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BR-122025010548-A2 - A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM

BR122025010548A2BR 122025010548 A2BR122025010548 A2BR 122025010548A2BR-122025010548-A2

Abstract

The embodiments of this application provide a method and apparatus for communication, and relate to the field of communications technologies, to solve a technical problem where a transmitting AP does not carry a parameter element of an AP if the AP has performed a channel switch before the transmitting AP sends a management frame, and for this reason a STA associated with the AP cannot know that the AP has performed the channel switch. The method includes: a first AP generates a management frame, wherein the management frame includes a capability information field, the capability information field includes first indication information, the first indication information indicates whether another AP in a first AP multi-link device has performed a channel switch, and the first AP multi-link device includes the first AP; and the first AP sends the management frame to a first STA station.

Inventors

  • Ming Gan
  • Bo Gong
  • Yuxin Lu
  • Jian Yu
  • Yunbo Li
  • Mengshi HU

Assignees

  • HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date
20260317
Application Date
20220526
Priority Date
20210526

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A communication method, characterized by the fact that it comprises: receiving, by a first STA station, a management frame from a first access point (AP), wherein the management frame comprises a first critical update indicator signal, the first critical update indicator signal indicates that information about another AP in a first multi-link AP device changes, a critical parameter update value of the other AP changes, or a critical parameter update value of the first AP changes, wherein the first multi-link AP device comprises the first AP, and a multi-link STA device comprises the first STA; and analyzing, by the first STA, the management frame.
  2. 2. Method, according to claim 1, characterized in that the analysis, by the first STA, of the management board comprises: obtaining, by the first STA, changed information from the other AP, a changed critical parameter update value from the other AP, or a changed critical parameter update value from the first AP based on the first critical update indicator signaling.
  3. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: information about another AP in a first multi-link AP device changes includes if an AP is removed from the first multi-link AP device; information about another AP in a first multi-link AP device changes includes if an AP is newly added to the first multi-link AP device; information about another AP in a first multi-link AP device changes includes a change in the disable/enable state of one or more APs in the first multi-link AP device; or information about another AP in a first multi-link AP device changes includes a change in the operating link of one or more APs in the first multi-link AP device.
  4. 4. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a critical parameter update value of the AP in the first AP multi-link device is adjusted based on the occurrence of any event in a critical BSS basic service set parameter event corresponding to the AP.
  5. 5. Method, according to claim 4, characterized in that each time a critical AP BSS parameter event occurs, a critical AP parameter update value is increased by 1.
  6. 6. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that the critical BSS parameter event comprises at least one of the following events: an Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameter element is modified, a Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) parameter set element is modified, a High Throughput (HT) operation element is modified, a Widebandwidth Channel Switching element is comprised, a Widebandwidth Channel Switching Wrapper element is comprised, an Operation Mode Notification element is comprised, a Very High Throughput (VHT) operation element is modified, a High Efficiency (HE) operation element is modified, a Target Activation Time (TWT) broadcast activation time element is inserted, a BSS color change announcement element is comprised, a Multi-User EDCA parameter set element (MU) is modified, a Spatial Multiplexing parameter set element is modified, and an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) operation element is modified.
  7. 7. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the critical parameter update value is a critical BSS basic services set parameter change count value.
  8. 8. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that a value of the first critical update indicator signal is either a first value or a second value.
  9. 9. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that when the first critical update indicator signal is set to the first value, the first value is maintained until the next DTIM beacon frame.
  10. 10. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the management frame additionally comprises second critical update indicator signaling, and the second critical update indicator signaling indicates that information about an AP other than a non-transmitted AP in a second multi-link AP device changes, a critical parameter update value of the other AP changes, or a critical parameter update value of a non-transmitted AP changes, wherein at least one AP in the second multi-link AP device and the first AP belong to the same set of Basic Service Set Identifiers (BSSIDs).
  11. 11. Method, according to claim 10, characterized in that the method further comprises: obtaining, by the first STA, changed information from the other AP, a changed critical parameter update value from the other AP, or a changed critical parameter update value from the AP not transmitted based on the second critical update indicator signaling.
  12. 12. A method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that: information about an AP other than an AP not transmitted in a second multi-link AP device changes includes if an AP is removed from the second multi-link AP device; information about an AP other than an AP not transmitted in a second multi-link AP device changes includes if an AP is newly added to the second multi-link AP device; information about an AP other than an AP not transmitted in a second multi-link AP device changes includes a change in the disable/enable state of one or more APs in the second multi-link AP device; or information about an AP other than an AP not transmitted in a second multi-link AP device changes includes a change in the operating link of one or more APs in the second multi-link AP device.
