WO2025161919A1 - Communication method and apparatus, and computer readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications, and supports IEEE protocols such as IEEE 802.11be/WiFi 7/EHT protocols, IEEE 802.11bn/UHR/WiFi 8 protocols, IEEE 802.15/UWB protocols, and IEEE 802.11bf/sensing protocols. The communication method disclosed in the present application comprises: determining a first transformation length L from among a plurality of transformation lengths corresponding to a first bandwidth, wherein different transformation lengths correspond to different subcarrier intervals; and sending a first frame to a first station, wherein the first frame comprises the first transformation length and a first time resource index, and the first time resource index is used for indicating L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol. According to the embodiments of the present application, multiple transformation lengths can be configured for each bandwidth, and the requirements of different signal coverage ranges, signal-to-noise ratios and the like can be flexibly met in a power spectral density limited scenario.

Description

Communication method, device, and computer-readable storage medium

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on January 29, 2024, with application number 202410124357.4 and application name “Communication Method, Device and Computer-readable Storage Medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a communication method, device, and computer-readable storage medium.

Background Art

Currently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued regulations regarding the 6GHz spectrum, specifying a low-power indoor (LPI) communication method and placing strict limits on the maximum transmit power and maximum power spectral density. For access points, the maximum allowable power is 36dBm (decibel-milliwatts), and the maximum allowable power spectral density is 5dBm/MHz (decibel-milliwatts/megahertz). For sites, the maximum allowable power is 24dBm, and the maximum allowable power spectral density is -1dBm/MHz. In other words, the transmit power of a device (access point or site) cannot exceed the specified maximum transmit power, and the transmit power spectral density of a device cannot exceed the specified maximum power spectral density.

In real-world scenarios, due to the limitations of the maximum power spectral density, the maximum transmit power a device can actually achieve is often lower than the specified maximum transmit power. In other words, the maximum transmit power a device can actually achieve is more limited by the specified maximum power spectral density.

At the same time, in scenarios where power spectrum density is limited, how to improve the signal coverage of the device is a concern for relevant technical personnel.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention discloses a communication method, apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium that can improve the signal coverage of devices in power spectrum density-limited scenarios. Furthermore, the IFFT length can be flexibly selected for different situations, thereby maximizing resource utilization while meeting transmission distance, signal-to-noise ratio, and communication quality requirements.

In a first aspect, a communication method is disclosed. The method can be applied to a first access point, a module (e.g., a processor) in the first access point, or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the first access point. The following description takes application to the first access point as an example. The communication method may include: determining a first transform length L from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to a first bandwidth, wherein different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings; and sending a first frame to a first station (STA), the first frame including the first bandwidth and first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first resource, the first indication information including the first transform length and a first time resource index, the first transform length being used to indicate an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) length, the first time resource index being used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the L positions being used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA.

In the embodiment of the present application, multiple IFFT lengths can be defined for each bandwidth, and different IFFT lengths can correspond to different subcarrier spacings. The smaller the IFFT length, the larger the subcarrier spacing can be. Therefore, for scenarios with limited power spectrum density, a smaller IFFT length can be selected to increase the signal strength of a single subcarrier, thereby improving the transmission distance, transmission rate, signal quality, etc. In addition, for time domain resources, the (sampling point) position included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to a certain bandwidth can be divided into multiple parts, and the multiple parts can be allocated to different users to achieve multi-user multiplexing transmission.

In conjunction with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, determining the first transform length from multiple transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth includes: determining the first transform length from multiple transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth based on a channel condition, where the channel condition includes one or more of a received signal strength indicator, a signal-to-noise ratio, and a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio; different transform lengths correspond to different channel conditions.

In the embodiment of the present application, multiple IFFT lengths are provided for each bandwidth. The first access point can select an appropriate IFFT length for the first site according to actual conditions or actual needs to meet the requirements of transmission distance, transmission rate, signal quality, etc. in different scenarios.

In the above method, the first access point can determine the first transformation length for the first site based on the channel conditions between the first access point and the first site. In this way, it can be ensured that the determined first transformation length is relatively appropriate, neither too large nor too small, thereby ensuring the transmission distance, signal-to-noise ratio and communication quality while achieving high spectrum utilization efficiency.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first resource may be an uplink resource or a downlink resource. For uplink resource allocation, resource indication information may be carried in a trigger frame. After receiving the trigger frame, the station may send uplink data based on the resources indicated by the corresponding indication information in the trigger frame. For downlink resource allocation, resource indication information may be carried in the SIG (signal) field of the PPDU. The PPDU may also include downlink data corresponding to the station. After receiving the PPDU, the station may receive downlink data based on the resources indicated by the corresponding indication information in the SIG field of the PPDU.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the first frame to the first STA, the method also includes: performing L-point IFFT calculation based on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; mapping the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol; sending the first frame to the first STA includes: sending the first OFDM symbol to the first STA.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the first access point performs an L-point IFFT calculation on the frequency-domain signal corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time-domain signals, the L time-domain signals can be sequentially mapped to L positions in the OFDM symbol allocated to the first STA. Furthermore, the remaining positions can be used to carry data corresponding to other STAs. This enables multi-user multiplexing and improves resource utilization efficiency.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the first frame also includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the second resource. The second indication information includes a second transform length M and a second time resource index. The second time resource index is used to indicate M positions in the OFDM symbol. The M positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the second STA. The first transform length is different from the second transform length, and the positions indicated by the first time resource index and the third time resource index are different.

In an embodiment of the present application, it is supported to divide the multiple positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to a certain fixed bandwidth into the same type of TimeRU (refer to the detailed description below), and then allocate them to different sites for use. In this way, multiplexed transmission of multiple users can be achieved, and resource utilization efficiency can be improved. Of course, in addition to being divided into the same type of TimeRU, an embodiment of the present application can also support dividing the multiple positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to a certain fixed bandwidth into different types of TimeRU, and then allocate them to different sites for use. In this way, it can adapt to the actual situation or needs of different sites, and can further improve the flexibility of resource allocation and resource utilization efficiency.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; when the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; when the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; when the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; when the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048.

Exemplarily, the above examples illustrate possible IFFT length selections under different bandwidths. Of course, for different bandwidths, larger or smaller IFFT lengths may also be included for the first access point to select, so as to meet the needs of more scenarios.

In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, where the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers.

