WO2025145571A1 - Channel access method and device, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a channel access method and device, and a storage medium. The method comprises: combining access points in a pre-configured access point set that participate in a coordinated operation and channel resource contention to form a corresponding candidate access point set; and using as a first-type access point a candidate access point in the candidate access point set that first successfully preempts a channel resource, and sending a coordinated trigger frame to the other access points in the access point set by means of the first-type access point, such that the other access points in the access point set perform channel access.

Description

Channel access method, device and storage medium Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a channel access method, device and storage medium.

Background Art

During the collaborative operation of multiple access points (APs), the channel utilization efficiency depends on the following three situations: First, whether the AP sharing channel resources (referred to as sharing AP for short) detects that the primary channel (Primary Channel) is idle. Figure 1 is a channel status diagram of a sharing AP and a shared AP provided by the relevant technology. As shown in Figure 1, the sharing AP and the AP with shared channel resources (shared AP) both operate in the 6GHz frequency band and 320MHz bandwidth. The primary 20MHz (P20) of the sharing AP is in the high frequency band, while the P20 of the shared AP is in the low frequency band. When the sharing AP detects channel interference on P20, the sharing AP has to avoid and wait for the channel to be idle, causing a delay in this multi-AP collaboration; second, when the P20 channel is idle, the size of the random back-off window (Back off windows) of the sharing AP directly determines the channel utilization efficiency. Figure 2 is a random back-off window provided by the relevant technology. The schematic diagram of the implementation of the access port and channel access is shown in Figure 2. The sharing AP sends a trigger frame (Trigger Frame, TF) in the random window state of case 1 and the trigger frame sent in the random window state of case 2. Obviously, the larger the random window, the longer the waiting time for the sharing AP to access the channel, and the lower the channel utilization rate; thirdly, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the implementation of the channel access delay caused by the detection of a busy channel during a random window backoff process provided by the relevant technology. In the idle state of the P20 channel, the sharing AP randomly selects a backoff window and starts a countdown counter. According to the Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) channel access rule, during the backoff process, if an interference signal or other Wi-Fi signal is detected on P20, the sharing AP will stop channel detection and wait for the transmission of the interference signal or other Wi-Fi signal to be completed before continuing to backoff. The channel access delay of the entire multi-AP collaborative process is shown in Figure 3. Therefore, how to improve the channel utilization efficiency during the multi-AP collaborative operation is an urgent problem to be solved.

Summary of the invention

In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a channel access method, device and storage medium, which improve the channel utilization efficiency.

The present application provides a channel access method, including:

Each access point in the pre-configured access point set that participates in the cooperative operation and the channel resource competition forms a corresponding candidate access point set;

The first candidate access point in the candidate access point set that successfully seizes channel resources is used as a first type access point, and a coordination trigger frame is sent to other access points in the access point set through the first type access point, so that other access points in the access point set can access the channel.

The present application provides a channel access device, including:

A generating module configured to form a corresponding candidate access point set from each access point in the pre-configured access point set that participates in the cooperative operation and the channel resource competition;

The channel access module is configured to use the first candidate access point in the candidate access point set that successfully seizes channel resources as a first type of access point, and send a coordinated trigger frame to other access points in the access point set through the first type of access point, so that other access points in the access point set can access the channel.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including: a memory, and one or more processors;

The memory is configured to store one or more programs;

When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the method described in any of the above embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application provides a storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method described in any of the above embodiments is implemented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the channel status of a sharing AP and a shared AP provided by the related art;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a random backoff window and channel access implementation provided by the related art;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a channel access delay caused by detecting a busy channel during a random window backoff process provided by the related art;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of a multi-link connection establishment process provided by the related art;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of an AP MLD and NSTR non-AP MLD multi-link synchronous transmission mode provided by the related art;

FIG6 is a flow chart of a channel access method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a state transition relationship in a multi-AP collaboration process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG8 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of two PAPs competing for channel resources simultaneously provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG9 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of two PAPs competing for channel resources non-simultaneously provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a PAP provided in an embodiment of the present application that uses an uncleared backoff window to seize channel resources and transmit Schematic diagram of the implementation of PPDU transmission;

11 is a schematic diagram of the implementation of PAP delay waiting to send TF provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG12 is a structural block diagram of a channel access device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following will describe the embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The following will describe the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the embodiments, and the examples cited are only used to explain the present application and are not used to limit the scope of the present application.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the scheme of the present application, the channel access technology involved in the present application is explained.

