WO2024148520A1 - Communication method and communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a communication method. The communication method is applied to an access point (AP) device, and comprises: determining a first radio frame, wherein the first radio frame comprises security network information associated with at least one another AP; and sending the first radio frame to a station (STA) device.

Description

Communication method and communication device Technical Field

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of mobile communication technology, and in particular, to a communication method and a communication device.

Background technique

In UHR, the low-latency service transmission mechanism will be further enhanced, and in the current application scenarios, there are scenarios where a station (STA) (for example, a mobile STA) switches between two access point devices (AP). When the communication status of the mobile STA and its associated AP changes, it can switch to another AP for communication, so that data continues to flow.

In current Wi-Fi technology, after the AP and STA are associated, they need to negotiate a key so that unicast data, multicast/broadcast data can be transmitted in an encrypted manner. In UHR, it is expected that STAs can switch seamlessly and data is protected by encryption.

Summary of the invention

The present disclosure aims to provide a communication method and a communication device.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method. The communication method is applied to an access point device (AP) and includes: determining a first wireless frame, wherein the first wireless frame includes security network information associated with at least one other AP; and sending the first wireless frame to a station device STA.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method. The communication method is applied to a station device STA, and includes: receiving a first wireless frame from a first access point device AP, wherein the first wireless frame includes security network information associated with at least one second AP; and performing secure communication with one of the at least one second APs based on the security network information included in the first wireless frame, wherein the one second AP is a device switched from the first AP to communicate with the STA.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication device. The communication device is applied to an access point device AP and includes: a processing module configured to determine a first wireless frame, wherein the first wireless frame includes security network information associated with at least one other AP; and a transceiver module configured to send the first wireless frame to a station device STA.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication device. The communication device is applied to a station device STA, and includes: a transceiver module, the transceiver module is configured to: receive a first wireless frame from a first access point device AP, wherein the first wireless frame includes security network information associated with at least one second AP; a processing module, the processing module is configured to: control the STA to perform secure communication with one of the at least one second AP based on the security network information included in the first wireless frame, wherein the one second AP is a device switched from the first AP to communicate with the STA.

Additional aspects and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be partially given in the description below, which will become apparent from the description below, or will be learned through the practice of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

FIG1 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG5 is an interactive communication diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG6 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. The various embodiments of the present disclosure include various specific details, but these specific details are considered to be exemplary only. In addition, for the sake of clarity and brevity, descriptions of well-known technologies, functions, and configurations may be omitted.

The terms and words used in this disclosure are not limited to the written meanings, but are only used by the inventors to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosure. Therefore, for those skilled in the art, the description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided only for the purpose of illustration, not for the purpose of limitation.

It should be understood that, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular forms "a", "an", "said" and "the" used herein may also include the plural forms. It should be further understood that the term "comprising" used in the present disclosure refers to the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.

It will be understood that although the terms "first", "second", etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. Therefore, without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments, the first element discussed below may be referred to as the second element.

It should be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it may be directly connected or coupled to the other element, or there may be intermediate elements. In addition, "connected" or "coupled" as used herein may include wireless connections or wireless couplings. The term "and/or" or the expression "at least one of..." as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication method shown in Fig. 1 may be applied to an access point device (AP).

An access point device (AP) can communicate with a non-access point device (non-AP). In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a non-access point device (non-AP) may also be referred to as a station device (STA) or a mobile STA, and these terms may be used interchangeably. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, an AP may have a device with, for example, a wireless to wired bridging function, and the AP is responsible for extending the services provided by the wired network to the wireless network; a STA may be an electronic device with a wireless network access function, providing a frame delivery service to enable information to be transmitted.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the access point device (AP) to which the communication method of the present disclosure is applied may refer to a general access point device or an access point device that supports multiple connections (referred to as an access point multi-connection device (AP MLD)). For example, a general access point device can communicate with a STA at a specific frequency. For example, an AP MLD may have multiple connections at different frequencies, for example, connections at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz, or several connections of the same or different bandwidths at 2.4 GHz. In addition, multiple channels may exist under each connection. For example, an AP MLD may have multiple subordinate access points, each of which may operate under connections of different frequencies.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a non-access point device (non-AP) communicating with an AP, that is, a station device (STA), may refer to a general station device or a station device supporting multiple connections (referred to as a non-access point multi-connection device (non-AP MLD)). For example, a general station device may communicate with an AP at a specific frequency. A non-AP MLD may have multiple connections at different frequencies, for example, connections at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or several connections of the same or different bandwidths at 2.4 GHz. In addition, multiple channels may exist under each connection. For example, a non-AP MLD (or a station device supporting multiple connections) may have multiple subordinate stations, each of which may operate under connections of different frequencies.

