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BR-122025010432-A2 - Methods and apparatus of communication, computer-readable storage media and chip system.

BR122025010432A2BR 122025010432 A2BR122025010432 A2BR 122025010432A2BR-122025010432-A2

Abstract

The embodiments of this application provide a communication method that can be applied to a WLAN system that supports IEEE 802.11 serial protocols, such as 802.11be/Wi-Fi 7/EHT, Wi-Fi 8, or a next-generation Wi-Fi 8 protocol. The method includes: determining a first start time of a target TWT wake-up time service period based on a value of a target TWT wake-up time field and a TWT wake-up interval in a first beacon frame; and rounding the first start time to obtain a second start time. Therefore, a start time that is determined based on information about a TWT element and that is of a TWT SP included in a broadcast TWT ID is rounded so that the start time of the TWT SP is in one unit of a time unit (TU). This avoids incorrect reading caused by misalignment of the start times of TWT SPs.

Inventors

  • Yunbo Li
  • Yuchen Guo
  • Ming Gan
  • Mao YANG

Assignees

  • HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date
20260317
Application Date
20230629
Priority Date
20221014

Claims (19)

  1. 1. A communication method, characterized in that it comprises: determining a start time for a target wake-up time (TWT SP) service period based on a value of a target wake-up time (TWT) field and a TWT wake-up interval in a beacon frame; and determining a quiet interval, where the start time of the TWT SP falls within the quiet interval, and the quiet interval is an overlapping quiet interval.
  2. 2. Method, according to claim 1, characterized in that the beacon frame comprises an element corresponding to the silent interval.
  3. 3. Communication method, characterized in that it comprises: determining, by a station, a first start time of a target activation time (TWT SP) service period based on a value of a target activation time (TWT) field and a TWT activation interval in a beacon frame; rounding, by the station, the first start time to obtain a second start time; and determining, by the station based on the second start time and a start time of a silent interval, whether the silent interval is an overlapping silent interval.
  4. 4. Method, according to claim 3, characterized in that the rounding is rounding to one unit of a time unit (TU).
  5. 5. A method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that rounding up, by station, the first start time to obtain a second start time comprises: rounding up, by station, the first start time to obtain the second start time; rounding down, by station, the first start time to obtain the second start time; or rounding down, by station, the first start time to obtain the second start time.
  6. 6. A method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the determination, by the station based on the second start time and the start time of a silent interval, of whether the silent interval is an overlapping silent interval comprises: when the second start time is the same as the start time of the silent interval, determining, by the station, that the silent interval is the overlapping silent interval.
  7. 7. Method, according to claim 6, characterized in that the start time of the silent interval is based on a target beacon transmission time TBTT, where TBTT is N multiplied by the time unit TU, and N is an integer.
  8. 8. A method according to any one of claims 3 to 7, characterized in that it further comprises: receiving, by the station, the beacon frame.
  9. 9. Method, according to any one of claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the beacon frame is either a DTIM delivery traffic indication map beacon frame or a regular beacon frame.
  10. 10. A method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the determination, by the station based on the second start time and the start time of a silent interval, of whether the silent interval is an overlapping silent interval comprises: determining, by the station, the silent interval based on the start time of the silent interval and the duration of the silent interval; and when the second start time falls within the silent interval, determining, by the station, that the silent interval is an overlapping silent interval.
  11. 11. A method, according to any one of claims 3 to 10, characterized in that the beacon frame comprises an element corresponding to the silent interval.
  12. 12. A method, according to any one of claims 6 to 11, characterized in that when the station is an extremely high throughput station, the method further comprises: the station ignoring the quiet interval.
  13. 13. Communication method, characterized in that it comprises: determining, by a station, a start time for a target activation time (TWT SP) service period based on a value of a target activation time (TWT) field and a TWT activation interval in a beacon frame; and determining, by the station based on the TWT SP start time and a start time for a silent interval, whether the silent interval is an overlapping silent interval.
  14. 14. Method according to claim 13, characterized in that the beacon frame comprises an element corresponding to the silent interval.
  15. 15. A method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the determination, by the station based on the start time of the TWT SP and the start time of a silent interval, of whether the silent interval is an overlapping silent interval comprises: determining, by the station, the silent interval based on the start time of the silent interval and the duration of the silent interval; and when the start time of the TWT SP falls within the silent interval, determining, by the station, that the silent interval is the overlapping silent interval.
  16. 16. Method according to claim 15, characterized in that when the station is an extremely high throughput station, the method further comprises: the station ignoring the quiet interval.
  17. 17. Communication apparatus, characterized in that it comprises: a processor, configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, to enable the communication apparatus to perform the method defined in any one of claims 1 to 16.
  18. 18. Computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions; and when the instructions are executed by a processor, the method defined in any of claims 1 to 16 is performed.
  19. 19. Chip system, characterized in that it comprises: a processor, configured to invoke instructions from a memory and execute the instructions, to cause a communication apparatus installed with the chip system to implement the method defined in any one of claims 1 to 16.