First, Fiber-To-The-Room (FTTR) technology connects APs (such as routers) in different rooms or locations in scenarios such as homes or small and medium-sized enterprises through optical fibers, thereby providing high-bandwidth, high-reliability connections between multiple APs. The connection between the master control AP and the slave AP can be achieved using a point-to-multipoint optical distribution network.

Second, channel access technology based on Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA): In a Wi-Fi network, the AP and the connected terminal devices share the same wireless medium for data communication. The wireless medium access principle of Wi-Fi is to make each device adopt a mutual avoidance mechanism, obtain access to the wireless medium in turn in an equal competition manner, and then send data.

Its basic principle is the CSMA/CA mechanism, that is, when multiple devices use the wireless channel to send data at the same time, each device first needs to monitor the channel. When it is determined that the channel is idle, after a frame interval, it randomly selects a backoff window and counts down to get the opportunity to send data to the wireless channel.

Third, the Multi-Link Operation (MLO) technology is introduced in the Wi-Fi 7 protocol, that is, the Multi-Link Device (MLD) including network devices (AP MLD) and terminal devices (non-AP MLD) can transmit data on multiple links simultaneously, improving the data transmission throughput and reducing latency.

After the AP MLD and non-AP MLD have a four-way handshake on a link, they generate a temporary pairwise transmission key (PTK) at the MLO level and a group temporary key (GTK) at the link level, which are used to encrypt and decrypt the transmitted unicast data frames and anchor data frames, respectively, to ensure the security of data transmission. For example, FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a multi-link connection establishment process provided by the related art. As shown in FIG4, both the AP MLD and the non-AP MLD include three links working at 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz. The AP MLD and the non-AP MLD complete the authentication, connection and four-way handshake process on the 2.4GHz link. After the multi-link connection is established, data can be transmitted on the three links.

Fourthly, the Wi-Fi 7 protocol defines NonSimultaneous Transmit and Receive (NSTR) devices. When the physical layer protocol data unit (PHY Protocol Data Unit, PPDU) needs to be transmitted on two links, the time for sending and receiving PPDU, especially the end time of PPDU, needs to be aligned.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of an AP MLD and NSTR non-AP MLD multi-link synchronous transmission mode provided by the relevant technology. As shown in Figure 5, AP MLD and NSTR non-AP MLD establish connections on two links, and AP1 and AP2 simultaneously transmit data to Terminal 1 (Station1, STA1) and STA2 on the two links, and simultaneously receive confirmation frames replied by STA1 and STA2.

Fifth, the Wi-Fi 8 protocol uses ultra-high reliability (UHR) technology to improve transmission stability, including reducing latency, increasing throughput, and reducing packet loss rate.

One way is to share the transmission opportunity (TXOP) between mutually covering basic service sets (BSS), which reduces the conflict caused by mutual competition for channels between BSSs, thereby reducing the problem of reduced channel utilization. The general steps can be described as follows:

(1) Multiple APs negotiate to form a multi-AP collaboration group;

(2) Select an AP from the multi-AP collaboration group as the sharing AP and one or more APs as shared APs;

(3) The shared AP sends the channel resource requirements and/or cache data status to the sharing AP;

(4) After the sharing AP competes for channel resources, it allocates resource units (RU) and/or TXOP time slices to one or more shared APs (including the sharing AP itself) in the Trigger frame according to the shared AP's requirements;

(5) After obtaining the RU, the shared AP transmits downlink data to the STAs in the BSS on the given RU and/or TXOP time slice;

(6) Repeat the above process.

The embodiment of the present application proposes a solution to improve channel utilization in the process of multi-AP collaboration. The solution is roughly described as follows: multiple candidate access points (also called Potential sharing APs, PAPs) are selected to jointly seize the channel, and the first AP that seizes the channel resources is used as the real sharing AP to send a trigger frame for multi-AP collaborative operation to improve channel utilization efficiency.

In one embodiment, FIG6 is a flow chart of a channel access method provided by an embodiment of the present application. This embodiment is applied to a situation where multiple candidate access points jointly seize channel resources. This embodiment can be executed by an access point. As shown in FIG6, this embodiment includes: S110-S120.

S110: Each access point in the pre-configured access point set that participates in the cooperative operation and the channel resource competition access points to form a corresponding set of candidate access points.