In the description of the present disclosure, the communication between the access point device (AP) and the station device (STA) involved in each embodiment may refer to: communication between a general access point device and a general station device, communication between a general access point device and a non-AP MLD affiliated station, communication between an AP MLD affiliated access point and a general station device, or communication between an AP MLD affiliated access point and a non-AP MLD affiliated station. The present disclosure does not make any specific limitation on this.

1 , in operation S110 , the AP may determine a first radio frame. For example, the first radio frame includes security network information associated with at least one other AP. In operation S120 , the AP may send the first radio frame to the STA.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first wireless frame may refer to a beacon frame or an association response frame; however, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and frames in other formats are also feasible.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the AP and at least one other AP belong to different devices or are attached to different AP MLDs. For example, for ease of description, the AP may be referred to as AP1, and at least one other AP may be referred to as AP2, AP3, ... APn (n is an integer greater than 1). The STA may switch from AP1 to one of at least one other AP (e.g., AP2) for communication, and ensure uninterrupted data flow.

In order to enable the STA to switch seamlessly and the data to be encrypted and protected, during the process of establishing an association between the AP and the STA, the AP may send information of at least one other AP to the STA. For example, the information of the at least one other AP may include the security network information associated with the at least one other AP in step S110. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the information of the at least one other AP may also include capability information of the at least one other AP (e.g., whether the capability of supporting multiple connections, etc.).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, security network information associated with at least one other AP (which may be referred to as "security network information" in the present disclosure) may be used for encryption protection of data when the STA switches to one of the other APs for communication. For example, the security network information associated with at least one other AP may include the address of each other AP in the at least one other AP and a robust security network information element (RSNE) corresponding to each other AP. RSNE can enhance data encryption and authentication performance in wireless communications. For example, RSNE may include information such as encryption algorithms and security configurations. For example, RSNE may include information such as pairwise master keys (PMK) for encryption protection of data.

In the security network information included in the first radio frame determined by the AP, the RSNE corresponds to the address of each other AP one by one, as shown in Table 1 below, an example of the security network information included in the first radio frame.

Table 1. Example of secure network information

Address of AP2 RSNE2 Address of AP3 RSNE3 …

In Table 1, AP2, AP3, etc. may refer to at least one other AP, and AP2, AP3, etc. belong to different devices. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, AP2, AP3, etc. may refer to general access point devices or AP MLDs.

In Table 1, RSNE2 may refer to the RSNE corresponding to AP2, and RSNE3 may refer to the RSNE corresponding to AP3. It will be understood that although Table 1 specifically shows the security network information associated with two other APs, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and Table 1 may include security network information associated with one or more other APs.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the address of each other AP in at least one other AP may refer to a MAC address. For example, referring to Table 1, the address of AP2 may refer to the MAC address of AP2, or alternatively, if AP2 is an AP MLD (in this case, it may be marked as AP MLD2), the address of AP2 may refer to the MAC address of the AP MLD. The address of AP3 has a similar meaning, and for the sake of simplicity, repeated descriptions are omitted here.

The communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure shown in FIG. 1 enables a STA to obtain secure network information of other APs that can be switched to during the process of associating with an AP, thereby ensuring that the STA can achieve secure and seamless transmission of data frames between multiple devices to meet UHR requirements.

FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication method shown in FIG2 can be applied to an access point device (AP). Similar to the above embodiment, the access point device (AP) to which FIG2 is applied can refer to a general access point device or an AP MLD (multi-link device).

