阅读说明：本技术 信息指示方法及装置 (Information indication method and device ) 是由 淦明 梁丹丹 杨讯 于 2018-08-07 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请实施例提供了一种信息指示方法及装置，所述方法包括：生成第一帧，所述第一帧包含在6GHz频段上工作的站点的地址信息；在2.4GHz和/或5GHz频段上发送所述第一帧。本申请实施例提供的信息指示方法及装置，发送方站点能够准确地指示在6GHz频段上工作的发送方站点的地址，从而使作为接收方的未关联的站点或者处于漫游状态的站点获知在6GHz频段上工作的发送方站点的地址之后，能准确定向地与在6GHz频段上工作的发送方站点进行关联和通信。(The embodiment of the application provides an information indication method and device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: generating a first frame, wherein the first frame comprises address information of a station working on a 6GHz frequency band; and transmitting the first frame on a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band. According to the information indicating method and device provided by the embodiment of the application, the sender site can accurately indicate the address of the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band, so that the unassociated site serving as a receiver or the site in a roaming state can accurately and directionally associate and communicate with the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band after knowing the address of the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band.)

1. An information indication method, comprising:

generating a first frame, wherein the first frame comprises address information of a station working on a 6GHz frequency band; and transmitting the first frame on a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band.

2. An information indication method, comprising:

receiving a first frame on a 2.5GHz and/or 4GHz frequency band, wherein the first frame comprises address information of a station working on a 6GHz frequency band;

and sending a second frame on the 6GHz frequency band, wherein the receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the address information is located in a 6GHz operation information field of an HE operation element of the first frame.

4. The method according to any one of claim 1 to claim 3, wherein indication information for indicating whether the address information is present is contained in an HE operation parameter field of an HE operation element of the first frame.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the address information is a MAC address of a station operating in the 6GHz band or a BSSID of a BSS in which the station operating in the 6GHz band is located.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when the BSSID of the BSS in which the station operating in the 6GHz band is located is one BSSID in a BSSID set, the address information is a transmission BSSID in the BSSID set.

7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the 6GHz operation information field further contains TSF information and beacon frame information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the TSF information comprises TSF difference information or TSF value, wherein the TSF difference information represents a difference between a timestamp of an access point operating on the 6GHz band and an access point transmitting the first frame on the 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz band, and wherein the TSF value represents a timestamp of an access point operating on the 6GHz band.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the beacon frame information comprises a beacon frame interval or a beacon frame target transmission time, wherein the beacon frame interval represents an interval at which an AP at 6GHz transmits a beacon frame, and wherein the beacon frame target transmission time represents a most recent beacon frame transmission time of the AP at 6 GHz.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the 6GHz operation information field of the first frame further comprises at least one of three parameters of a main channel, a channel bandwidth, and a channel center frequency.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the station operating in the 6GHz band is a co-located device or belongs to the same multi-band device as the station transmitting the first frame.

12. An information indicating device, comprising:

the processing unit is used for generating a first frame, and the first frame comprises address information of a station working on a 6GHz frequency band; and the transceiving unit is used for transmitting the first frame on a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band.

13. An information indicating device, comprising:

the receiving and sending unit is used for receiving a first frame on a 2.5GHz and/or 4GHz frequency band, wherein the first frame comprises address information of a station working on a 6GHz frequency band; transmitting a second frame on the 6GHz frequency band;

and the processing unit is used for generating a second frame, and the receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the address information is located in a 6GHz operation information field of an HE operation element of the first frame.

15. The apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein an HE operation parameter field of the HE operation element of the first frame includes indication information indicating whether the address information is present.

16. The apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the address information is a MAC address of a station operating in the 6GHz band or a BSSID of a BSS in which the station operating in the 6GHz band is located.

17. The apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein when the BSSID of the BSS in which the station operating in the 6GHz band is located is one BSSID in a BSSID set, the address information is a transmission BSSID in the BSSID set.

18. The apparatus according to any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the 6GHz operation information field further includes TSF information and beacon frame information.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the TSF information comprises TSF difference information or TSF value, wherein the TSF difference information indicates a difference between a timestamp of an access point operating on the 6GHz band and the access point transmitting the first frame on the 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz band, and wherein the TSF value indicates a timestamp of an access point operating on the 6GHz band.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the beacon frame information comprises a beacon frame interval or a beacon frame target transmission time, wherein the beacon frame interval represents an interval at which an AP at 6GHz transmits a beacon frame, and wherein the beacon frame target transmission time represents a most recent beacon frame transmission time of the AP at 6 GHz.