In an embodiment of the present application, different users can also use the same TimeRU in the time domain, and different subcarriers are allocated to different users in the frequency domain, thereby meeting higher density user access.

The second aspect discloses a communication method, which can be applied to a first station, or to a module (e.g., a processor) in the first station, or to a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the first station. The following description takes the application to the first station as an example, and the communication method may include: receiving a first frame from a first access point AP, the first frame including a first bandwidth and first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first resource, the first indication information including a first transform length L and a first time resource index, the first transform length being used to indicate an inverse fast Fourier transform IFFT length, the first time resource index being used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the L positions being used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA; wherein the first bandwidth corresponds to multiple transform lengths, the multiple transform lengths including the first transform length, and different transform lengths corresponding to different subcarrier spacings; and processing the first frame.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the receiving of the first frame from the first AP includes: receiving the first OFDM symbol from the first AP; the processing of the first frame includes: obtaining L time domain signals at the position indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol; performing L-point FFT calculation based on the L time domain signals to obtain the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, after processing the first frame, the method also includes: performing L-point IFFT calculation based on the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; mapping the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in the second OFDM symbol, and filling other positions in the second OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index with 0; and sending the second OFDM symbol to the first AP.

In combination with the second aspect, in one possible implementation, when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; when the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; when the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; when the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; when the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048.

In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, where the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers.

It should be noted that the technical solution of the second aspect of this application may correspond to the solution of the first aspect, and the relevant beneficial effects can also refer to the beneficial effects of the first aspect.

A third aspect discloses a communication device, which may be a first access point or a module (e.g., a processor) in the first access point. The communication device includes:

a processing unit, configured to determine a first transform length L from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth, where different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings;

A sending unit is used to send a first frame to a first station STA, where the first frame includes the first bandwidth and first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first resource, and the first indication information includes the first transform length and a first time resource index, where the first transform length is used to indicate an inverse fast Fourier transform IFFT length, and the first time resource index is used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbol, where the L positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA.

In conjunction with the third aspect, in one possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically configured to: determine a first transform length from multiple transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth based on a channel condition, where the channel condition includes one or more of a received signal strength indication, a signal-to-noise ratio, and a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio; different transform lengths correspond to different channel conditions.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource.

With reference to the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, before sending the first frame to the first STA, the processing unit is also used to: perform L-point IFFT calculation based on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; map the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol; the sending unit sends the first frame to the first STA, including: sending the first OFDM symbol to the first STA.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the first frame also includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the second resource. The second indication information includes a second transform length M and a second time resource index. The second time resource index is used to indicate M positions in the OFDM symbol. The M positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the second STA. The first transform length is different from the second transform length, and the positions indicated by the first time resource index and the third time resource index are different.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; when the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; when the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; when the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; when the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048.

In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation, the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, where the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers.

A fourth aspect discloses a communication device, which may be a first site or a module (e.g., a processor) in the first site. The communication device includes:

A receiving unit, configured to receive a first frame from a first access point AP, the first frame including a first bandwidth and first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first resource, the first indication information including a first transform length L and a first time resource index, the first transform length being used to indicate an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) length, the first time resource index being used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the L positions being used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA; wherein the first bandwidth corresponds to multiple transform lengths, the multiple transform lengths including the first transform length, and different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings;

A processing unit is configured to process the first frame.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the receiving unit receives the first frame from the first AP, including: receiving the first OFDM symbol from the first AP; the processing unit processes the first frame, including: obtaining L time domain signals at the position indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol; performing L-point FFT calculation based on the L time domain signals to obtain the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, after processing the first frame, the processing unit is further used to: perform L-point IFFT calculation based on the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; map the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in the second OFDM symbol, and fill other positions in the second OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index with 0; the device also includes: a sending unit for sending the second OFDM symbol to the first AP.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; when the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; when the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; when the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; when the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, where the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers.

A fifth aspect discloses a communication system, which includes a first access point and a first site, wherein the first access point is used to implement the method provided in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect; the first site is used to implement the method provided in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect.

A sixth aspect discloses a communication device, which may be a first access point, comprising a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to receive and/or send data; the processor calls a computer program or computer instructions stored in a memory to implement the method provided in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect.

The seventh aspect discloses a communication device, which can be a first site, including a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to receive and/or send data; the processor calls a computer program or computer instructions stored in a memory to implement the method provided in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation method of the second aspect.

As a possible implementation, the communication device disclosed in the sixth aspect and the communication device disclosed in the seventh aspect may include one or more processors.

Optionally, the communication device disclosed in the sixth aspect and the communication device disclosed in the seventh aspect further include one or more memories.

The eighth aspect discloses a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or computer instructions stored thereon. When the computer program or computer instructions are executed, the method provided in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect is implemented, or the method provided in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect is implemented.

The ninth aspect discloses a chip, comprising a processor for executing a program stored in a memory. When the program is executed, the chip executes the method provided in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method provided in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect.

As a possible implementation, the memory is located outside the chip.

The tenth aspect discloses a computer program product, which includes computer program code. When the computer program code is run, the method provided in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect is executed, or the method provided in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect is executed.

It should be understood that the implementation and beneficial effects of the above-mentioned multiple aspects or any possible implementation methods of the present application can be referenced to each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, 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 application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative labor.

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG2A and FIG2B are schematic diagrams of RUs in the 20 MHz and 40 MHz cases, respectively, provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present application discloses a communication method, apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium that can improve the signal coverage of devices in power spectrum density-limited scenarios. Furthermore, the corresponding IFFT length can be flexibly selected for different situations, thereby maximizing resource utilization while meeting transmission distance, signal-to-noise ratio, and communication quality. The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

This application supports IEEE protocols, such as IEEE 802.11be/Wi-Fi 7/extremely high throughput (EHT) protocol, IEEE 802.11bn/ultra high reliability (UHR)/Wi-Fi 8 protocol, IEEE 802.15/ultra wide band (UWB) protocol, IEEE 802.11bf/sensing/perception protocol, etc.

In order to better understand the embodiments of the present application, the system architecture of the embodiments of the present application is first described below.

Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system may include one or more access points (APs), one of which is shown in Figure 1, namely AP_101. The communication system may also include one or more stations (STAs), two of which are shown in Figure 1, namely STA_102 and STA_103.