Among them, the access point set can be understood as all access points participating in this collaborative operation; the candidate access point set can be understood as all access points participating in both this collaborative operation and channel resource competition. In one embodiment, the candidate access point set is a subset of the access point set, that is, all candidate access points included in the candidate access point set are access points in the access point set. Each access point in the access point set can also be called a participating access point, that is, the access points participating in this collaborative operation are called participating access points. In one embodiment, multiple access points in the access point set can be turned into candidate access points by negotiation or configuration. In one embodiment, all access points participating in this collaborative operation can also be turned into candidate access points by default, that is, the access points included in the candidate access point set are completely equivalent to the access points included in the access point set.

S120: The first candidate access point in the candidate access point set that successfully seizes channel resources is used as a first type access point, and a coordination trigger frame is sent to other access points in the access point set through the first type access point, so that other access points in the access point set can access the channel.

In one embodiment, the first type of access point refers to the first candidate access point that successfully seizes channel resources and shares channel resources. Each candidate access point in the candidate access point set participates in the coordinated operation and channel resource competition, but the first candidate access point that successfully seizes channel resources is used as the first type of access point, and sends a coordinated trigger frame to other access points in the access point set through the first type of access point, so that each access point in the access point set accesses the channel and transmits downlink data to the terminal device in the BSS on the allocated resource unit and/or TXOP time slice.

In one embodiment, the second type of access points in the access point set include at least one of the following: access points that participate in the coordinated operation and do not participate in the channel resource competition; access points that participate in the coordinated operation and participate in the channel resource competition but fail to successfully seize the channel resources; all access points in the candidate access point set that receive the coordinated trigger frame. In one example, the access points in the access point set that participate in this coordinated operation but do not participate in the channel resource competition are regarded as the second type of access points; in one example, the access points in the access point set that participate in this coordinated operation and participate in the channel resource competition but fail to successfully seize the channel resources are regarded as the second type of access points; the candidate access points in the candidate access point set that receive the coordinated trigger frame sent by the first type of access point become the second type of access points.

In one embodiment, after the second type access point and the first type access point complete a collaborative operation, the state of the first type access point and the second type access point is restored to the initial access point state. In the multi-access point collaborative process, the initial state of each access point in the access point set is the initial access point state. In one example, after the first type access point and the second type access point complete this collaborative operation, the state of the first type access point and the second type access point is restored to the initial access point state.

In one embodiment, each candidate access point in the candidate access point set shares resource demand information and current channel state information. Resource requirement information and its own current channel state information; the current channel state information is used to characterize whether the channel corresponding to each candidate access point itself is idle; the resource requirement information is used to characterize the channel resources required by each candidate access point itself.

In one embodiment, each candidate access point in the candidate access point set records resource demand information and current channel state information of each candidate access point in the candidate access point set, so that when the candidate access point becomes a second type of access point, resources can be shared with the candidate access point based on the resource demand information, and channels can be allocated to the candidate access point based on the current channel state information.

In one embodiment, resource requirement information and current channel state information between each candidate access point in the candidate access point set are exchanged via a wired or wireless connection.

In one embodiment, each access point in the access point set participating in the collaborative operation selects the same or different primary channels. The primary channel refers to the P20 working channel corresponding to each access point. In one example, each access point in the access point set participating in this collaborative operation can select the same primary channel or different primary channels.

In one embodiment, each candidate access point in the candidate access point set randomly adopts a different backoff window and simultaneously initiates contention for channel resources. Simultaneously initiating contention for channel resources can be understood as initiating contention for channel resources at the same time.

In one embodiment, the reason why each candidate access point in the candidate access point set does not initiate channel resource contention at the same time includes one of the following: the current channel state of the main channel corresponding to each candidate access point is different; the internal scheduling state of each candidate access point is different. The current channel state is used to characterize whether the main channel corresponding to each candidate access point is occupied, and the current channel state includes: busy state; idle state. In one example, when the busy state and idle state corresponding to the main channel of each candidate access point in the candidate access point set are different, multiple candidate access points in the candidate access point set will not initiate channel resource contention at the same time. In one example, when the internal scheduling state of each candidate access point in the candidate access point set is different, multiple candidate access points in the candidate access point set will not initiate channel resource contention at the same time.

In one embodiment, before sending a coordination trigger frame to other access points in the access point set through the first type access point, a control frame is sent through the first type access point to seize the channel. When the backoff window countdown of a candidate access point in the candidate access point set is 0, the candidate access point becomes the first type access point, and before sending the coordination trigger frame, the candidate access point sends a control frame to seize the channel, and notifies other access points and terminal devices in the access point set to know that the candidate access point has successfully seized the channel resources.