21. The apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 20, wherein the 6GHz operation information field of the first frame further comprises at least one of three parameters of a main channel, a channel bandwidth, and a channel center frequency.

22. The apparatus of any one of claims 12 to 21, wherein the station operating in the 6GHz band is a co-located device or belongs to the same multiband device as the station transmitting the first frame.

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of communication, in particular to an information indication method and device in the field of communication.

Background

The newly opened 6GHz frequency band has more than 1GHz frequency range, and unassociated Non-access stations (Non AP Station) or Non-access stations in roaming state (Non AP Station) need to actively scan 1GHz multiband to obtain the information of surrounding access stations APs, wherein the mode is that the Non-access stations are continuously switched to each channel on the more than 1GHz frequency band to broadcast and send Probe Request frames to obtain Probe response frames responded by the surrounding APs, and further, the appropriate APs are selected to be associated. However, this method is long in duration, consumes a large amount of energy, and causes unnecessary congestion in the 6GHz band.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the information indicating method and device provided by the embodiment of the application, the sender site can accurately indicate the address of the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band, so that the unassociated site of the receiver or the site in a roaming state can accurately and directionally associate and communicate with the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band after knowing the address of the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information indication method, including:

generating a first frame, wherein the first frame comprises address information of a station working on a 6GHz frequency band;

and transmitting the first frame on a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band.

It should be appreciated that the sender station transmits a first frame on the 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band, the first frame containing address information for the sender station operating on the 6GHz frequency band.

According to the embodiment of the application, the sender site can accurately indicate the address of the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band, so that the unassociated site of the receiver or the site in a roaming state can accurately and directionally associate and communicate with the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band after knowing the address of the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the address information is located in a 6GHz operation information field of an HE operation element of the first frame.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, an HE operation parameter field of an HE operation element of the first frame includes indication information for indicating whether the address information appears; when the indication information is a first value, the address information appears, and the address information indicating the station working on the 6GHz frequency band is the address information in the first frame; and when the indication information is a second value, the address information does not appear, and the address of the station working on the 6GHz frequency band is indicated to be the sending address of the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field or the BSSID of the sending station sending the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, an HE operation parameter field of an HE operation element of the first frame includes indication information for indicating whether the address information appears; when the indication information is a first value, the address information appears in a 6GHz operation information field, and the address of the station working on the 6GHz frequency band is indicated to be the MAC address of the station working on the 6GHz frequency band or the BSSID of the BSS where the station working on the 6GHz frequency band is located; and when the indication information is a second value, the address information does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field, and the address of the station working on the 6GHz frequency band is indicated to be the sending address of the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field or the BSSID of the sending station sending the frame containing the 6GHz operation information field.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the address information is an MAC address of a station operating in the 6GHz band or a BSSID of a BSS in which the station operating in the 6GHz band is located.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, when the BSSID of the BSS in which the station operating in the 6GHz band is located is one BSSID in a BSSID set, the address information is a transmission BSSID in the BSSID set.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the 6GHz operation information field further includes TSF information and beacon frame information.

It should be understood that TSF information and beacon frame information are also included in the 6GHz operation information field of the first frame transmitted by the sender station on the 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band.

In the embodiment of the application, the sender station further indicates the TSF information and the beacon frame information, so that after the unassociated station or the station in the roaming state of the receiver learns the TSF information and the beacon frame information of the sender station working on the 6GHz band, the time for the sender station working on the 6GHz band to send the beacon frame can be calculated, and then the information of the relevant BSS can be learned, which is beneficial to passive scanning.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the TSF information includes TSF difference information or a TSF value, where the TSF difference information represents a difference between a clock stamp of an access point operating on the 6GHz band and a clock stamp of an access point transmitting the first frame on the 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz band, and the TSF value represents a clock stamp of an access point operating on the 6GHz band.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the beacon frame information includes a beacon frame interval or a beacon frame target transmission time, where the beacon frame interval represents an interval at which the AP at 6GHz transmits a beacon frame, and the beacon frame target transmission time represents a beacon frame transmission time that is closest to the AP at 6 GHz.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the 6GHz operation information field of the first frame further includes at least one of three parameters, namely a main channel, a channel bandwidth, and a channel center frequency.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the station operating in the 6GHz band and the station transmitting the first frame are co-located devices or belong to the same multiband device.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information indication method, including:

receiving a first frame on a 2.5GHz and/or 4GHz frequency band, wherein the first frame comprises address information of a station working on a 6GHz frequency band;

and sending a second frame on the 6GHz frequency band, wherein the receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information.