In an embodiment of the present application, wireless communication can be performed between an access point (such as AP_101) and a station (such as STA_102, STA_103). The communication between the access point and the station may include uplink communication (i.e., communication from the station to the access point) and downlink communication (i.e., communication from the access point to the station). In uplink communication, the station can be used to send uplink signals/data packets (data packets herein may also be referred to as physical layer protocol data units (PHY protocol data unit, PPDU)) to the access point, and the access point can be used to receive uplink signals/data packets from the station. In downlink communication, the access point can be used to send downlink signals/data packets to the station, and the station can be used to receive downlink signals/data packets from the access point.

The access point involved in the embodiment of the present application (such as AP_101 in Figure 1) is a device with wireless communication function, which can provide services for STA. Exemplarily, the access point can support communication using the wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol and has the function of communicating with other devices in the WLAN network (such as stations or other access points). In some possible implementations, the device with wireless communication function can be a complete device, or a chip or processing system installed in the complete device, etc. The device installed with these chips or processing systems can implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system. Exemplarily, the AP can be a communication entity such as a communication server, a router, a switch, a bridge, etc.; the AP can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, etc. Of course, the AP can also be a chip and processing system in these various forms of devices, so as to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application.

The stations involved in the embodiments of the present application (such as STA_102 and STA_103 in Figure 1) are devices with wireless communication capabilities that can support communication using the WLAN protocol and have the ability to communicate with other stations or access points in the WLAN network. In some possible implementations, the device with wireless communication capabilities can be a complete device, or a chip or processing system installed in the complete device. The device installed with these chips or processing systems can implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application under the control of the chip or processing system. For example, the STA can be a tablet computer, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), handheld computer, netbook, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, wearable device (such as smart watch, smart bracelet, etc.), or other user devices that can be connected to the Internet, or an Internet of Things node in the Internet of Things, or an in-vehicle communication device in the Internet of Vehicles, or entertainment equipment, gaming equipment or system, global positioning system equipment, etc. The STA can also be the chip and processing system in these terminals.

For example, the WLAN system can provide high-speed and low-latency transmission. With the continuous evolution of WLAN application scenarios, the WLAN system will be applied to more scenarios or industries, such as the Internet of Things industry, the Internet of Vehicles industry or the banking industry, and applied to corporate offices, sports stadiums and exhibition halls, concert halls, hotel rooms, dormitories, wards, classrooms, supermarkets, squares, streets, production workshops and warehouses, etc. Of course, devices supporting WLAN communication (such as access points or stations) can be sensor nodes in smart cities (such as smart water meters, smart electricity meters, and smart air detection nodes), smart devices in smart homes (such as smart cameras, projectors, display screens, televisions, speakers, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), nodes in the Internet of Things, entertainment terminals (such as wearable devices such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)), smart devices in smart offices (such as printers, projectors, loudspeakers, and speakers, etc.), Internet of Vehicles devices, infrastructure in daily life scenarios (such as vending machines, self-service navigation counters in supermarkets, self-service cash registers, self-service ordering machines, etc.), and equipment in large sports and music venues, etc. The specific forms of STAs and APs in the embodiments of the present application are not limited and are only illustrative.

It should be understood that in actual scenarios, the AP can be multi-antenna/multi-radio or a single antenna/single radio, and the antenna/radio is used to send/receive data packets. In one implementation, the antenna or radio portion of the AP can be separated from the main body of the AP, forming a remote layout structure. The STA can be multi-antenna/multi-radio or a single antenna/single radio, and the antenna/radio is used to send/receive data packets. In one implementation, the antenna or radio portion of the STA can be separated from the main body of the STA, forming a remote layout structure. Exemplarily, the frequency bands in which the AP and STA operate may include one or more frequency bands of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, and high frequency 60 GHz.

In the embodiments of the present application, both the AP and the STA may support IEEE protocols, including but not limited to IEEE 802.11be/Wi-Fi 7/EHT protocol, IEEE 802.11bn/UHR/Wi-Fi 8 protocol, IEEE 802.15/UWB protocol, IEEE 802.11bf/sensing/perception protocol, etc.

It should be understood that FIG1 is merely a schematic diagram, and the architecture shown in FIG1 may include more or fewer devices, which is not limited here.

It should also be understood that the AP or STA described above can be implemented in hardware, computer software, or a combination of hardware and computer software. For example, the AP or STA described above can be implemented by a single device, multiple devices, or a functional module within a single device, and this is not specifically limited in the present embodiment.

It should be noted that the system architecture, network architecture, and business scenarios (or application scenarios) described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of communication network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

In order to better understand the embodiments of the present application, the following is a brief introduction to the relevant contents, terms or nouns involved in the present application.

1. 802.11be Channel Bandwidth and Subcarrier Distribution

WLAN standards have evolved through several generations, including 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, and the currently under discussion 802.11be. 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac use orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as their channel modulation scheme, while 802.11ax and 802.11be use orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). OFDMA is equivalent to adding multiple access (or multi-user) technology to OFDM. For example, the principle of OFDM modulation is to divide the channel (such as 20MHz, 40MHz channel) into multiple subcarriers. Multiple subcarriers in a single channel can serve one STA, while the principle of OFDMA modulation is to divide the channel into multiple subcarriers, and the multiple subcarriers in a single channel can be further divided into multiple groups. Each group of subcarriers can be used as a subchannel, and different subchannels can be allocated to different STAs for use.

In terms of subcarrier spacing, the subcarrier spacing specified in 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n and 802.11ac is 312.5kHz. However, starting from 802.11ax, the subcarrier spacing is only one-fourth of the previous one, that is, 78.125kHz.

802.11ax supports channel bandwidths of 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz, and 80+80MHz. The difference between 160MHz and 80+80MHz is that the former is a continuous band, while the latter can have two 80MHz bands separated. Building on 802.11ax, 802.11be will support bandwidth configurations such as 240MHz, 160+80MHz, 320MHz, and 160+160MHz.

