US-12627989-B2 - Channel allocation method and related apparatus

US12627989B2US 12627989 B2US12627989 B2US 12627989B2US-12627989-B2

Abstract

A channel allocation method and a related apparatus are disclosed. The method is for reducing a quantity of access points with to-be-switched channels and reducing an amount of calculation for channel switching. The method includes: obtaining interference degrees of a plurality of access points; and performing partial channel allocation based on the interference degrees. The partial channel allocation includes: retaining an operating channel of an access point in a first access point set, and reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set. The first access point set includes an access point with an interference degree lower than a target degree in the plurality of access points, and the second access point set includes an access point with an interference degree reaching the target degree in the plurality of access points.

Inventors

Shanya CONG
Chongyu NIU
Jun Zhan

Assignees

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230330
Priority Date: 20220331

Claims (18)

1 . A channel allocation method, comprising: obtaining interference degrees of a plurality of access points; and performing partial channel allocation based on the interference degrees, wherein the partial channel allocation comprises: retaining an operating channel of an access point in a first access point set, and reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set, wherein the first access point set comprises an access point, in the plurality of access points, whose interference degree is lower than a target degree, and the second access point set comprises an access point, in the plurality of access points, whose interference degree reaches the target degree, wherein the obtaining interference degrees of the plurality of access points comprises: obtaining channel utilization and own channel utilization of a first access point in a plurality of first time periods, wherein the first access point is any one of the plurality of access points; and obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods, wherein the obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods comprises: calculating co-channel interference ratios of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods, wherein each of the co-channel interference ratios is a ratio of a co-channel interference rate to the channel utilization, and the co-channel interference rate is a difference between the channel utilization and the own channel utilization; and obtaining the interference degree of the first access point based on the co-channel interference ratios of the first access point.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the performing partial channel allocation comprises: performing partial channel allocation when a quantity of access points, in the plurality of access points, with interference degrees reaching the target degree is less than a first threshold.
3 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising: performing global channel allocation when a quantity of access points, in the plurality of access points, with interference degrees reaching the target degree reaches the first threshold, wherein the global channel allocation comprises: reallocating operating channels to the plurality of access points.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the co-channel interference ratios of the first access point comprises: obtaining a second ratio of a quantity of first time periods in which the co-channel interference ratio is greater than a second threshold to a total quantity of the first time periods, wherein the second ratio represents the interference degree of the first access point.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the interference degrees is represented by a signal to interference ratio or a signal to interference plus noise ratio.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set comprises: reallocating the operating channel to the access point in the second access point set in consideration of a quantity of access points, in the second access point set, whose operating channels do not change after the reallocating of the operating channel.
7 . A control device, comprising at least one memory and at least one processor; wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the at least one memory, to enable the control device to perform operations comprising: obtaining interference degrees of a plurality of access points; and performing partial channel allocation based on the interference degrees, wherein the partial channel allocation comprises: retaining an operating channel of an access point in a first access point set, and reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set, wherein the first access point set comprises an access point, in the plurality of access points, whose interference degree is lower than a target degree, and the second access point set comprises an access point, in the plurality of access points, whose interference degree reaches the target degree, wherein the obtaining interference degrees of the plurality of access points comprises: obtaining channel utilization and own channel utilization of a first access point in a plurality of first time periods, wherein the first access point is any one of the plurality of access points; and obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods, wherein the obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods comprises: calculating co-channel interference ratios of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods, wherein each of the co-channel interference ratios is a ratio of a co-channel interference rate to the channel utilization, and the co-channel interference rate is a difference between the channel utilization and the own channel utilization, and obtaining the interference degree of the first access point based on the co-channel interference ratios of the first access point.
8 . The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the performing partial channel allocation comprises: performing partial channel allocation when a quantity of access points, in the plurality of access points, with interference degrees reaching the target degree is less than a first threshold.
9 . The control device according to claim 8 , wherein the obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the co-channel interference ratios of the first access point comprises: obtaining a second ratio of a quantity of first time periods in which the co-channel interference ratio is greater than a second threshold to a total quantity of the first time periods, wherein the second ratio represents the interference degree of the first access point.
10 . The control device according to claim 8 , further comprising: performing global channel allocation when a quantity of access points, in the plurality of access points, with interference degrees reaching the target degree reaches the first threshold, wherein the global channel allocation comprises: reallocating operating channels to the plurality of access points.
11 . The control device according to claim 7 , wherein each of the interference degrees is represented by a signal to interference ratio or a signal to interference plus noise ratio.
12 . The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set comprises: reallocating the operating channel to the access point in the second access point set in consideration of a quantity of access points, in the second access point set, whose operating channels do not change after the reallocating of the operating channel.
