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WO-2026094779-A1 - COMMUNICATION DEVICE, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND PROGRAM

WO2026094779A1WO 2026094779 A1WO2026094779 A1WO 2026094779A1WO-2026094779-A1

Abstract

A communication device which functions as an access point for executing wireless communication conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard series transmits a beacon frame including capability information of the communication device related to control frame protection support.

Inventors

  • INOHIZA HIROHIKO

Assignees

  • キヤノン株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251023
Priority Date
20241029

Claims (20)

  1. A communication device that functions as an access point performing wireless communication compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard series, A first transmission means for transmitting a Beacon frame containing capability information of the communication device regarding support for protection of Control frames, A communication device characterized by having the following features.
  2. The communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the capability information of the communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Element of the Beacon frame.
  3. The communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the capability information of the communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Extension Element of the Beacon frame.
  4. Receiving means for receiving an Association Request frame from another communication device that functions as a station, which includes capability information of the other communication device regarding support for protection of Control frames, When the capability information of the aforementioned communication device indicates that it supports protection of Control frames, and the capability information of the other communication device indicates that it supports protection of Control frames, a first generation means generates a frame containing key information necessary for protection of Control frames, A second transmission means for transmitting the frame containing the key information to the other communication device, A communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by having the following:
  5. The communication device according to claim 4, characterized in that the capability information of the other communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Element of the Association Request frame.
  6. The communication device according to claim 4, characterized in that the capability information of the other communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Extension Element of the Association Request frame.
  7. The communication device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the capability information of the communication device includes first information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is essential and/or second information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is possible, and the communication device indicates that it supports Control frame protection when the first information indicates that support for Control frame protection is essential and/or the second information indicates that support for Control frame protection is possible.
  8. The communication device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that the capability information of the other communication device includes first information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is essential and/or second information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is possible, and when the first information indicates that support for Control frame protection is essential and/or when the second information indicates that support for Control frame protection is possible, the other communication device supports Control frame protection.
  9. The communication device according to any one of claims 4 to 8, characterized in that, when the communication device and the other communication device set up a multilink, the key information includes key information for protecting Control frames used in each link included in the multilink.
  10. A second generation means that, after transmitting a frame containing the key information, generates a code for detecting tampering with the Control frame based on the key information and the data of the transmitted Control frame, A third transmission means that adds the aforementioned code to the transmitted Control frame and transmits it to the other communication device, A communication device according to any one of claims 4 to 9, characterized by having the following:
  11. The communication device according to any one of claims 4 to 10, characterized in that the frame containing the key information is a 4-Way Handshake Message 3 frame.
  12. The communication device according to any one of claims 4 to 10, characterized in that the frame containing the key information is a Group key handshake message 1 frame.
  13. A communication device that functions as a station performing wireless communication compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard series, A first receiving means that receives a Beacon frame from another communication device that functions as an access point, which includes capability information of the other communication device regarding support for protection of Control frames, A communication device characterized by having the following features.
  14. The communication device according to claim 13, characterized in that the capability information of the other communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Element of the Beacon frame.
  15. The communication device according to claim 13, characterized in that the capability information of the other communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Extension Element of the Beacon frame.
  16. A transmission means for transmitting an Association Request frame containing capability information of the communication device regarding support for protection of Control frames, When the capability information of the aforementioned communication device indicates that it supports protection of Control frames, and the capability information of the other communication device indicates that it supports protection of Control frames, a second receiving means receives a frame containing key information necessary for protection of Control frames from the other communication device, A communication device according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized by having the following:
  17. The communication device according to claim 16, characterized in that the capability information of the communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Element of the Association Request frame.
  18. The communication device according to claim 16, characterized in that the capability information of the communication device is included in the Robust Security Network (RSN) Extension Element of the Association Request frame.
  19. The communication device according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that the capability information of the communication device includes first information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is essential and/or second information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is possible, and the communication device indicates that it supports Control frame protection when the first information indicates that support for Control frame protection is essential and/or the second information indicates that support for Control frame protection is possible.
  20. The communication device according to any one of claims 16 to 19, characterized in that the capability information of the other communication device includes first information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is essential and/or second information indicating whether support for Control frame protection is possible, and when the first information indicates that support for Control frame protection is essential and/or when the second information indicates that support for Control frame protection is possible, the other communication device supports Control frame protection.