In standards such as 802.11be, a subchannel consisting of multiple subcarriers is called a resource unit (RU). Each RU can contain multiple subcarriers. Based on the number of subcarriers contained in an RU, various RU types can be defined, such as 26-tone RU, 52-tone RU, 52+26-tone RU (a RU consisting of one 52-tone RU and one 26-tone RU), 106-tone RU, 106+26-tone RU, 242-tone RU, 484-tone RU, 484+242-tone RU, and 996-tone RU. A 26-tone RU includes 26 subcarriers, a 52-tone RU includes 52 subcarriers, and a 106-tone RU includes 106 subcarriers. A 26-tone RU corresponds to approximately 2 MHz, a 52-tone RU corresponds to approximately 4 MHz, a 106-tone RU corresponds to approximately 8 MHz, and a 242-tone RU corresponds to approximately 20 MHz.

The following briefly describes the subcarrier distribution (tone plan) based on contiguous resource units (RUs) defined in the 802.11be standard. For example, when the bandwidth is 20 MHz, the entire bandwidth can consist of a single 242-tone RU, or various combinations of 26-tone RUs, 52-tone RUs, or 106-tone RUs. Furthermore, in addition to the RUs used for data transmission, the entire bandwidth can also include guard subcarriers, null subcarriers, direct current (DC) subcarriers, and other subcarriers. For details on the subcarrier and RU distribution for 20 MHz, see Figure 2A. For details on the 40 MHz bandwidth, the entire bandwidth can consist of a single 484-tone RU, or various combinations of 26-tone RUs, 52-tone RUs, 106-tone RUs, or 242-tone RUs. For details on the subcarrier and RU distribution for 40 MHz, see Figure 2B. For the subcarrier distribution and RU distribution in other bandwidths (such as 80 MHz, 160 MHz, etc.), please refer to the descriptions in relevant standards such as 802.11ax and 802.11be, which will not be repeated here.

It should be noted that, generally speaking, the multiple subcarriers within a RU are continuously distributed with a fixed subcarrier spacing (e.g., 78.125 kHz). For example, taking Figure 2A as an example, for a 26-tone RU, the left side of Figure 2A can be considered the lowest frequency, and the right side of Figure 2A can be considered the highest frequency. From left to right, the nine 26-tone RUs can be numbered: 1st, 2nd, ..., 9th. Except for the fifth 26-tone RU numbered 5th, the 26 subcarriers included in the other 26-tone RUs can be continuous subcarriers with a spacing of 78.125 kHz.

Currently, in LPI scenarios, the power transmitted by a device (AP or STA) is limited by both the specified maximum power and the specified maximum power spectral density. Furthermore, the maximum power spectral density is more strictly limited than the maximum power, meaning that the maximum transmit power a device can actually achieve is more limited by the specified maximum power spectral density. When limited by power spectral density, the maximum transmit power a device can actually achieve increases with increasing transmit bandwidth. For example, Table 1 shows the maximum transmit power that an AP and STA can actually achieve in bandwidths of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 320 MHz, given the specified maximum power spectral density.

Table 1

As shown in Table 1, due to the maximum power spectral density (PSD), in a 20MHz bandwidth, the maximum transmit power that an AP can actually achieve is 18dBm, and the maximum transmit power that a STA can actually achieve is 12dBm. In a 40MHz bandwidth, the maximum transmit power that an AP can actually achieve is 21dBm, and the maximum transmit power that a STA can actually achieve is 15dBm. In an 80MHz bandwidth, the maximum transmit power that an AP can actually achieve is 24dBm, and the maximum transmit power that a STA can actually achieve is 18dBm. In a 160MHz bandwidth, the maximum transmit power that an AP can actually achieve is 27dBm, and the maximum transmit power that a STA can actually achieve is 21dBm. In a 320MHz bandwidth, the maximum transmit power that an AP can actually achieve is 36dBm, and the maximum transmit power that a STA can actually achieve is 24dBm.

As can be seen, due to the limitation of maximum power spectral density, the actual maximum transmit power that APs and STAs can achieve is lower than the maximum transmit power required by law when the bandwidth is 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz. Only when the bandwidth is 320 MHz does the actual maximum transmit power that APs and STAs can achieve equal to the maximum transmit power required by law. In other words, below 320 MHz, the limitation of maximum power spectral density forces APs and STAs to transmit at power levels lower than the maximum transmit power required by law.

It is understandable that in the LPI scenario, due to the limitation of the maximum power spectral density, if the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the signal transmitted by each subcarrier needs to be improved, the number of subcarriers per MHz needs to be reduced so that the signal energy allowed to be transmitted per MHz can be concentrated on fewer subcarriers, thereby improving the signal strength of each subcarrier, and further improving the transmission distance, transmission rate, signal quality, etc.

In an embodiment of the present application, in order to meet the transmission requirements in a power spectrum density limited scenario (such as an LPI scenario), a new resource allocation method is provided on the basis of the existing resource allocation method, which is introduced below.

The following introduction is based on the 802.11be standard. In the existing 802.11be standard, when the bandwidth is 20*K MHz, the OFDM symbol can contain 256*K sampling points, and the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT)/fast Fourier transform (FFT) length is 256*K, where K is a positive integer.

First, in the embodiment of the present application, for different bandwidths such as 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz (80+80MHz), 240MHz (160+80MHz), and 320MHz (160+160Mhz), a variety of different inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT)/fast Fourier transform (FFT) lengths can be defined, and different IFFT lengths can correspond to different subcarrier spacings. Among them, for the same bandwidth, the longer the IFFT length, the smaller the corresponding subcarrier spacing can be. In some cases, the IFFT length can also be referred to as the IFFT size (size) or the number of IFFT points, and the FFT length can also be referred to as the FFT size (size) or the number of FFT points.

For example, for 20 MHz, four IFFT lengths may be defined: 32, 64, 128, and 256. The subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 32 is greater than the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 64, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 64 is greater than the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 128, and the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 128 is greater than the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 256. For another example, for 40 MHz, five IFFT lengths may be defined: 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512. The subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 32 is greater than the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 64, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 64 is greater than the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 128, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 128 is greater than the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 256, and the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 256 is greater than the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 512. Similarly, for 80 MHz, six IFFT lengths can be defined: 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1024. For 160 MHz, seven IFFT lengths can be defined: 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048. For 240 MHz and 320 MHz, eight IFFT lengths can be defined: 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, and 4096. It should be understood that the IFFT lengths defined above for different bandwidths are merely illustrative. In some implementations, larger or smaller IFFT lengths can be defined for different bandwidths. For example, for 20 MHz, IFFT lengths of 16 and 256 can be defined. For 40 MHz, IFFT lengths of 8, 16, 512, and so on can be defined.

