US-20260129557-A1 - INFORMATION INDICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to information indication methods and apparatus. One example method includes generating a first frame, where the first frame comprises a neighbor report element, the neighbor report element comprises a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field and a BSSID information field comprising a multi-band field, the multi-band field indicates whether a neighbor access point (AP) indicated by the BSSID field is located in a multiple-band device, and the multiple-band comprises a 6 GHz band, and sending the first frame on a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band.

Inventors

• Ming Gan
• Dandan LIANG
• Xun Yang

Assignees

• HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20260102

Priority Date

20180807

Claims (10)

1. 1 . An information indication method, comprising: generating, by a reporting access point (AP), a first frame, wherein the first frame comprises a neighbor report element, the neighbor report element comprises a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field and a BSSID information field, the BSSID information field comprises a co-location AP field and a multi-band field, the co-location AP field indicates whether a neighbor AP indicated by the BSSID field and the reporting AP are co-located, the multi-band field indicates whether the neighbor AP is located in a multiple-band device, wherein the multiple-band device comprises a 6 GHz AP; and sending, by the reporting AP, the first frame to a station (STA) on a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band.
2. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the neighbor report element further comprises an element identifier (ID) field, a length field, an operation class field, a channel number field, a PHY type field, and an optional sub-element field.
3. 3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the operation class field and the channel number field jointly indicate a band on which the neighbor AP operates.
4. 4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the channel number field indicates a main channel on which the neighbor AP operates.
5. 5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the multi-band field facilitates the STA which receives the first frame to discover the 6 GHz AP.
6. 6 . An information indication method, comprising: receiving, by a station (STA) and from a reporting AP, a first frame on a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band, wherein the first frame comprises a neighbor report element, the neighbor report element comprises a BSSID field and a BSSID information field, the BSSID information field comprises a co-location AP field and a multi-band field, the co-location AP field indicates whether a neighbor AP indicated by the BSSID field and the reporting AP are co-located, the multi-band field indicates whether the neighbor AP is located in a multiple-band device, wherein the multiple-band device comprises a 6 GHz AP; and determining, by the STA, whether the neighbor AP is located in a multiple-band device, wherein the multiple-band device comprises the 6 GHz AP.
7. 7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the neighbor report element further comprises an element ID field, a length field, an operation class field, a channel number field, a PHY type field, and an optional sub-element field.
8. 8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the operation class field and the channel number field jointly indicate a band on which the neighbor AP operates.
9. 9 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the channel number field indicates a main channel on which the neighbor AP operates.
10. 10 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the multi-band field facilitates the STA to discover the 6 GHz AP.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/353,519, filed on Jul. 17, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/922,563, filed on Jul. 7, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,991,617, which is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2019/098412, filed on Jul. 30, 2019. The International Application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810891859.4, filed on Aug. 7, 2018. All of the afore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of this application relate to the communications field, and in particular, to an information indication method and apparatus in the communications field. BACKGROUND A frequency range of a newly opened 6 GHz band is more than 1 GHz. An unassociated non-access station (Non AP Station) or a non-access station (Non AP Station) in a roaming state needs to actively scan the band more than 1 GHz to obtain information about a surrounding access point AP. The following manner is used: continuously switching to each channel of the band more than 1 GHz, sending a probe request frame Probe Request through broadcasting to obtain a probe response frame responded with by a surrounding AP, and then selecting an appropriate AP for association. However, disadvantages of this method are long duration, high energy consumption, and unnecessary congestion on the 6 GHz band. SUMMARY According to an information indication method and apparatus provided in embodiments of this application, a sender station can accurately indicate an address of a station operating on a 6 GHz band. Therefore, an unassociated receiver station or a receiver station in a roaming state can be accurately associated with and directionally communicate with the station operating on the 6 GHz band, after learning of the address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band. According to a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides an information indication method, including: generating a first frame, where the first frame includes address information of a station operating on a 6 GHz band; andsending the first frame on a 2.4 GHz band and/or a 5 GHz band. It should be understood that, a sender station sends the first frame on the 2.4 GHz band and/or the 5 GHz band, and the first frame includes address information of the station operating on the 6 GHz band. In this embodiment of this application, the sender station can accurately indicate an address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band. Therefore, an unassociated receiver station or a receiver station in a roaming state can be accurately associated with and directionally communicate with the station operating on the 6 GHz band, after learning of the address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band. In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the address information is located in a 6 GHz operation information field of an HE operation element of the first frame. In a possible implementation of the first aspect, an HE operation parameter field of the 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, which indicates that the address information of the station operating on the 6 GHz band is the address information in the first frame. When the indication information is a second value, the address information does not appear, which indicates that an address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band is a sending address of sending a frame that includes the 6 GHz operation information field, or a BSSID of the sender station that sends the frame that includes the 6 GHz operation information field. In a possible implementation of the first aspect, an HE operation parameter field of the 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 the 6 GHz operation information field, which indicates that an address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band is a MAC address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band, or a BSSID of a BSS in which the station operating on the 6 GHz band is located. When the indication information is a second value, the address information does not appear in the 6 GHz operation information field, which indicates that an address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band is a sending address of sending a frame that includes the 6 GHz operation information field, or a BSSID of the sender station that sends the frame that includes the 6 GHz operation information field. In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the address information is a MAC address of the station operating on the 6 GHz band or a BSSID of a BSS in which the station operating o