Description

Communication device, communication method, and program This invention relates to a technology for efficiently notifying information regarding the protection of Control frames in wireless communication compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard series. In recent years, with the increase in the amount of data transmitted, the development of communication technologies such as wireless LAN (Local Area Network) has been progressing. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standard series is known as a major communication standard for wireless LAN. The IEEE 802.11 standard series includes IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be standards, etc. To further improve communication reliability, development of the IEEE 802.11bn standard is underway as a successor to the IEEE 802.11be standard. The IEEE 802.11 Working Group (WG), which is developing the IEEE 802.11bn standard, will define the objectives and scope of the standard in the UHR SG, and specify the detailed technical content to be included in the standard in TGbn. UHR SG is an abbreviation for Ultra High Reliability Study Group, and TGbn is an abbreviation for Task Group bn. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology called Protected Management Frame (PMF), which protects Management frames by encrypting them and detecting tampering in order to improve the reliability of communications. This is a diagram showing an example configuration of a wireless communication system.This figure shows an example of the hardware configuration of a communication device.This figure shows an example of the functional configuration of a communication device.This diagram shows an example of a communication sequence between the AP and STA.This figure shows an example of the RSN Element format.This figure shows an example of the RSN Extension Element format.This figure shows an example of the RSN Extension Element format.This figure shows examples of KDE selectors and CIGTK KDE formats.This figure shows an example of the Control MIC Element format.This figure shows an example of the processing flow when setting key information, which is performed by the application application (AP).This figure shows an example of the protection processing flow for Control frames executed by the AP.This figure shows an example of the processing flow when setting key information, which is performed by STA.This figure shows an example of the Control frame protection processing flow executed by STA.This figure shows an example sequence in multilink communication between AP and STA.This figure shows examples of KDE selectors and MLO CIGTK KDE formats. The embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention as defined in the claims. While multiple features are described in the embodiments, not all of these features are necessarily essential to the invention, and the features may be combined in any way. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, identical or similar configurations are given the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions are omitted. (System configuration) Figure 1 shows an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system according to this embodiment. This wireless communication system is configured to include, for example, one access point (AP) 101 and one non-AP station (Non-AP STA or station, hereinafter referred to as STA) 102. The network 110 formed by AP 101 indicates the range in which AP 101 and STA 102 can communicate. That is, within the range of network 110, STA 102 can receive signals transmitted by AP 101, and signals transmitted by STA 102 can be received by AP 101. AP 101 and STA 102 are wireless communication devices capable of performing wireless communication compliant with IEEE 802.11 series standards, including the IEEE 802.11bn standard. IEEE stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The IEEE 802.11bn standard is the successor to IEEE 802.11be, which aims for a maximum transmission speed of 46.08 Gbps. The main features of the IEEE 802.11bn standard are high-reliability communication, low-latency communication, and improved throughput during congestion. The IEEE 802.11bn standard can also be called the UHR standard. UHR can be an abbreviation for Ultra High Reliability. Wireless frames communicating using the IEEE 802.11bn standard can be called UHR (Ultra High Reliability) PPDUs. PPDU stands for Physical Layer (PHY) Protocol Data Unit. In this embodiment, wireless frames communicated based on the IEEE 802.11 series standards may be referred to as PPDUs. PPDUs may include UHR-PPDUs. The names IEEE 802.11bn and UHR are for convenience, based on the goals to be achieved and the main features outlined in the development of these standards. Therefore, these names may change once the standards are finalized. On the other hand, this specification and the appended claims are essentially applicable to all standards that may succe