In one embodiment, the condition that the backoff window countdown of the candidate access point is 0 and the coordination trigger frame is not sent includes at least one of the following: the current channel state of other candidate access points in the candidate access point set is busy; the candidate access point with the backoff window countdown of 0 belongs to the same multi-link access device. In one example, the fallback window countdown of a candidate access point in the candidate access point set is 0, but the condition that the coordination trigger frame is not sent immediately may include: the other candidate access points in the candidate access point set are busy; or the other links of the candidate access point whose fallback window countdown is 0 belonging to the same multi-link access device are busy, and the multi-link synchronous transmission operation cannot be performed.

In one embodiment, when a candidate access point is converted to a second type access point, a clearing operation is performed on the remaining time of the backoff window corresponding to the second type access point. When a candidate access point in the candidate access point set is converted to a second type access point, a clearing operation is performed on the remaining time of the backoff window corresponding to the candidate access point.

In one embodiment, when a candidate access point is converted to a second type access point, the remaining time of the backoff window corresponding to the second type access point is not cleared, and the remaining time of the backoff window is used for channel resource contention after the current collaborative operation. When a candidate access point in the candidate access point set is converted to a second type access point, the remaining time of the backoff window corresponding to the candidate access point is not cleared, and the remaining time of the backoff window is used for channel resource contention after the current multi-access point collaborative operation.

In one embodiment, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of a state transition relationship in a multi-AP collaboration process provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7 , in the multi-AP collaboration process, the initial state of each AP in the multi-AP collaboration group is an initial AP.

Step 1: The status of the AP participating in this collaborative operation changes to Participant AP (abbreviated as Participator AP), which constitutes the corresponding access point set.

Step 2: The status of the AP participating in the channel resource competition changes to candidate AP, which can also be called potential channel resource sharing AP (Potential sharing AP, PAP), constituting the corresponding candidate access point set; and the status of the AP in the access point set that does not participate in the channel resource competition changes to shared AP.

Step 3: The Potential sharing AP that successfully obtains channel resources and first sends a trigger frame changes its status to sharing AP.

Step 4: The status of the Potential sharing AP that receives the collaborative trigger frame sent by the above sharing AP changes to shared AP.

Step 5: When a collaborative operation is completed (or the TXOP time ends), the status of Sharing AP and Shared AP returns to the initial AP.

In one embodiment, FIG8 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of two PAPs competing for channel resources at the same time provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG8, two candidate access points (PAP-1 and PAP-2) in the candidate access point set randomly adopt different backoff windows and count down at time T0. When the backoff window countdown of PAP-2 is 0 (i.e., at time T1), PAP-2 sends a request to the access point set including PAP-1. The multi-AP cooperative participants in the collaboration send a cooperative trigger frame. After a short interframe space (SIFS) time interval, the multi-AP transmits PPDU on their respective allocated RU resources and within the TXOP time.

In one embodiment, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the implementation of two PAPs competing for channel resources non-simultaneously provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9, two candidate access points (PAP-1 and PAP-2, respectively) in the candidate access point set select different P20 channels. PAP-1 detects that the channel is busy at time T0 and falls back to wait; PAP-2 randomly selects a fallback window at time T0 and counts down. At time T1, PAP-1 detects that the channel is idle (including the IFS waiting interval), and PAP-1 randomly selects a fallback window and counts down. At the same time, PAP-2 detects that the channel is busy during the countdown process, and has to suspend the countdown and wait for the channel to be idle. At time T2, the countdown is resumed. At time T3, the countdown of PAP-1 is 0 and the channel is idle. PAP-1 sends a collaboration trigger frame to multiple AP collaboration participants in the access point set including PAP-2. After the SIFS time interval, multiple APs transmit PPDUs on their respective allocated RU resources and within the TXOP time.

In one embodiment, FIG10 is a schematic diagram of an implementation of the PAP provided by the embodiment of the present application using an uncleared backoff window to seize channel resources and transmit PPDU. As shown in FIG10 , two candidate access points (PAP-1 and PAP-2, respectively) in the candidate access point set simultaneously randomly set different backoff windows and count down at time T0. When the countdown of the PAP-2 backoff window reaches 0 (i.e., time T1), PAP-2 becomes the owner of the transmission opportunity (TXOP owner). PAP-2 sends a collaborative trigger frame to multiple AP collaborative participants including PAP-1. After a SIFS time interval, multiple APs transmit PPDU on their respective allocated RU resources and within the TXOP time.