It should be understood that the receiving site receives a first frame on the 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz band, the first frame containing address information of the sending site operating on the 6GHz band; and after acquiring the address information of the sender site working on the 6GHz frequency band from the first frame, the receiver site generates and sends a second frame with the receiving address being the address in the address information.

According to the embodiment of the application, after the unassociated site of the receiving party or the site in the roaming state knows the address of the site of the sending party working on the 6GHz frequency band, the unassociated site or the site in the roaming state can be accurately and directionally associated with and communicate with the site of the sending party working on the 6GHz frequency band.

Details of an information indication method according to an embodiment of the present application in the second aspect are the same as those of the first aspect, and are not described herein again.

It is understood that the method described in any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect or the first aspect, and the method described in any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect, may be implemented individually or in combination, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information indicating apparatus, configured to perform the method described in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the first aspect, and/or the method described in any possible implementation manner of the second aspect or the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an information indicating apparatus, including: a transceiver/transceiver pin and a processor, optionally also including a memory. Wherein the transceiver/transceiver pins, the processor and the memory communicate with each other through internal connection paths; the processor is used for executing instructions to control the transceiver/transceiver pin to transmit or receive signals; the memory is to store instructions. When the processor executes the instructions, the processor performs the method according to any one of the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner, and/or the method according to any one of the second aspect or the second possible implementation manner.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, where the computer program includes instructions for executing the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, and/or instructions for executing the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, where the computer program product includes: computer program code for causing a computer to perform the method of any of the possible implementations of the first aspect or the first aspect and/or the method of any of the possible implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect when said computer program code is run on a computer.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a possible application scenario of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of an information indication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 illustrates HE operation elements of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 shows one possible 6GHz operation information field of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 illustrates HE operation parameter fields of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 shows another possible 6GHz operation information field of an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 7 shows another possible 6GHz operation information field of an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 8 illustrates a neighbor report element of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9a shows BSSID information fields of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9b shows another embodiment of BSSID information field of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 shows multiple BSSID elements of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 shows multiple BSSID number elements of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 shows a block diagram of an information indicating apparatus on the AP side in the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 shows a block diagram of an information indicating apparatus on the STA side according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 shows a form of a possible product according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be applied to various communication systems, for example: a WIFI wireless communication system, a global system for mobile communication (GSM) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, a future 5G communication system, or other various wireless communication systems using wireless access technologies.

Fig. 1 shows a possible application scenario of the embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that the Station described in this embodiment of the present application includes an access point AP (access point) and a Non-access point STA (Non-AP Station), that is, a scenario applied in this embodiment of the present application includes that an AP sends to an STA, an STA sends to an AP, an AP sends to an AP, and an STA sends to an STA, where fig. 1 is merely an example and does not represent all application scenarios in this embodiment of the present application.

The frequency range of a newly opened 6GHz frequency band is more than 1GHz, and unassociated stations or stations STA in a roaming state need to actively scan 1GHz multiple frequency bands to obtain information of surrounding APs, wherein the mode is that each channel which is continuously switched to the frequency band with more than 1GHz is broadcasted to send a Probe Request frame to obtain a Probe response frame responded by the surrounding APs, and then a proper AP is selected for association. However, this method is long in duration, consumes a lot of energy, and causes unnecessary congestion in the 6GHz band. For example, 1) prohibiting a station not associated with the station or in a roaming state from transmitting a broadcasted probe request frame; 2) prohibiting stations from transmitting 802.11n packets HT PPDUs and 802.11ac packets VHT PPDUs at 6 GHz; 3) BSS information-6 GHz operation information field, including BSS bandwidth, main channel, and channel access mechanism, is broadcast at 2.4GHz and 5GHz on 6GHz bands. And the unassociated station or the station in the roaming state associates and communicates with the AP at 6GHz through the BSS information on the 6GHz frequency band received at 2.4/5 GHz.

In the following, a scheme of the embodiment of the present application is described by taking an example in which an AP sends a first frame to an STA in a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band.

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of an information indication method according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 2:

s101, the AP generates a first frame, and the first frame comprises address information of the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band.

In S101, specifically, the first frame generated by the AP may be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, a neighbor report frame, and other management frames. As shown in fig. 3, a 6GHz Operation information field is newly added to an HE Operation Element (HE Operation Element) included in the beacon frame, the probe response frame, the neighbor report frame, and other management frames, and the address information is located in the 6GHz Operation information field. Other fields in the HE operation element are the same as those in the HE operation element in 802.11ax, and include, for example, an element ID (identity) field, a length field, an element ID extension field, an HE operation parameter field, a BSS (basic service set) color information field, a basic HE-MCS (high efficiency-modulation and coding scheme) and NSS (number of spatial streams) set field, a VHT (very high throughput) operation information field, and a maximum Co-Located sub-basic service set indicating a Max Co-Located BSS identifier (BSS identifier) field.