For example, for a certain bandwidth, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to different IFFT lengths can be (bandwidth/IFFT length). For example, under a 20MHz bandwidth, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 32 can be 625kHz, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 64 can be 312.5kHz, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 128 can be 156.25kHz, and the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 256 can be 78.125kHz. Of course, the subcarrier spacing can also be greater than (bandwidth/IFFT length), which is not limited here. It is understood that the length of the IFFT (number of sampling points) must be greater than or equal to the number of subcarriers, and the length of the IFFT must be a power of 2, where n is a non-negative integer.

In the embodiment of the present application, for a bandwidth of 20*KMHz, the number of sampling points of an OFDM symbol can be defined as 256*K sampling points. The number of sampling points and IFFT length of an OFDM symbol under different bandwidths are shown in Table 2 below:

Table 2

As can be seen from Table 2 above, except for the maximum IFFT length corresponding to each bandwidth, other IFFT lengths can be less than 256*K. In this case, it can be guaranteed that the number of time domain sampling points obtained after the IFFT operation is less than the number of sampling points of the OFDM symbol. Therefore, the 256*K sampling points can be divided into multiple time resource units (TimeRUs). Different TimeRUs can be allocated to different users, thereby realizing multi-user multiplexing transmission. In the frequency domain, different users can use all available subcarriers within the corresponding bandwidth. For example, in the case of 20MHz, the number of sampling points of the OFDM symbol is 256, and the IFFT length can be 32, 64, 128 or 256. Among them, 32, 64, and 128-point IFFT operations can respectively obtain 32, 64, and 128 time domain sampling points, which cannot occupy the 256 positions of the OFDM symbol. Therefore, the 256 positions can be divided into 8 32-length Time RUs, each 32-length Time RU can occupy 32 positions, and these 8 32-length Time RUs can be allocated to different users; alternatively, the 256 positions can be divided into 4 64-length Time RUs, each 64-length Time RU can occupy 64 positions, and these 4 64-length Time RUs can be allocated to different users; alternatively, the 256 positions can be divided into 2 128-length Time RUs, each 128-length Time RU can occupy 128 positions, and these 2 128-length Time RUs can be allocated to different users. Alternatively, the 256 positions can be divided into various combinations of 32-length Time RUs, 64-length Time RUs, and 128-length Time RUs, such as a combination of 4 32-length Time RUs + 1 128-length Time RU, a combination of 2 64-length Time RUs + 1 128-length Time RU, a combination of 2 32-length Time RUs + 1 64-length Time RU + 1 128-length Time RU, and so on. It should be noted that the positions in the OFDM symbol can also be understood as sampling point positions. It should also be noted that the Time RUs in the embodiments of the present application are different from the RUs defined in existing standards (such as 802.11be). The Time RUs in the embodiments of the present application are divided based on the positions included in the OFDM symbols corresponding to a specific bandwidth, which is a division in the time domain, while the RUs in existing standards are divided in the frequency domain.

The following example shows a way to divide Time RUs.

Assuming that the sampling point index numbers (i.e., position numbers) of OFDM symbols range from 0 to 256*K-1, the following description uses a:b:c to represent the set of sampling point index numbers {a+b*k, k is a non-negative integer and a+b*k≤c}. When b=1, a:1:c can be directly abbreviated as a:c. For a 20*KMHz bandwidth, 8*K Time RUs of length 32 can be defined, where the sampling point index numbers contained in the k-th 32-length Time RU are as follows:
f(k-1,log ₂ (8*K)):8*K:(256*K-1)

It should be understood that f(k-1,log ₂ (8*K)) is equivalent to a, 8*K is equivalent to b, and (256*K-1) is equivalent to c. f(x,m) represents x as m-bit binary, which is then reversed. The decimal number corresponding to the reversed m-bit binary number is the final result. For example, f(1,4) = 8. The specific calculation process is: first, write 1 as 4-bit binary, i.e., 0001. Reversing 0001 yields 1000, and the decimal number corresponding to 1000 is 8.

For a 20*KMHz bandwidth, 4*K Time RUs of length 64 can also be defined. The sampling point index numbers contained in the kth 64-length Time RU are as follows:
f(k-1,log ₂ (4*K)):4*K:(256*K-1)

For a 20*KMHz bandwidth, 2*K Time RUs of length 128 can also be defined. The sampling point index numbers contained in the k-th 128-length Time RU are as follows:
f(k-1,log ₂ (2*K)):2*K:(256*K-1)

For a 20*KMHz bandwidth, K Time RUs of length 256 can also be defined. The sampling point index numbers contained in the kth 256-length Time RU are as follows:
f(k-1,log ₂ (K)):K:(256*K-1)

For a 20*KMHz bandwidth, K/2 Time RUs of length 512 can also be defined. The sampling point index numbers contained in the k-th 512-length Time RU are as follows:
f(k-1,log ₂ (K/2)):K/2:(256*K-1)

For a 20*KMHz bandwidth, K/4 Time RUs of length 1024 can also be defined. The sampling point index numbers contained in the kth 1024-length Time RU are as follows:
f(k-1,log ₂ (K/4)):K/4:(256*K-1)

The adopted point index numbers for Time RUs of other lengths (such as 2048-length Time RU) are not described in detail here. Please refer to the corresponding descriptions for 32-length Time RU, 64-length Time RU, 128-length Time RU, etc.

For example, in the case of 20 MHz bandwidth, the sampling point index number can range from 0 to 255. The correspondence between the RU index and the time domain sampling point (Time sample) index range for different types of Time RUs, such as 32-length Time RU, 64-length Time RU, and 128-length Time RU, can be shown in Table 3 below:

Table 3

As can be seen from Table 3 above, 32-lengthTime RU can be divided into 8. The sampling point index set contained in TimeRU 1 corresponding to 32-lengthTime RU is [0:8:255], that is, {0+8*k, k is a non-negative integer and 0+8*k≤255}, that is, {0, 8, 16, 24, 32, …, 240, 248}. The sampling point index set contained in TimeRU 2 corresponding to 32-lengthTime RU is [4:8:255]. The sampling point index sets contained in TimeRU 3, TimeRU 4, TimeRU 5, TimeRU 6, TimeRU 7, and TimeRU 8 corresponding to 32-lengthTime RU can be referred to Table 3. U can be divided into four. The sampling point index set contained in Time RU 1 of the 64-length Time RU is [0:4:255], the sampling point index set contained in Time RU 2 of the 64-length Time RU is [2:4:255], and the sampling point index set contained in Time RU 3 and Time RU 4 of the 64-length Time RU can be referred to in Table 3. The sampling point index set contained in Time RU 1 of the 128-length Time RU is [0:2:255], and the sampling point index set contained in Time RU 2 of the 128-length Time RU is [1:2:255]. It should be understood that in some possible implementations, the 256 sampling points of the OFDM symbol can also be divided into a 256-length Time RU, which can be allocated to a single user.

