFS, arbitrary interframe interval AIFS.
7. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device includes: a processing module and a transceiver module;

   The processing module is configured to obtain channel competition rules;

   The processing module is configured to perform channel competition through the transceiver module according to the channel competition rules, the channel competition rules being the first rule or the second rule or the third rule or the fourth rule; wherein:

   The first rule includes: the number of request-to-send RTS frames sent during the operation of each of the multiple contention timers is less than or equal to the first threshold;

   The second rule includes: performing channel competition after a target duration;

   The third rule includes: prohibiting a station from sending a clear-to-send CTS frame whose destination address is the station;

   The fourth rule includes: before the expiration of the MSD timer, the station transmits an RTS frame as an initial frame to open a transmission opportunity TXOP, and the number of opened TXOPs is less than or equal to the second threshold, and the fourth rule also includes At least one of the following: the threshold of idle channel assessment-energy detection before the expiration of the MSD timer is the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing energy detection threshold dot11OFDMEDThreshold of point 11, or the condition that the MSD timer is reset to 0 is not set.
8. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the first rule further includes at least one of the following: the number of RTS frames sent during the operation of each of the contention timers in the plurality of contention timers The number is greater than or equal to 1, the idle channel evaluation-energy detection threshold before the contention timer expires is dot11OFDMEDThreshold, or the condition that the contention timer is reset to 0 is not set.
9. The communication device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the running times of the plurality of contention timers do not overlap;

   Alternatively, the multiple contention timers include a first contention timer and a second contention timer, and the start time of the second contention timer is within the running time of the first contention timer.
10. The communication device according to any one of claims 7-9, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to detect a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU;

    If no PPDU is detected, or the first PPDU is detected but the target field of the first PPDU is not correctly received, the channel competition rule is the first rule or the fourth rule;

    If the first PPDU is detected and the target field of the first PPDU is correctly received, the channel contention rule is the second rule;

    Wherein, the target field is used to indicate the length of the first PPDU.
11. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the target duration is the length of the first PPDU;

    Or, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU and the interframe space IFS;

    Alternatively, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of the block acknowledgment BA frame of the first PPDU;

    Alternatively, the target duration is the sum of the length of the first PPDU, the IFS, and the estimated duration of the Ack frame of the first PPDU.
12. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein the IFS is any one of the following:

    Short interframe interval SIFS, extended interframe interval EIFS, distributed coordination function interframe interval DIFS, point coordination function interframe interval PIFS, shortened interframe interval RIFS, arbitrary interframe interval AIFS.
13. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device includes: a processor, the processor is configured to execute computer-executed instructions, so that the method according to any one of claims 1-6 is implemented.
14. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium includes instructions, and when the instructions are run on a communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1-6 is executed accomplish.
15. A computer program product, characterized in that, when the computer program product is run on a communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1-6 is implemented.

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