13 . A computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions that, when directly or indirectly executed, cause a computer to perform operations comprising: obtaining interference degrees of a plurality of access points; and performing partial channel allocation based on the interference degrees, wherein the partial channel allocation comprises: retaining an operating channel of an access point in a first access point set, and reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set, wherein the first access point set comprises an access point, in the plurality of access points, whose interference degree is lower than a target degree, and the second access point set comprises an access point, in the plurality of access points, whose interference degree reaches the target degree, wherein the obtaining interference degrees of the plurality of access points comprises: obtaining channel utilization and own channel utilization of a first access point in a plurality of first time periods, wherein the first access point is any one of the plurality of access points; and obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods, wherein the obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods comprises: calculating co-channel interference ratios of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods, wherein each of the co-channel interference ratios is a ratio of a co-channel interference rate to the channel utilization, and the co-channel interference rate is a difference between the channel utilization and the own channel utilization; and obtaining the interference degree of the first access point based on the co-channel interference ratios of the first access point.
14 . The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the performing partial channel allocation comprises: performing partial channel allocation when a quantity of access points, in the plurality of access points, with interference degrees reaching the target degree is less than a first threshold.
15 . The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 14 , further comprising: performing global channel allocation when a quantity of access points, in the plurality of access points, with interference degrees reaching the target degree reaches the first threshold, wherein the global channel allocation comprises reallocating operating channels to the plurality of access points.
16 . The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the obtaining interference degrees of a plurality of access points comprises: obtaining channel utilization and own channel utilization of a first access point in a plurality of first time periods, wherein the first access point is any one of the plurality of access points; and obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods.
17 . The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 16 , wherein the obtaining an interference degree of the first access point based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods comprises: calculating co-channel interference ratios of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods based on the channel utilization and the own channel utilization of the first access point in the plurality of first time periods, wherein the co-channel interference ratio is a first ratio of a co-channel interference rate to the channel utilization, and the co-channel interference rate is a difference between the channel utilization and the own channel utilization; and obtaining a second ratio of a quantity of first time periods in which the co-channel interference ratio is greater than a second threshold to a total quantity of the first time periods, wherein the second ratio represents the interference degree of the first access point.
18 . The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set comprises: reallocating the operating channel to the access point in the second access point set in consideration of a quantity of access points, in the second access point set, whose operating channels do not change after the reallocating of the operating channel.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210334394.9, filed on Mar. 31, 2022. The aforementioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a channel allocation method and a related apparatus. BACKGROUND With development of wireless technologies, wireless local area networks (WLANs) are widely used in scenarios such as homes, hospitals, enterprise office, and industrial production. In large-scale scenarios such as hospitals, enterprise office, and industrial production, massive access points (APs) need to be deployed for unified coverage of the wireless local area networks. After the access points are deployed, a channel needs to be allocated to each access point. Generally, different channels are allocated to neighboring access points. When a quantity of access points needs to be increased or decreased, channels of a large quantity of access points need to be switched, resulting in a large amount of calculation. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a channel allocation method and a related apparatus. The method can reduce a quantity of access points whose channels are to be switched and reduce an amount of calculation for channel switching. According to a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a channel allocation method, including: obtaining interference degrees of a plurality of access points; and performing partial channel allocation. The interference degree may be represented in a plurality of manners. This is not specifically limited in embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the interference degree may be represented by channel utilization and own channel utilization. For another example, the interference degree may be represented by a signal to interference ratio (SIR) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), where the signal to interference plus noise ratio may also be referred to as a signal to noise ratio for short. The partial channel allocation includes: retaining an operating channel of an access point in a first access point set, and reallocating an operating channel to an access point in a second access point set. The first access point set includes an access point whose interference degree is lower than a target degree in the plurality of access points, and the second access point set includes an access point whose interference degree reaches the target degree in the plurality of access points. After the operating channel is reallocated, an operating channel of the access point in the second access point set may change, in other words, the reallocated operating channel is different from the current operating channel; or an operating channel of the access point in the second access point set may not change, in other words, the reallocated operating channel is the same as the current operating channel. In a process of performing partial channel allocation, a plurality of methods may be specifically used to reallocate the operating channel to the access point in the second access point set. For example, a dynamic channel allocation (DCA) technology is used to reallocate the operating channel to the access point. There are a plurality of types of dynamic channel allocation technologies. In embodiments of the present disclosure, the dynamic channel allocation technology may be a Cisco dynamic channel allocation technology, or may be an Aruba dynamic channel allocation technology. The present disclosure ensures that the operating channel of the access point in the first access point set remains unchanged. Therefore, a quantity of access points whose channels are to be switched can be reduced, thereby reducing an amount of calculation for channel switching. In an implementation, the performing partial channel allocation includes: performing partial channel allocation when a quantity of access points whose interference degrees reach the target degree in the plurality of access points is less than a first threshold. The first threshold may be set based on an actual case. For example, the first threshold may be set to 25% or 30%. If the quantity of access points whose interference degrees reach the target degree in the plurality of access points is less than the first threshold, it indicates that interference between the plurality of access points is weak. Therefore, the partial channel allocation may be performed, so that the quantity of access points whose channels are to be switched can be reduced. In an implementation, the obtaining interference degrees of a plurality of access points includes: obtaining channel utilization and own channel utilization of a first access point in a plurality of first time periods, where the first access point is any one of the plurality of access points, and the first time period may be adjusted based on an actual requirement