6GHz operation information field as shown in fig. 4, the 6GHz operation information field includes a main channel field, a channel control field, a channel center frequency segment 0 field, a channel center frequency segment 1 field, and address information of a station operating on the 6GHz band.

In a possible implementation manner, the address information is an MAC address of a station operating in a 6GHz band or a BSSID of a BSS where the station operating in the 6GHz band is located; in another possible implementation, when the BSSID of the BSS where the station operating in the 6GHz band is located is one BSSID in a BSSID set, the address information is a transmitted BSSID (transmitted BSSID) in the BSSID set, but not a Non-transmitted BSSID (Non-transmitted bssssid), where only one BSSID in the BSSID set is a transmitted BSSID, and the remaining BSSIDs are Non-transmitted BSSIDs, an AP to which the transmitted BSSID corresponds needs to transmit a beacon frame, where the beacon frame includes a multiple BSSID element indicating which BSSIDs in the multiple BSSID set are included and BSS information of the corresponding AP; an AP to which the non-transmitted BSSID corresponds may transmit a beacon frame, but the beacon frame does not contain multiple BSSID elements.

The embodiment of the application: the AP can accurately indicate the address of the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band through the address information of the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band in the first frame, so that the unassociated STA or the STA in a roaming state can accurately and directionally associate and communicate with the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band after knowing the address of the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band.

Wherein, the channel control field comprises 4 bit channel bandwidth (the value 0-3 corresponds to 20,40,80 and 160MHz channel bandwidth respectively, the value 4-15 is reserved value and is not used), 4 bit channel access field (the value 0 indicates that EDCA is forbidden to be used on 6GHz channel to preempt channel, the value 1 indicates that EDCA is allowed to be used on 6GHz channel to preempt channel, the value 2-15 is reserved value and is not used); it is worth noting that: the channel access field mentioned in this embodiment may not exist, and at this time, the STA is always allowed to contend for the channel in the EDCA manner on the 6GHz band, and sends the frame to other STAs after preemption.

The main channel is a main channel of the AP working at 6GHz, and the main channel is a combined channel bandwidth field, wherein the channel center frequency segment 0 field and the channel center frequency segment 1 field jointly indicate channel information of the BSS established by the AP at 6GHz, and the channel information comprises channel starting frequency, channel center frequency, BSS bandwidth and frequency bits where the main channel is located.

Wherein, the channel center frequency segment 0 field and the channel center frequency segment 1 field are called as the channel center frequency, and in the next generation of 802.11ax, such as EHT, the bandwidth will be further increased, the number of frequency segments will be further increased, and the corresponding channel center frequency may include 2 or more, and the setting method is similar.

For BSS bandwidths of 20MHz,40MHz, and 80MHz, channel center frequency segment 0 is set to the center frequency sequence number of its BSS bandwidth, for BSS bandwidth of 160MHz, channel center frequency segment 0 is set to the center frequency sequence number of its main 80M in BBS bandwidth, and for BSS bandwidth of 80MHz +80MHz, channel center frequency segment 0 is set to the center frequency sequence number of the main 80 MHz.

For 20MHz,40MHz,80MHz BSS bandwidths, channel center frequency segment 1 field is reserved value 0, for 160MHz BSS bandwidth, channel center frequency segment 1 is set to the center frequency sequence number of 160M BSS bandwidth, and for BSS bandwidth, 80MHz +80MHz, channel center frequency segment 1 is set to the center frequency sequence number of next 80 MHz.

The value of the channel bandwidth field and the channel center frequency 1 field jointly indicate the BSS bandwidth, as shown in table 1.

TABLE 16 GHz HE BSS Bandwidth

The above-mentioned 6GHz operation information field can be applied not only to 802.11ax but also to 802.1ax next generation. In the next generation of 802.1ax, the channel bandwidth field in the channel control indicates that the bandwidth needs to be extended to more bandwidth sets, such as 20MHz,40MHz,80MHz, 160MHz, and 320 MHz; in the 802.1ax next generation, the 6GHz operation information field may be included in the EHT operation element.