In an embodiment of the present application, the AP can allocate the eight 32-length Time RUs divided into different users. For example, 32-length Time RU 1 to 32-length Time RU 8 can be allocated to STA1 to STA8, respectively. For another example, the AP can allocate 64-length Time RU 1 to 32-length Time RU 4 to STA1 to STA4, respectively. For another example, the AP can allocate 128-length Time RU 1 to 32-length Time RU 2 to STA1 to STA2, respectively. Of course, in addition to dividing the 256 sampling points of an OFDM symbol into the same type of Time RUs for use by users, in an embodiment of the present application, the 256 sampling points of an OFDM symbol can also be divided into different types of Time RUs for use by users, so as to flexibly meet the needs of different users.

It can be understood that the total set of sampling point indices included in the above 32-lengthTime RU 1 and 32-lengthTime RU 2 is the same as the sampling point indices included in the 64-lengthTime RU 1. The total set of sampling point indices included in the above 32-lengthTime RU 3 and 32-lengthTime RU 4 is the same as the sampling point indices included in the 64-lengthTime RU 2. Similarly, the total set of sampling point indices included in the above 64-lengthTime RU 1 and 64-lengthTime RU 2 is the same as the sampling point indices included in the 128-lengthTime RU 1. Based on this, 32-lengthTime RU 1 to 32-lengthTime RU 4 can be allocated to STA1 to STA4 respectively, and 64-lengthTime RU 3 and 64-lengthTime RU 4 can be allocated to STA5 and STA6 respectively. Alternatively, 64-length Time RU 1 and 64-length Time RU 2 can be allocated to STA1 and STA2, respectively, and 128-length Time RU 1 can be allocated to STA3. Alternatively, 32-length Time RU 1 and 32-length Time RU 2 can be allocated to STA1 and STA2, respectively, and 64-length Time RU 2 can be allocated to STA3, and 128-length Time RU 2 can be allocated to STA4. It should be understood that the above only lists the use of three different types of Time RU combinations at 20 MHz. In actual situations, based on different bandwidths or other conditions, more different types of Time RU combinations can be used, which is not limited here.

It should be noted that the above only illustrates the correspondence between RU indices and time-domain sampling point (time sample) index ranges for different types of Time RUs, such as 32-length Time RU, 64-length Time RU, and 128-length Time RU, in the case of 20 MHz bandwidth. However, it should be understood that the above Time RU division method can also be used to illustrate the correspondence between RU indices and time-domain sampling point (time sample) index ranges for different types of Time RUs, such as 32-length Time RU, 64-length Time RU, 128-length Time RU, and 256-length Time RU, in the case of 40 MHz bandwidth; and the correspondence between RU indices and time-domain sampling point (time sample) index ranges for different types of Time RUs, such as 32-length Time RU, 64-length Time RU, 128-length Time RU, 256-length Time RU, and 512-length Time RU, in the case of 80 MHz bandwidth, and so on.

The above mainly describes Time RU from a time-domain perspective and does not cover frequency-domain subcarriers. The following briefly describes the division of frequency-domain subcarriers.

It is understandable that the number of frequency domain subcarriers can be (bandwidth/subcarrier spacing), and the subcarrier spacing corresponding to different IFFT lengths in the embodiment of the present application can be (bandwidth/IFFT length). That is, for bandwidths such as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 320 MHz, the number of frequency domain subcarriers can be equal to the corresponding IFFT length.

When the IFFT length is 32, the total number of subcarriers in the frequency domain can be 32. At this time, the 26-Tone RU structure in the 802.11be standard can be used as a reference. The available subcarriers can be -(y+12):-y and y:(y+12), where two subcarriers are pilot subcarriers and the remaining subcarriers can be data subcarriers. The value of y can be 1, 2, or 3.

When the IFFT length is an integer multiple of 64, the 802.11ac subcarrier partitioning structure can be reused. Specifically, when the IFFT length L = 64*K, the subcarrier partitioning structure corresponding to the 20*K MHz bandwidth in the 802.11ac standard can be used. For example, when K = 1, the 802.11ac subcarrier partitioning structure for a 20 MHz bandwidth can be used. The available subcarriers may be -28:-1 and 1:28, with the ±7 and ±21 subcarrier positions being pilot subcarriers, and the remaining subcarriers being data subcarriers. When K = 4, the 80 MHz subcarrier partitioning structure in the 80.11ac standard can be used. The available subcarriers may be -122:-2 and 2:122, with the ±11, ±39, ±75, and ±103 subcarrier positions being pilot subcarriers, and the remaining subcarriers being data subcarriers. The subcarrier division structure for other bandwidths is not described in detail here. Please refer to the relevant description in the 802.11ac standard.

It should be noted that the above subcarrier division structure is only an exemplary description, and the embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the division of frequency domain subcarriers.

In embodiments of the present application, multi-user multiplexing transmission can be achieved by assigning different users different positions in the OFDM symbol. In the frequency domain, different users can use all available subcarriers within the corresponding bandwidth corresponding to the IFFT length. For example, in the case of 20 MHz and an IFFT length of 64, 64-length Time RU 1 to 32-length Time RU 4 can be assigned to STA1 to STA4, respectively. STA1 to STA4 can all use subcarriers -28:-1 and 1:28 in the frequency domain. In addition to the above approach, in some possible implementations, different subcarriers can be assigned to different users in the frequency domain. This approach can meet higher user density requirements. For example, in the case of 20 MHz and an IFFT length of 64, 64-length Time RU 1 can be assigned to STA1 and STA2. STA1 can use subcarriers -28:-1 in the frequency domain, and STA2 can use subcarriers 1:28 in the frequency domain. In this way, different users can be further distinguished in the frequency domain, thereby meeting higher user density scenarios.