  13. 13. A method, according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that a critical parameter update value of the AP in the second AP multi-link device is adjusted based on the occurrence of any event in a critical BSS parameter event corresponding to the AP.
  14. 14. Method according to claim 13, characterized in that each time a critical AP BSS parameter event occurs, a critical AP parameter update value is increased by 1.
  15. 15. A method, according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that a value of the second critical update indicator signal is either a first value or a second value.
  16. 16. A method, according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that when the second critical update indicator signal is set to a first value, the first value is maintained until the next DTIM beacon frame.
  17. 17. Communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises a processor, and the processor is configured to run a computer program or instructions, to perform the communication method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 16.
  18. 18. Communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface being coupled to the processor, the processor being configured to run a program or computer instructions to perform the communication method as defined in any of claims 1 to 16, and the communication interface being configured to communicate with a module other than the communication apparatus.
  19. 19. Communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises an interface circuit and a logic circuit, the interface circuit being configured to obtain input information and/or output information, and the logic circuit being configured to perform the communication method as defined in any of claims 1 to 16, and to perform processing based on the input information and/or generate the output information.
  20. 20. Computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or a program; and when the computer instructions or the program are run or run on a computer, the communication method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 16.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority for Chinese Patent Application No. 202110581012.8, filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on May 26, 2021, and entitled “COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS,” and for Chinese Patent Application No. 202110821657.4, filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on July 20, 2021, and entitled “COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS,” both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a method and apparatus for communication. BACKGROUND [0003] In an existing wireless local area network (WLAN) communication system, a multi-link device that can support concurrent communication on multiple links is provided to improve transmission efficiency. The multi-link device may include one or more stations. When the station is an access point (AP), the multi-link device may be referred to as an AP multi-link device. When the station is a non-access point station (non-AP STA), the non-AP STA may also be briefly described as an STA, and the multi-link device may also be referred to as an STA multi-link device. [0004] For each AP, based on a basic service set identifier (BSSID), an AP whose BSSID is a broadcast BSSID can be referred to as a broadcast AP, and an AP whose BSSID is a non-broadcast BSSID can be referred to as a non-broadcast AP. [0005] Currently, when a STA associated with an AP on a multi-link AP device is in a nap state, where the STA belongs to a non-multi-link AP device, and the AP is performing a channel switch (in which case, a beacon frame sent by the AP on a link on which the AP operates carries a channel switch-related element; or if the AP is a non-broadcast AP BSSID in a multi-BSSID set, a beacon frame sent by a broadcast AP corresponding to the AP carries the channel switch-related element of the AP), another AP on the same multi-link AP device (if the AP is a non-broadcast AP BSSID in the multi-BSSID set, the other AP is the broadcast AP in the multi-BSSID set) can carry the channel switch-related element of the AP in a management frame. A STA (belonging to the same non-multi-link AP device as the STA associated with the AP) associated with the other AP becomes aware that the AP is performing channel switching. Therefore, the STA belonging to the same non-multi-link AP device becomes aware of the information. [0006] However, if the AP has performed the channel switching before the other AP belonging to the same multi-link AP device sends the management frame, the other AP (or it can be described as a reporting AP) does not carry the element related to the AP's channel switching. In other words, the non-multi-link AP device cannot know that the AP has performed the channel switching. SUMMARY [0007] In view of this, the modalities of this application provide a method and communication device to solve a technical problem in which a transmitting AP does not carry a parameter element of an AP if the AP has performed a channel switching before the transmitting AP sends a management frame and for this reason a STA associated with the AP cannot know that the AP has performed the channel switching. [0008] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a method of communication. The method includes: a first access point (AP) generates a management frame. The management frame includes a capability information field. The capability information field includes first indication information. The first indication information indicates whether another AP in a first AP multi-link device has performed a channel switch. The first AP multi-link device includes the first AP. The first AP sends the management frame to a first STA station. [0009] Based on the first aspect, when sending the management frame, the first AP can carry the first indication information to indicate whether the other AP in the first multi-link AP device has performed the channel switching. In this mode, the first STA that is associated with the first AP and that belongs to a non-AP MLD determines, based on the first indication information, whether the other AP in the first multi-link AP device has performed the channel switching. If the other AP in the first multi-link AP device has performed the channel switching, the STA obtains channel switching information from the AP that performed the channel switching. Therefore, an STA (even if the STA is in a sleep state) that belongs to the same non-AP MLD and that is associated with the AP that performed the channel switching knows that the AP associated with the STA performed the channel switching and knows the channel switching information after the channel switching. [0010] In a possible design, the capacity information field additionally includes first critical update indicator signal. The first critical update indicator signal indicates whether a critical parameter