After PAP-2 completes transmission as the TXOP owner, after the DIFS or IFS time interval, if there is still uplink or downlink data on PAP-1, PAP-1 continues to back off based on the last backoff window. When the countdown of its backoff window reaches 0 (i.e., time T2), PAP-1 becomes the owner of the transmission opportunity and can schedule uplink or downlink data transmission.

In one embodiment, FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the implementation of PAP delay waiting to send TF provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 11, two candidate access points (PAP-1 and PAP-2, respectively) in the candidate access point set work on different P20 channels. PAP-2 randomly selects a backoff window and counts down at time T0. PAP-1 detects that the channel is busy due to the PPDU (On-going PPDU) being transmitted, so it needs to wait for the channel to be idle. When the countdown of the PAP-2 backoff window is 0 (i.e., time T1), the main channel where PAP-1 is located is still busy, and PAP-2 delays waiting. At time T2, the PAP-1 channel becomes idle, PAP-2 sends a collaborative trigger frame, and allocates channel resources to PAP-1.

In one embodiment, FIG12 is a structural block diagram of a channel access device provided in an embodiment of the present application. This embodiment is applied to an access point. As shown in FIG12 , the channel access device in this embodiment includes: a generation module 210 and a channel access module 220 .

The generating module 210 is configured to form a corresponding candidate access point set from each access point in the pre-configured access point set that participates in the cooperative operation and the channel resource competition.

The channel access module 220 is configured to use the first candidate access point in the candidate access point set that successfully seizes channel resources as a first type access point, and send a coordinated trigger frame to other access points in the access point set through the first type access point to enable other access points in the access point set to access the channel.

In one embodiment, the second type of access points in the access point set include at least one of the following: access points that participate in collaborative operation and do not participate in channel resource competition; access points that participate in collaborative operation and participate in channel resource competition but fail to successfully seize channel resources; all access points in the candidate access point set that receive collaborative trigger frames.

In one embodiment, after a cooperative operation between the second type access point and the first type access point is completed, the states of the first type access point and the second type access point are restored to the initial access point.

In one embodiment, each candidate access point in the candidate access point set shares resource requirement information and current channel state information thereof.

In one embodiment, each candidate access point in the candidate access point set records resource requirement information of each candidate access point in the candidate access point set and its current channel state information.

In one embodiment, resource requirement information and current channel state information between each candidate access point in the candidate access point set are exchanged via a wired or wireless connection.

In one embodiment, each access point in the access point set participating in the cooperative operation selects the same or different primary channels.

In one embodiment, each candidate access point in the candidate access point set randomly adopts a different backoff window and simultaneously initiates contention for channel resources.

In one embodiment, the reason why each candidate access point in the candidate access point set does not initiate channel resource contention at the same time includes one of the following: the current channel state of the primary channel corresponding to each candidate access point is different; the internal scheduling state of each candidate access point is different.

In one embodiment, before sending a coordination trigger frame to other access points in the access point set through the first type access point, a control frame is sent through the first type access point to perform channel preemption.

In one embodiment, the condition that the backoff window countdown of the candidate access point is 0 and the coordination trigger frame is not sent includes at least one of the following: the current channel status of other candidate access points in the candidate access point set is busy; other links belonging to the same multi-link access device as the candidate access point whose backoff window countdown is 0 are in a busy state.

In one embodiment, when the candidate access point is converted to the second type access point, the remaining time of the backoff window corresponding to the second type access point is cleared.

In one embodiment, when the candidate access point is converted to the second type access point, the remaining time of the backoff window corresponding to the second type access point is not cleared, and the remaining time of the backoff window is used for channel resource contention after the current collaborative operation.

The channel access device provided in this embodiment is configured to implement the channel access method of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 . The implementation principle and technical effect of the channel access device provided in this embodiment are similar and will not be described in detail here.

In one embodiment, FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 13, the device provided by the present application includes: a processor 310, a memory 320, and a communication module 330. The number of processors 310 in the device may be one or more, and FIG. 13 takes one processor 310 as an example. The number of memories 320 in the device may be one or more, and FIG. 13 takes one memory 320 as an example. The processor 310, memory 320, and communication module 330 of the device may be connected via a bus or other means, and FIG. 13 takes the connection via a bus as an example. In this embodiment, the device may be an access point.