It should be noted that, based on existing standards, the OFDM symbols in the embodiments of this application adopt the definition in the 802.11be standard. When the bandwidth is 20K MHz, the OFDM symbol can contain 256K sampling points. However, in some possible implementations, it can be redefined. For example, when the bandwidth is 20K MHz, the OFDM symbol can contain 512K sampling points. This is not limited here.

The above content introduces the resource allocation method provided in the embodiments of the present application. This resource allocation method can flexibly provide different IFFT lengths and corresponding subcarrier spacings, thereby meeting the transmission distance, transmission rate, signal quality and other requirements in different scenarios. For example, for a fixed bandwidth, if the signal-to-noise ratio of the subcarrier transmission signal is required to be large, a smaller IFFT length can be used.

It can be understood that the resource allocation method provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various wireless communication scenarios, especially for scenarios that need to flexibly meet different coverage ranges or transmission distances or communication qualities, and also need to ensure resource utilization efficiency (such as spectrum resource utilization efficiency).

The following is an exemplary description of the overall processing flow of the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, which primarily involves a first access point and a first station. The first access point may be AP_101 in FIG. 1 , and the first station may be STA_102 in FIG. 1 . Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a flow chart of a communication method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3 , the method may include, but is not limited to, the following steps:

301. The first access point determines a first transform length L from multiple transform lengths corresponding to a first bandwidth.

When uplink data or downlink data corresponding to the first station needs to be transmitted, the first access point may allocate uplink resources or downlink resources to the first station. In the embodiment of the present application, when allocating uplink resources or downlink resources to the first access point, the first access point may determine a corresponding IFFT length, i.e., a first transform length L, for the first station to meet requirements such as transmission rate, transmission distance, single carrier signal strength, and signal-to-noise ratio.

In one possible implementation, the first access point may determine a first transform length for the first station from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth based on a channel condition, where the channel condition includes one or more of a received signal strength indicator, a signal-to-noise ratio, and a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio. Furthermore, when determining the first transform length for the first station based on the channel condition, the bandwidth allocated to the first station (i.e., the first bandwidth W) may also be considered, because in different bandwidths, the same IFFT length may correspond to different subcarrier spacings. For example, in the case of a 20 MHz bandwidth, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 32 may be 625 kHz, and the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 64 may be 312.5 kHz. In the case of a 40 MHz bandwidth, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 32 may be 1.25 MHz, the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 64 may be 625 kHz, and the subcarrier spacing corresponding to an IFFT length of 128 may be 312.5 kHz. It can be seen that the subcarrier spacing corresponding to the case of 20 MHz bandwidth and IFFT length of 32 is the same as that of 40 MHz bandwidth and IFFT length of 64, and the subcarrier spacing corresponding to the case of 20 MHz bandwidth and IFFT length of 64 is the same as that of 40 MHz bandwidth and IFFT length of 128.

The following examples illustrate the selectable IFFT lengths under different bandwidths in the embodiments of the present application.

When the bandwidth is 20 MHz, the selectable IFFT length is 32, 64, or 128; when the bandwidth is 40 MHz, the selectable IFFT length is 32, 64, 128, or 256; when the bandwidth is 80 MHz, the selectable IFFT length is 32, 64, 128, 256, or 512; when the bandwidth is 160 MHz, the selectable IFFT length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, or 1024; when the bandwidth is 320 MHz, the selectable IFFT length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048. It should be understood that in some possible implementations, larger or smaller lengths may be included for different bandwidths. For example, when the bandwidth is 20 MHz, an IFFT length of 256 can be included. In this case, the 256 positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 20 MHz bandwidth can be allocated to a single user. Of course, an IFFT length of 16 can also be included. In this case, the 256 positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 20 MHz bandwidth can be allocated to 16 different users. Similarly, when the bandwidth is 40 MHz, an IFFT length of 512 can be included. In this case, the 512 positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 40 MHz bandwidth can be allocated to a single user. When the bandwidth is 80 MHz, an IFFT length of 1024 can be included. In this case, the 1024 positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 80 MHz bandwidth can be allocated to a single user.

For example, the first access point may be preconfigured with a correspondence between channel conditions and IFFT lengths under different bandwidths. The first access point may determine a first transform length for the first station based on the correspondence between the channel conditions and IFFT lengths under the first bandwidth. For example, taking the signal-to-noise ratio as the channel condition, the first IFFT length may be larger when the signal-to-noise ratio between the current first station and the first access point is larger, and the first IFFT length may be smaller when the signal-to-noise ratio between the current first station and the first access point is smaller. Assuming a 20 MHz frequency, when the signal-to-noise ratio is less than a threshold 1 (e.g., 10 dB), the corresponding IFFT length may be 32; when the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to threshold 1 and less than threshold 2 (e.g., 20 dB), the corresponding IFFT length may be 64; when the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to threshold 2 and less than threshold 3 (e.g., 30 dB), the corresponding IFFT length may be 128; and when the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to threshold 3, the corresponding IFFT length may be 256, where threshold 1 < threshold 2 < threshold 3. In the case of 40 MHz, when the signal-to-noise ratio is less than threshold 4 (e.g., 5 dB), the corresponding IFFT length may be 32; when the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to threshold 4 and less than threshold 5 (e.g., 10 dB), the corresponding IFFT length may be 64; when the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to threshold 5 and less than threshold 6 (e.g., 20 dB), the corresponding IFFT length may be 128; when the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to threshold 6 and less than threshold 7 (e.g., 30 dB), the corresponding IFFT length may be 256; and when the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to threshold 7, the corresponding IFFT length may be 512, where threshold 5 < threshold 6 < threshold 6 < threshold 7. Similar correspondences between signal-to-noise ratios and IFFT lengths may also be included for other bandwidths, which will not be described in detail here. Based on the above correspondence, if the first bandwidth is 20 MHz and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) received by the first access point from the first station is 15 dB (e.g., the first access point sends a reference signal, and the first station measures the reference signal to obtain a SNR and sends the SNR to the first access point), in this case, the first access point may determine that 15 dB is greater than or equal to threshold 1 and less than threshold 2, and further determine that the corresponding first transform length is 64. It should be understood that, for a certain fixed bandwidth, the SNR range corresponding to each IFFT length (i.e., the values of the above thresholds, such as threshold 1 and threshold 2) can be set according to actual conditions, such as according to transmission distance or single-carrier SNR requirements.