2, in operation 210, the AP may receive a second radio frame from the STA. For example, the second radio frame may include security network information associated with the STA. Similar to the above embodiment, the STA may refer to a general station device or a non-AP MLD.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second wireless frame may refer to an association request frame or a reassociation request frame; however, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and frames of other formats are also feasible.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the security network information associated with the STA may include the RSNE of the STA. For example, the RSNE may include information about the encryption algorithm and security configuration of the STA.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, in order to enable seamless switching of STAs and encryption protection of data, during the process of establishing association between the AP and the STA, the AP may receive its RSNE from the STA for encryption protection of data.

FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication method shown in FIG3 may be applied to an access point device (AP). Similar to the above embodiment, the access point device (AP) to which FIG3 is applied may refer to a general access point device or an AP MLD.

3 , in operation 310 , the AP may receive a second radio frame from the STA. For example, the second radio frame may include security network information associated with the STA. Operation 310 may be similar to operation 210 in FIG. 2 , and repeated descriptions are omitted for brevity.

In operation 320, the AP may send the security network information associated with the STA to one of at least one other AP, wherein the one AP is a device to which the AP is switched to communicate with the STA. For example, if the STA is to switch from the AP to another other AP (e.g., AP2), the AP may send the security network information associated with the STA (e.g., the RSNE of the STA) to AP2, so that AP2 can obtain the security network information of the STA, thereby ensuring the security of data between AP2 and the STA when the STA is switched to AP2.

FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication method shown in FIG4 can be applied to an access point device (AP). Similar to the above embodiment, the access point device (AP) to which FIG4 is applied can refer to a general access point device or an AP MLD.

4 , in operation 410, the AP may send information of the STA to one of at least one other AP. For example, the information of the STA may be used to generate an encryption key. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the one AP is a device switched from the AP to communicate with the STA.

In the communication method shown in FIG. 4 , the AP may send the information of the STA to another AP to which the STA is to switch, so that the other AP can securely transmit data with the STA based on the received information of the STA.

Optionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the information of the STA may include the address of the STA, wherein the address of the STA is used to generate an encryption key for a unicast data frame. For example, in the case where the STA is a non-AP MLD, the address of the STA may refer to the MLD MAC address, and the MLD MAC address is used to generate an encryption key for a unicast data frame under an activated link. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the address of the STA may refer to the MAC address of a general station device, and the address may be used to generate an encryption key for a data frame sent in various forms.

Alternatively, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, the information of the STA may include an identifier of the connection and an address of the connection. For example, the STA may be a non-AP MLD and may include multiple connections, and the information of the STA may include an identifier (link ID) of each connection in the multiple connections and a corresponding MAC address. For example, the identifier (link ID) of the connection and the address of the connection (e.g., MAC address) included by the STA may be used to generate an encryption key for a multicast or broadcast data frame.

FIG5 is an interactive communication diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

5 , in operation 510 , AP1 may receive an association request frame from a STA, wherein the association request frame may include security network information associated with the STA, such as the RSNE of the STA. Operation 510 may be similar to FIG. 2 , and repeated descriptions are omitted for brevity.

In operation 520, AP1 may send an association response frame to the STA, wherein the association response frame may include security network information associated with AP2, for example, the RSNE of AP2. FIG5 shows that the association response frame includes security network information associated with one other AP (AP2), in which case the address of AP2 may be omitted from the security network information associated with AP2. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the security network information of the other APs in the association response frame may include security network information associated with one or more other APs. In other words, the security network information may include the address of each other AP and the corresponding RSNE. Operation 520 may be similar to operation 120 in FIG1, and repeated descriptions are omitted here for simplicity.

Although FIG5 shows that STA and AP1 establish an association through an association request frame and an association response frame, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In addition, although FIG5 shows that the security network information associated with AP2 is sent to the STA through an association response frame, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, for example, FIG5 may include another operation, in which AP1 may send a beacon frame to the STA, and the beacon frame carries the security network information associated with AP2.

In operation 530, AP1 may send security network information associated with the STA, for example, the RSNE of the STA, to AP2. Operation 530 may be similar to operation 320, and repeated descriptions are omitted for brevity.