Description

[001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202211262708.5, filed with the National Intellectual Property Administration of China on October 14, 2022, and entitled "COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS", which is incorporated into the present invention by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD [002] The modalities of this application relate to the field of wireless communication technologies and, more specifically, to a communication method and a communication device. BACKGROUND [003] From standards such as IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax to the 802.11be, which is currently being discussed in the industry, a standard version of a wireless local area network (WLAN) is continuously evolving and developing. Currently, the increase in wireless network applications and services, such as online gaming, virtual reality, and industrial sites, has stringent requirements regarding latency characteristics. Therefore, in the 802.11be standard, a guaranteed latency and latency jitter characteristic is considered a fundamental technical objective, and a restricted target wakeup time (TWT) technology is proposed to improve latency guarantee performance. [004] TWT parameter information is carried in a TWT element of a beacon frame. For a broadcast TWT, a start time of a TWT service period (TWT service period, TWT SP or SP for short) included in a broadcast TWT ID can be determined based on information about a TWT element. An existing broadcast TWT easily causes a communication error. SUMMARY [005] The modalities of this application provide a method of communication. A start time that is determined based on information about a TWT element and that is of a TWT SP included in a TWT broadcast ID is rounded, so that the start time of the TWT SP is in one unit of a time unit (TU). This avoids incorrect reading caused by misalignment of the start times of TWT SPs. [006] According to a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method may be performed by an access point or it may be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the access point. This is not limited. For ease of description, an example in which the method is performed by the access point is used below for description. [007] The method may include: determining a first start time of a target TWT activation time service period based on a value of a target TWT activation time field and a TWT activation interval in a first beacon frame; and rounding the first start time to obtain a second start time. [008] Based on the previous solution, a start time that is determined based on information about a TWT element and that is from a TWT SP included in a broadcast TWT ID is rounded so that the start time of the TWT SP is in one unit of a TU. This avoids incorrect reading caused by misalignment of the start times of TWT SPs. [009] In one possible implementation, rounding is rounding to the unit of time TU. [010] In one possible implementation, rounding the first start time to obtain a second start time includes: rounding up the first start time to obtain the second start time; rounding down the first start time to obtain the second start time; or rounding the first start time to obtain the second start time. Based on the previous solution, rounding the first start time in a plurality of ways has a similar effect. In a real operation, only one of the ways can be selected, or different alignment ways can be selected for different scenarios, to increase the flexibility of a first start time rounding solution. [011] In one possible implementation, the second start time is a value of a TWT target activation time field in a second beacon frame, and the second beacon frame is a beacon frame following the first beacon frame. [012] In one possible implementation, the method additionally includes: sending the first beacon frame and/or the second beacon frame. [013] In one possible implementation, a value of a field of the TWT broadcast activation time identifier in the first beacon frame is the same as a value of a field of the TWT broadcast ID in the second beacon frame. [014] In one possible implementation, the first beacon frame and the second beacon frame are DTIM delivery traffic indication map beacon frames; or the first beacon frame is a DTIM beacon frame, and the second beacon frame is a regular beacon frame. [015] In one possible implementation, the first beacon frame is a first DTIM beacon frame. [016] In one possible implementation, the method additionally includes: determining a first silent interval, where a start state of the first silent interval is the second start time, and the first silent interval is an overlapping silent interval. [017] Based on the previous solution, the access point can determine the second start time, which is an integer multiple of TU, as the start time of the overlapping silent interval, so that the start time of the overlapping silent interval is aligned with the start time of the TWT SP. [018] In on