The memory 320, as a computer-readable storage medium, can be configured to store software programs, computer executable programs, and modules, such as program instructions/modules corresponding to the device of any embodiment of the present application (for example, the generation module 210 and the channel access module 220 in the channel access device). The memory 320 may include a program storage area and a data storage area, wherein the program storage area may store an operating system, an application required for at least one function; the data storage area may store data created according to the use of the device, etc. In addition, the memory 320 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other non-volatile solid-state storage device. In some instances, the memory 320 may further include a memory remotely arranged relative to the processor 310, and these remote memories may be connected to the device via a network. Examples of the above-mentioned network include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

The communication device provided above can be configured to execute the channel access method provided in any of the above embodiments, and has corresponding functions and effects.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a storage medium containing computer executable instructions. When the computer executable instructions are executed by a computer processor, they are used to execute a channel access method. The method includes: each access point in a pre-configured access point set that participates in collaborative operation and channel resource competition is formed into a corresponding candidate access point set; the first candidate access point in the candidate access point set that successfully seizes channel resources is used as a first type of access point, and a collaborative trigger frame is sent to other access points in the access point set through the first type of access point, so that the other access points in the access point set can access the channel.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the term user equipment encompasses any suitable type of wireless user equipment, such as a mobile phone, a portable data processing device, a portable web browser or a car-mounted mobile station.

In general, various embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in The present invention may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the present application is not limited thereto.

Embodiments of the present application may be implemented by executing computer program instructions by a data processor of a mobile device, for example in a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The computer program instructions may be assembly instructions, instruction set architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine-dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state setting data, or source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages.

The block diagram of any logic flow in the drawings of the present application may represent program steps, or may represent interconnected logic circuits, modules and functions, or may represent a combination of program steps and logic circuits, modules and functions. The computer program may be stored in a memory. The memory may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as but not limited to read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), optical storage devices and systems (digital versatile discs (DVD) or compact disks (CD)), etc. Computer-readable media may include non-transitory storage media. The data processor may be of any type suitable for the local technical environment, such as but not limited to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture.

The above are only optional embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, the present application may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims (15)

A channel access method, comprising: Each access point in the pre-configured access point set that participates in the cooperative operation and the channel resource competition forms a corresponding candidate access point set; The first candidate access point in the candidate access point set that successfully seizes channel resources is used as a first type access point, and a coordination trigger frame is sent to other access points in the access point set through the first type access point, so that other access points in the access point set can access the channel. According to the method of claim 1, the second type of access points in the access point set include at least one of the following: access points that participate in collaborative operation and do not participate in channel resource competition; candidate access points that participate in collaborative operation and participate in channel resource competition but fail to successfully seize channel resources; all access points in the candidate access point set that receive a collaborative trigger frame. The method according to claim 2, wherein after a collaborative operation between the second type access point and the first type access point is completed, the states of the first type access point and the second type access point are restored to initial access points. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each candidate access point in the candidate access point set shares resource requirement information and current channel state information thereof. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each candidate access point in the candidate access point set records resource requirement information and current channel state information of each candidate access point in the candidate access point set. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the resource requirement information and the current channel state information between each candidate access point in the candidate access point set are interacted through a wired or wireless connection. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each access point participating in the collaborative operation in the access point set selects the same or different primary channels. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each candidate access point in the candidate access point set randomly adopts a different backoff window and simultaneously initiates channel resource competition. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the reason why each candidate access point in the candidate access point set does not simultaneously initiate channel resource contention includes one of the following: a current channel state of a primary channel corresponding to each of the candidate access points is different; and an internal scheduling state of each of the candidate access points is different. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein before sending a coordination trigger frame to other access points in the access point set through the first type of access point, a control frame is sent through the first type of access point to perform channel preemption. According to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the condition that the backoff window countdown of the candidate access point is 0 and the coordination trigger frame is not sent includes at least one of the following: the current channel status of other candidate access points in the candidate access point set is busy; other links belonging to the same multi-link access device as the candidate access point whose backoff window countdown is 0 are in a busy state. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, when the candidate access point is converted to a second type access point, a remaining time of a backoff window corresponding to the second type access point is cleared. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, when the candidate access point is converted to a second type of access point, the remaining time of the backoff window corresponding to the second type of access point is not cleared, and the remaining time of the backoff window is used for channel resource competition after this collaborative operation. A communication device, comprising: a memory, and one or more processors; The memory is configured to store one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13. A storage medium stores a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13.