Returning to the HE operation element in the first frame, the specific structure of the HE operation parameter field in the HE operation element is shown in fig. 5: the HE operation parameter field contains indication information for indicating whether the address information is present, and 1 bit or 1 subfield is used in the HE operation parameter field to indicate whether the address information is present in the 6GHz operation information field. When the indication information used for indicating whether the address information appears is a first value, for example, 1, address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band appears in the 6GHz operation information field, and indicates that the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band is address information located in the 6GHz operation information field, for example, the address information is an MAC address of the AP operating on the 6GHz band or a BSSID of a BSS in which the AP operating on the 6GHz band is located; when the indication information for indicating whether the address information appears is a second value, for example, 0, the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field, and indicates that the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band is a transmission address of a frame (except for a neighbor report frame or a frame including neighbor elements) transmitting the 6GHz operation information field or a BSSID in which the AP transmitting the 6GHz operation information field is located. When the first frame is a neighbor report frame or a frame including a neighbor element, if the indication information for indicating whether the address information appears is a second value, for example, 0, the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field, and the address information of the AP operating on the 6GHz band is indicated as the BSSID in the neighbor report frame that transmits the 6GHz operation information field or the neighbor element of the frame including the neighbor element.

In another embodiment, if the address information presence field of the HE operation parameter field does not exist, the "address information of a station operating in the 6GHz band" field of the 6GHz operation information field always appears.

As shown in fig. 5, the HE operation parameter field further includes a 6GHz operation information presence field indicating whether the 6GHz operation information field is present, and when the 6GHz operation information field value is set to a first value, for example, 1, it indicates that the 6GHz operation information field is present in the HE operation element, and implicitly indicates that the AP also establishes a BSS at 6 GHz; when the value of the 6GHz operation information field is set to a second value, for example, 0, it indicates that the 6GHz operation information field does not appear in the HE operation element, and implicitly indicates that the AP does not establish a BSS at 6 GHz.

As shown in fig. 5, other indication bits in the HE operation parameter field are the same as those in the HE operation parameter field in 802.11ax, and include a default PE (packet extension) duration, a TWT (target wake up time) request, a transmission of opportunity (TXOP) duration RTS (request to send) threshold, a VHT operation information occurrence, a basic service set Co-Located BSS, an ER SU (extended distance single user) prohibition, a 6GHz operation information occurrence indication bit, and the like.

Further, the 6GHz operation information field also contains TSF information and beacon frame information, the TSF information includes TSF difference information or TSF value, and the beacon frame information includes beacon frame interval or beacon frame target transmission time. The TSF difference value information refers to the difference between the clock stamps of the AP on 6GHz and the AP which transmits the 6GHz information field on 2.4/5GHz, and the TSF value refers to the clock stamp of the AP on 6 GHz; the beacon frame interval refers to an interval at which the AP on 6GHz transmits a beacon frame, and the beacon frame target transmission time refers to the most recent beacon frame transmission time of the AP on 6 GHz. The TSF (time stamp field) difference information/TSF value and the beacon frame interval/beacon frame target transmission time are newly added to the 6GHz operation information field, among the 4 parameters, the first 2 parameters are TSF parameters, the last 2 parameters are beacon frame parameters, any one of the first 2 parameters may be combined with any one of the last 2 parameters, for example, as shown in fig. 6, the TSF difference information and the beacon frame interval are newly added to the 6GHz operation information field, and as shown in fig. 7, the TSF value and the beacon frame target transmission time are newly added to the 6GHz operation information field.

In another embodiment, a target beacon frame transmission time difference value needs to be added to the 6GHz operation information field, where the target beacon frame transmission time difference value refers to a difference between the transmission time of the AP on 6GHz and the transmission time of the target beacon frame of the AP transmitting the 6GHz operation information field at 2.4/5 GHz.

It should be noted that the number of bytes occupied by each newly added parameter in the above-mentioned figure may also be other number of bytes, for example, the TSF difference information occupies 1 byte.

According to the embodiment of the application, TSF information and beacon frame information are newly added to the AP in the 6GHz operation information field, after the unassociated STA or the STA in a roaming state acquires the TSF information and the beacon frame information of the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band, the time for the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band to send the beacon frame can be calculated, the beacon frame sent by the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band is effectively intercepted on the corresponding channel of the 6GHz frequency band, and therefore the information of the related BSS and the clock synchronization information of the AP working on the 6GHz frequency band are acquired, and passive scanning is facilitated.

S102, the AP sends the first frame on a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band.

S201, the STA receives a first frame on a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band, wherein the first frame comprises address information of an AP working on a 6GHz frequency band.

In S201, the STA receives the first frame in S101 at a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz band, where the first frame includes a 6GHz operation information field, and the 6GHz operation information field includes a main channel, a channel bandwidth, a channel center frequency, and address information of an AP operating at the 6GHz band.