In operation 540, AP1 may establish multiple connections with STA. Multiple connections may be established between AP1 and STA in various ways (e.g., through multiple connection establishment request frames and response frames), and the present disclosure does not specifically limit this. After the multiple connections are established (or, optionally, during the multiple connections establishment process), AP1 may receive information about STA from STA, for example, but not limited to, the information about STA may include the address of STA, identifiers of connections included in STA, and/or addresses of connections. In addition, although in operation 540 of FIG. 5 , it is shown that AP1 receives information about STA from STA after the multiple connections are established, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the information about STA may be received during the association (or reassociation) process.

In operation 550, AP1 may send information of the STA to AP2. For example, the information of the STA may be used to generate an encryption key, and for example but not limited to, the information of the STA may include an address of the STA, an identifier of a connection included in the STA, and/or an address of the connection. Operation 540 may be similar to operation 410, and for the sake of brevity, repeated descriptions are omitted here.

In operation 560, AP2 and STA can perform data transmission with reliable security. For example, AP2 and STA can negotiate a key based on each other's security network information and STA's information, so that when STA switches to AP2, secure data transmission can be achieved.

It will be understood that the communication method shown in FIG. 5 is merely exemplary and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the communication method shown in FIG. 5 may include more or fewer operations, or the various operation steps shown in FIG. 5 may be performed in a different order.

In addition, it should be understood that although the various steps in the drawings of the present disclosure are displayed in sequence as indicated by the arrows, these steps are not necessarily performed in sequence in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless otherwise specified herein, there is no strict order restriction on the execution of these steps, and they can be performed in other orders. In addition, at least a portion of the steps in the flowcharts of the drawings may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages, and these sub-steps or stages are not necessarily performed at the same time, but can be performed at different times, and their execution order is not necessarily performed in sequence, but can be performed in turn or alternately with other steps or at least a portion of the sub-steps or stages of other steps.

According to the communication method of an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the process of AP1 associating with STA, AP1 or AP MLD1 carries the information value RSNE (robust security network element) of other APs (for example, AP2 or AP MLD2) in a beacon frame or an association response frame, wherein RSNE corresponds one-to-one with the MAC addresses of other APs, or one-to-one with the MAC addresses of other APs MLDs; AP1 may also receive its RSNE from STA, and the RSNE of STA may be carried in an association request frame or a reassociation request frame.

In addition, AP1 (or AP MLD1) can send all the information of STA (or non-AP MLD) to AP2 (or AP MLD2). Specifically, after STA completes the establishment of multi-device multi-connection, AP1 (or AP MLD1) can send all the information of STA (or non-AP MLD) to AP2 (or AP MLD2), where the information of STA (or non-AP MLD) can include MLD MAC address, link ID and its corresponding MAC address, etc., where link ID and its corresponding MAC address are used to generate the multicast/broadcast data frame encryption key under the corresponding connection (for example, the connection indicated by link ID), and MLD MAC address is used to generate the encryption key of unicast data frame under the activated connection.

According to the communication method of various embodiments of the present disclosure, in the scenario of STA switching (roaming), the STA can realize secure and seamless transmission of data frames with multiple devices, thereby meeting the requirements of UHR.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication method shown in Fig. 6 may be applied to a station device (STA).

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a station device (STA) may refer to a general station device or a station device supporting multiple connections (referred to as a non-access point multi-connection device (non-AP MLD)). For example, a general station device may communicate with an AP at a specific frequency. A non-AP MLD may have multiple connections at different frequencies, for example, connections at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or several connections of the same or different bandwidths at 2.4 GHz. In addition, multiple channels may exist under each connection. For example, a non-AP MLD (or a station device supporting multiple connections) may have multiple subordinate stations, each of which may operate under connections of different frequencies.

6 , in operation 610 , a STA may receive a first radio frame from a first access point device (eg, AP1 ), wherein the first radio frame may include security network information associated with at least one second AP.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first wireless frame may refer to a beacon frame or an association response frame; however, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and frames in other formats are also feasible.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the secure network information may include the address of each second AP in at least one second AP and a robust secure network information element (RSNE) corresponding to each second AP. The robust secure network information element (RSNE) may be similar to the description in the above embodiment, and for the sake of simplicity, repeated descriptions are omitted here.