After the STA receives the 6GHz operation information field, if the value of the channel access field in the 6GHz operation information field is set to allow EDCA (enhanced distributed channel access) to preempt a channel on the 6GHz band, the STA sends a probe request frame to the AP on the main channel indicated by the BSS information on the 6GHz band, and then obtains a probe response frame responded by the AP, and further associates the AP with the STA through subsequent exchange processes such as an authentication request frame/authentication response frame, an association request frame/association response frame, and the like.

S202, the STA sends a second frame on the 6GHz frequency band, and the receiving address of the second frame is the address in the address information or the sending address of the first frame/BSSID field of the first frame.

In S202, as described in S201, the STA transmits a second frame to the AP on the main channel indicated by the BSS information on the 6GHz band, where a receiving address of the second frame is an address in the address information; for example, the STA performs active scanning or passive scanning on a main channel indicated by the BSS information on the 6GHz band, such as sending a probe request frame to the AP, where a receiving address of the probe request frame is set to address information of a station operating on the 6GHz band in the 6GHz operation information field, for example, an MAC address of a station operating on the 6GHz band in the 6GHz operation information field or a BSSID of a BSS where the station operating on the 6GHz band is located.

The BSSID field in the second frame is set to the BSSID field in the 6GHz operation information field or the MAC address field of the AP.

Setting a receiving address of the probe request frame, another possible way is as follows: when the indication information for indicating whether the address information appears is a first value, for example, 1, the receiving address of the request frame is set to address information of an AP operating on the 6GHz band in the 6GHz operation information field, for example, BSSID where the AP operating on the 6GHz band is located in the 6GHz operation information field or MAC address of the AP operating on the 6GHz band;

the BSSID field in the second frame is set to the BSSID field in the 6GHz operation information field or the MAC address field of the AP. When the indication information for indicating whether the address information appears is a second value, for example, 0, the receiving address of the request frame is set to the transmitting address of the frame (except the neighbor report frame or the frame containing the neighbor element) transmitting the 6GHz operation information field or the BSSID of the AP where the AP transmitting the 6GHz operation information field is located

When the first frame is a neighbor report frame or a frame including a neighbor element, if the indication information for indicating whether the address information appears is a second value, for example, 0, the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band does not appear in the 6GHz operation information field, and indicates that the address information of the AP operating in the 6GHz band is, and the receiving address of the second frame is set to the BSSID in the neighbor report frame or the neighbor element of the frame including the neighbor element, which transmits the 6GHz operation information field.

The BSSID field in the second frame is set to the BSSID field of the frame carrying the HE Operation Element (except the neighbor report frame or the frame containing the neighbor Element), or the BSSID field of the neighbor report frame sending the 6GHz Operation information field or the neighbor Element of the frame containing the neighbor Element.

Setting a receiving address of the probe request frame, and another possible way is as follows: when the AP operating in the 6GHz band is one of the BSSID sets, that is, the AP operates in a virtual BSS state, the receiving address of the probe request frame sent by the STA in the 6GHz band is a transmitted BSSID, and the AP transmitting the BSSID responds to the probe response frame, including multiple BSSID elements and other information of non-transmitted BSSIDs. After receiving the probe response frame of the response of the AP transmitting the BSSID, the STA may further select a suitable virtual AP for association according to information of each AP, such as BSS load condition.

It should be noted that, if the channel access field in the 6GHz operation information field is set to not allow EDCA to preempt the channel at 6GHz, the STA cannot actively preempt the channel at 6GHz band to send a data packet to the AP in an EDCA manner, but associates the data packet with the AP through passive scanning, such as listening to a beacon frame, and then associates the data packet with the AP based on information contained in the obtained beacon frame, or waits for the AP to send a trigger frame, and the STA associates the information frame of an association request with the AP by responding to the trigger frame, where the information frame of the association request includes a probe request frame, an authentication request frame, an association request frame, and other frames.

The exchange process of the detection request frame/detection response frame, the authentication request frame/authentication response frame and the association request frame/association response frame is 2-way handshake, that is, the STA firstly sends the request frame, then receives the confirmation frame responded by the AP, then the AP sends the response frame, and finally the STA replies the confirmation frame.

When the neighbor AP operates in the 6GHz band and the BSSID of the BSS where the neighbor AP is located is one BSSID in the BSSID set, that is, the neighbor AP operates in the virtual BSS state, the embodiment of the present application further provides the following scheme:

the AP sends a management frame (e.g., a neighbor report frame) in a frequency band (or other frequency bands) of 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz, etc., where the management frame includes a neighbor report element, and the neighbor report element is shown in fig. 8 and includes an element ID, a length, a BSSID, BSSID information, an operation set, a channel number, a PHY type, and optional sub-elements.