In operation 620, secure communication is performed with a second AP (e.g., AP2) among at least one second AP based on the security network information included in the first wireless frame, wherein the second AP (e.g., AP2) is a device switched from the first AP (e.g., AP1) to communicate with the STA.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, although not shown, the STA may perform various operations performed by the STA shown in Figure 5. For the sake of brevity, repeated descriptions are omitted here.

Optionally, an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a communication method, which may be applied to a station device (STA) and may include: the STA sends a second wireless frame to a first AP (e.g., AP1). For example, the second wireless frame may include security network information associated with the STA. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second wireless frame may refer to an association request frame, a reassociation request frame, however, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and frames of other formats are also feasible. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the security network information associated with the STA may include the RSNE of the STA. For example, the RSNE may include information such as an encryption algorithm and security configuration of the STA. In addition, the security network information associated with the STA may be sent by the first AP (e.g., AP1) to another second AP (e.g., AP2).

Optionally, an embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a communication method, which may be applied to a station device (STA) and may include: the STA sends the STA's information to a first access point device (e.g., AP1), wherein the STA's information may be used to generate an encryption key, wherein the STA's information may be sent by the first AP (e.g., AP1) to a second access point device AP (e.g., AP2).

Optionally, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the information of the STA may include the address of the STA, wherein the address of the STA is used to generate an encryption key for a unicast data frame. For example, in the case where the STA is a non-AP MLD, the address of the STA may refer to the MLD MAC address, and the MLD MAC address is used to generate an encryption key for a unicast data frame under an activated link. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the address of the STA may refer to the MAC address of a general station device, and the address may be used to generate an encryption key for a data frame sent in various forms.

Alternatively, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, the information of the STA may include an identifier of the connection and an address of the connection. For example, the STA may be a non-AP MLD and may include multiple connections, and the information of the STA may include an identifier (link ID) of each connection in the multiple connections and a corresponding MAC address. For example, the identifier (link ID) of the connection and the address of the connection (e.g., MAC address) included by the STA may be used to generate an encryption key for a multicast or broadcast data frame.

According to the communication method of various embodiments of the present disclosure, in the scenario of STA switching (roaming), the STA can realize secure and seamless transmission of data frames with multiple devices, thereby meeting the requirements of UHR.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a communication device 700 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

7 , a communication device 700 may include a processing module 710 and a transceiver module 720. The communication device shown in FIG7 may be applied to an access point device (AP) or a station device (STA).

In the case where the communication device shown in FIG7 is applied to an access point device (AP), the processing module 710 may be configured to determine a first radio frame, wherein the first radio frame may include security network information associated with at least one other AP; the transceiver module 720 may be configured to send the first radio frame to the station device STA. In this case, the communication device 700 may perform the communication method described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 and the operation performed by AP1 in FIG. 5, and repeated descriptions are omitted for simplicity.

In the case where the communication device shown in FIG7 is applied to a station device (STA), the transceiver module 720 may be configured to: receive a first radio frame from a first access point device AP, wherein the first radio frame includes security network information associated with at least one second AP; the processing module 710 may be configured to: control the STA to perform secure communication with one of the at least one second APs based on the security network information included in the first radio frame, wherein the one second AP is a device switched from the first AP to communicate with the STA. In this case, the communication device 700 may perform the communication method described with reference to FIG6 and the operation performed by the STA in FIG5, and repeated descriptions are omitted here for simplicity.

In addition, the communication device 700 shown in FIG7 is only exemplary, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, the communication device 700 may further include other modules, such as a memory module, etc. In addition, the various modules in the communication device 700 may be combined into a more complex module, or may be divided into more separate modules.

The communication method and communication device according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can realize secure and seamless transmission of data frames, thereby meeting the requirements of UHR.

Based on the same principle as the method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the embodiments of the present disclosure also provide an electronic device, which includes a processor and a memory; wherein the memory stores machine-readable instructions (also referred to as "computer programs"); the processor is used to execute the machine-readable instructions to implement the method described with reference to Figures 1 to 5.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 is implemented.