The operation set and the channel number jointly indicate the working frequency band of the neighbor AP, and the channel number is a main channel of the neighbor AP;

as shown in fig. 9a, a co-located AP field is added to BSSID information, where the co-located AP field is set to a first value, for example, to "1", to indicate that a neighbor AP corresponding to a BSSID in a neighbor report element and an AP sending the neighbor report element are co-located, that is, share the same antenna interface common connector (or the 2 APs are multi-band devices), and the co-located AP field is set to a second value, for example, to "0", to indicate that a neighbor AP corresponding to a BSSID in a neighbor report element and an AP sending the neighbor report element are not co-located, that is, do not share the same antenna interface common connector (or the 2 APs are not multi-band devices);

when the co-located AP field in the BSSID information is set to be a first value, and when the neighbor AP works on the 6GHz frequency band and the BSSID of the BSS where the neighbor AP is located is one of the BSSID setThe optional sub-elements in the neighbor report element of fig. 8 contain multiple BSSID elements when multiple BSSIDs, i.e., neighbor APs, are operating in virtual BSS state. The multiple BSSID element, as shown in fig. 10, includes an element ID, a length, a maximum BSSID indication, and optional sub-elements, where the maximum BSSID indicates that the maximum number of BSSIDs included in the multiple BSSID set is n, and the optional sub-elements include information of respective non-transmitted BSSIDs. At this time, BSSID in the neighbor report element shown in fig. 8 is a reference BSSID for calculating values of respective BSSIDs in the BSSID set, and the receiver STA may calculate a value of each BSSID in the multiple BSSID set according to the reference BSSID and the maximum BSSID indication, wherein a value of upper 48-n bits of each BSSID in the multiple BSSID set is the same as a value of upper 48-n bits of the reference BSSID, a value of lower n bits of each BSSID in the multiple BSSID set is a value of lower n of the reference BSSID and a value of sequence number n of the BSSID, and the value is 2ⁿFor the specific calculation method, refer to the 802.11-2016 standard protocol.

Wherein, when the co-located AP field in the BSSID information is set to the first value, and when the neighbor AP operates in the 6GHz band and the BSSID of the BSS where the neighbor AP is located is one BSSID in the BSSID set, that is, the neighbor AP operates in the virtual BSS state, an optional sub-element in the neighbor report element in fig. 8 includes a multiple BSSID element, and information indicating transmission of the BSSID needs to be added, in one way, the neighbor report element further includes a multiple BSSID sequence number element, as shown in fig. 11, the multiple BSSID sequence number element includes an element ID, a length, a BSSID sequence number, a DTIM period (optional), a DITM count (optional), where the BSSID sequence number indicates the position n of the BSSID in the multiple BSSID set, and at this time, the BSSID sequence number in fig. 11 is a sequence number for transmitting the BSSID.

Alternatively, a BSSID sequence number of 1 byte or a transport BSSID field of 6 bytes is added directly to the neighbor report element.

In one possible implementation, in fig. 9(a), the co-located AP may be extended to a field, and the extended field is referred to as a co-located multiband AP field. A first value of the co-located multi-band AP field, such as 0, indicates that the reported AP is not a multi-band AP; a second value of the co-located multi-band AP field, such as 1, indicates that the reported AP is the first reported AP of the multi-band APs; a third value of the co-located multi-band AP field, such as 2, indicates that the reported AP is the last reported AP of the multi-band APs; a fourth value of the co-located multiband AP field, for example, 3, indicates that the reported AP is an intermediate reported AP in the multiband APs, and there may be a plurality of intermediate reported APs; a fifth value of the co-located multi-band AP field, such as 4, indicates that the AP being reported and the AP being reported are co-located.

In another possible embodiment, in fig. 9(a), the co-located AP only indicates whether the neighbor AP corresponding to the BSSID in the neighbor report element is co-located with the AP that sent the neighbor report element.

In fig. 9(b), 1 multiband field is added to indicate whether the neighbor AP indicated by BSSID in the neighbor report element supports multiband devices or whether it additionally supports 6 GHz.

The reported AP may also be referred to as a neighbor AP or an AP indicated by BSSID in a neighbor element, the reported AP being the AP that transmitted the neighbor report element.

At the STA side, the STA receives a management frame (such as a neighbor report frame) sent by the AP, where the management frame includes neighbor report elements. If the co-located AP in the BSSID information field of the neighbor report element is set to 1, it indicates that the neighbor AP corresponding to the BSSID field operates in the 6GHz band. The STA sends information frames of unicast association requests to neighbor APs working on a 6GHz frequency band for association and communication on a channel indicated by a channel number on a corresponding 6GHz through BSSID, an operation set and the channel number, wherein the information frames of the association requests comprise detection request frames, authentication request frames, association request frames and other frames. If the co-located AP in the BSSID information field is set to 0, the STA continues to listen to the channel.

In another embodiment, the unassociated station or the roaming station is prohibited from sending the probe request frame broadcasted with the BSSID field being wildcard BSSID and/or SSID element being wildcard SSID, and the unassociated station or the roaming station is permitted to send the probe request frame broadcasted with the SSID element being the BSSID field being non-wildcard BSSID or non-wildcard SSID. At this time, after the surrounding APs receive the broadcasted probe request frame, only the APs meeting the condition respond to the probe response frame, instead of all the surrounding APs responding to the probe response frame. The conditions are as follows: the SSID of an extended service set ESS (extended service set) of the AP is matched with the SSID of a received detection request frame; the BBSID of the AP matches the BSSID of the received probe request frame.

AP side: the frame sending the 6GHz information field carries the MAC address or BSSID of the AP, or the frame sending the neighbor report element carries the MAC address or BSSID of the neighbor AP. Or the frame sending the neighbor report element carries the SSID of the ESS where the neighbor AP is located, and the frame carrying the SSID element or the SSID list element is used as a sub-element of the neighbor element.

On the STA side: the BSSID field in the probe request frame sent by the station in broadcast needs to be set to the BSSID in the 6GHz information field, or the sending address or the BSSID field in the frame sending the 6GHz information field, or the BSSID in the neighbor report element, or the transmission BSSID indicated in the neighbor report element. And/or the SSID element in the broadcasted probe request frame sets a specified SSID instead of the SSID of the wildcard, optionally further carrying an SSID list element, the specified SSID being from the SSID element or the SSID list element included in the received frame carrying the neighbor report element.

As described above, the embodiments of the present application provide an information indication method; hereinafter, the embodiments of the present application provide an information indicating apparatus, and it should be understood that the information indicating apparatus described in the embodiments of the present application has any function of the information indicating apparatus in the above method.

As shown in fig. 12, an information indicating apparatus includes:

a processing unit 101, configured to generate a first frame, where the first frame includes address information of a station operating in a 6GHz band; a transceiver unit 102, configured to transmit the first frame on a 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz frequency band.

The information indicating apparatus shown in fig. 12 has any function of the sender station (e.g., AP) in the foregoing method, and details are not repeated here, and reference may be specifically made to the description of the foregoing method.

As shown in fig. 13, an information indicating apparatus includes:

a transceiver 201, configured to receive a first frame at a 2.5GHz band and/or a 4GHz band, where the first frame includes address information of a station operating at the 6GHz band; and for transmitting a second frame at the 6GHz frequency band;

a processing unit 202, configured to generate a second frame, where a receiving address of the second frame is an address in the address information; and controls the transceiving unit 201 to transmit the second frame on the 6GHz band.

The information indicating apparatus shown in fig. 13 has any function of the receiving side station (e.g., STA) in the above method, and details are not repeated here, and refer to the description of the above method specifically.

The information indicating device provided by the embodiment of the present application may be implemented in various product forms, for example, the information indicating device may be configured as a general processing system; for example, the information indicating means may be implemented by a general bus architecture; for example, the information indicating means may be realized by an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) or the like. The following provides several possible product forms of the information indicating device according to the embodiments of the present application, and it should be understood that the following is only an example and does not limit the possible product forms according to the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 14 is a block diagram of a possible product form of the information indicating apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application.

As one possible product form, the information-indicating device may be an information-indicating apparatus that includes a processor 1402 and a transceiver 1404; optionally, the information indicating apparatus may further include a storage medium 1403.

As another possible product form, the information indicating device is also implemented by a general-purpose processor, namely a chip as it is commonly known. The general purpose processor includes: a processor 1402 and a transceiving interface 1404/transceiving pin 1404; optionally, the general purpose processor may also include a storage medium 1403.

As another possible product form, the information indicating means may also be implemented using: one or more FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), PLDs (programmable logic devices), 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.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely one type of association relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various method steps and elements described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both, and that the steps and elements of the various embodiments have been described above generally in terms of their functionality in order to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

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

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may also be an electric, mechanical or other form of connection.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially or partially contributed by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, the scope of the invention is not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art can easily conceive various equivalent modifications or substitutions within the technical scope of the invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.