In an example embodiment, the processor may be a device for implementing or executing various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a general-purpose processor, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The processor may also be a combination that implements a computing function, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like.

In an exemplary embodiment, the memory may be, for example, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to these.

It should be understood that, although the steps in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings are displayed in sequence as indicated by the arrows, these steps are not necessarily executed in sequence in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless otherwise specified herein, there is no strict order restriction on the execution of these steps, and they can be executed in other orders. In addition, at least a portion of the steps in the flowchart of the accompanying drawings may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages, and these sub-steps or stages are not necessarily executed at the same time, but can be executed at different times, and their execution order is not necessarily sequential, but can be executed in turn or alternately with other steps or at least a portion of the sub-steps or stages of other steps.

Although the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the embodiments, but should be limited by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims (18)

A communication method, applied to an access point device AP, comprising: determining a first radio frame, wherein the first radio frame includes security network information associated with at least one other AP; The first radio frame is sent to a station device STA. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the security network information comprises an address of each other AP of the at least one other AP and a robust security network information element (RSNE) corresponding to each other AP. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the communication method further comprises: A second radio frame is received from the STA, wherein the second radio frame includes security network information associated with the STA. The communication method according to claim 3, wherein the communication method further comprises: The security network information associated with the STA is transmitted to one of the at least one other APs, wherein the one AP is a device switched from the AP and is to communicate with the STA. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the communication method further comprises: sending information of the STA to one of the at least one other AP, The STA information is used to generate an encryption key. The one AP is a device that is switched from the AP and is to communicate with the STA. The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the information of the STA includes: an address of the STA, an identifier of a connection included in the STA, and/or an address of the connection. The communication method according to claim 6, wherein the address of the STA is used to generate an encryption key for a unicast data frame. The connection identifier included in the STA and the connection address are used to generate an encryption key for a multicast or broadcast data frame. A communication method, applied to a station device STA, the communication method comprising: receiving a first wireless frame from a first access point device AP, wherein the first wireless frame includes security network information associated with at least one second AP; performing secure communication with a second AP of the at least one second AP based on the secure network information included in the first wireless frame, The second AP is a device switched from the first AP to communicate with the STA. The communication method according to claim 8, wherein the security network information comprises an address of each second AP of the at least one second AP and a robust security network information element (RSNE) corresponding to each second AP. The communication method according to claim 8, wherein the communication method further comprises: A second radio frame is sent to the first AP, wherein the second radio frame includes security network information associated with the STA. The communication method according to claim 10, wherein the security network information associated with the STA is transmitted by the first AP to the one second AP. The communication method according to claim 8, wherein the communication method further comprises: Sending information of the STA to the first AP, The STA information is used to generate an encryption key. The information of the STA is sent by the first AP to the one second AP. The communication method according to claim 12, wherein the information of the STA includes: an address of the STA, an identifier of a connection included in the STA, and/or an address of the connection. According to the communication method of claim 13, the address of the STA is used to generate an encryption key for a unicast data frame, The connection identifier included in the STA and the connection address are used to generate an encryption key for a multicast or broadcast data frame. A communication device, applied to an access point device AP, comprising: a processing module configured to determine a first wireless frame, wherein the first wireless frame includes security network information associated with at least one other AP; A transceiver module, wherein the transceiver module is configured to send the first wireless frame to a station device STA. A communication device, applied to a station device STA, the communication device comprising: A transceiver module, the transceiver module is configured to: receive a first wireless frame from a first access point device AP, wherein the first wireless frame includes security network information associated with at least one second AP; a processing module, the processing module being configured to: control the STA to perform secure communication with one of the at least one second AP based on the secure network information included in the first wireless frame, The second AP is a device switched from the first AP to communicate with the STA. An electronic device, characterized in that it comprises a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein when the processor executes the program, the method described in any one of claims 1 to 7 or the method described in any one of claims 8 to 14 is implemented. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the method described in any one of claims 1 to 7 or implements the method described in any one of claims 8 to 14.

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