The above describes a method for determining the first transform length, using the signal-to-noise ratio as an example of the channel condition. It should be understood that, in addition to the above method, the channel condition can also be a received signal strength indicator. The first access point can pre-configure a correspondence between the received signal strength indicator and the IFFT length under different bandwidth conditions. The first access point can determine the first transform length for the first station based on the correspondence between the received signal strength indicator and the IFFT length under the first bandwidth. Of course, the channel condition can also be a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, transmission loss, received signal power, received signal quality, transmission distance, or a combination of the above indicators. When the channel condition is a combination of the above indicators, the first access point can pre-configure a correspondence between the indicator combination (e.g., a combination of signal-to-noise ratio + received signal strength indicator) and the IFFT length under different bandwidth conditions. Of course, in addition to the channel condition, the first access point can also determine the IFFT length for the first station based on other indicators related to signal quality or transmission distance, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In some possible implementations, the channel condition (such as the signal-to-noise ratio) used by the first access point to determine the first transformation length can be measured by sending a signal at the first terminal device or the first access network device with the maximum allowed power spectral density (such as 5dBm/MHz or -1dBm/MHz specified by LPI).

It can be seen that in the embodiment of the present application, for a certain fixed bandwidth, the channel conditions corresponding to different transform lengths may be different, that is, different channel conditions may correspond to different transform lengths. In this way, under different channel conditions, different IFFT lengths can be allocated to users to meet the requirements of transmission distance, single carrier signal-to-noise ratio, etc., to ensure communication quality.

In the embodiments of the present application, the first bandwidth allocated by the first access point to the first station is not specifically limited. For example, the first access point may allocate the corresponding first bandwidth to the first station based on the bandwidths supported by the first access point and the first station. For example, the first access point supports all bandwidth configurations defined in the relevant standard, while the first station supports some of these bandwidth configurations, such as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz. In this case, the first access point may select one of the bandwidth configurations supported by the first station, such as 40 MHz. It should be understood that the above approach is merely illustrative and should not constitute a limitation. For example, in other embodiments of the present application, when allocating bandwidth, the first access point may also consider the current buffering status of the first station's uplink or downlink data, that is, the amount of data to be transmitted. If the amount of data to be transmitted is large, a larger bandwidth, such as 160 MHz, may be allocated; if the amount of data to be transmitted is small, a smaller bandwidth, such as 40 MHz, may be allocated.

302. The first access point sends a first frame to the first station, where the first frame includes a first bandwidth and first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first resource, and the first indication information includes a first transformation length L and a first time resource index.

In an embodiment of the present application, a time resource unit (TimeRU) can be defined in the time domain, and resources can be allocated in units of Time Resource Units. Therefore, after the first access point determines the first bandwidth and the corresponding first transform length, it can allocate the corresponding Time Resource Unit to the first station. The first access point can then send first indication information to the first station. Accordingly, the first station can receive the first indication information from the first access point. The first indication information can be used to indicate the first resource allocated to the first station, that is, the position in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first bandwidth allocated to the first station. The first indication information can include a first transform length (L) and a first time resource index. The first transform length L can be used to indicate either an IFFT length or an FFT length. The first time resource index can indicate L positions among a plurality of positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first bandwidth, that is, the Time Resource Unit allocated to the first station. Exemplarily, the OFDM symbol length corresponding to the first bandwidth can be (W/20)*256. The first bandwidth can include multiple subcarriers. The subcarrier spacing can be greater than or equal to (W/L), and L can be less than or equal to (W/20)*128. It can be understood that the first indication information may also include a center frequency corresponding to the first bandwidth.

Exemplarily, the first time resource index may be the index of the TimeRU allocated to the first site, that is, the TimeRU number, and reference may be made to Table 3 above.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned first resource can be an uplink resource or a downlink resource. Among them, for uplink resource allocation, the resource indication information can be carried in the trigger frame, and for downlink resource allocation, the resource indication information can be carried in the SIG (signal) field in the PPDU. For example, when the first resource is an uplink resource, the above-mentioned first frame can be a trigger frame, and the first indication information can be carried in the user information field (userinfo) in the first frame. When the first resource is a downlink resource, the first indication information can be carried in the SIG field of the first frame. In this case, the first frame can also carry downlink data corresponding to the site (such as the first site). Exemplarily, assuming that the current first site and the second site have corresponding downlink data to be transmitted, the first access point allocates the first resource and the second resource to the first site and the second site respectively. The first access point can carry the first indication information corresponding to the first resource and the second indication information corresponding to the second resource in the SIG field of the first PPDU, and carry the downlink data corresponding to the first site and the second site in the data (data) field of the first PPDU.

The following briefly introduces the relevant processing procedures of the first access point when the first resource is a downlink resource.

Specifically, the first access point can perform L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first site to obtain L time domain signals (i.e., time domain sampling values). Afterwards, the first access point can map the L time domain signals to the L positions indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol. Thereafter, the first access point can send the first OFDM symbol to the first STA. It should be understood that other positions in the first OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index can be used to carry downlink data corresponding to other sites, and the first OFDM symbol can be carried in the first frame. For example, taking the first bandwidth as 20 MHz and the first transform length as 128 as an example, you can refer to the TimeRU division corresponding to Table 3, assuming that RU 1 (i.e., 128-lengthTimeRU 1) is assigned to the first site, and RU 2 (i.e., 128-lengthTimeRU 2) is assigned to the second site. The first access point can map the 128 time domain signals obtained by performing a 128-point IFFT calculation on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first station to [0:2:255], and map the 128 time domain signals obtained by performing a 128-point IFFT calculation on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the second station to [1:2:255]. In this way, a complete OFDM symbol including a 256-bit time domain signal corresponding to a 20 MHz bandwidth can be obtained. Afterwards, the first access point can normalize the OFDM symbol and add a cyclic prefix (CP) for transmission. It should be understood that before obtaining the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first station, channel coding, modulation (such as QAM modulation), and other processes may also be included, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

It is understandable that in an embodiment of the present application, the first access point may divide the multiple positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first bandwidth into multiple parts (i.e., TimeRUs), and different parts may be used by different users. Moreover, the number of positions included in the multiple divided parts may be the same or different, that is, the multiple positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first bandwidth may be divided into the same type of TimeRUs for use by different users, or the multiple positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first bandwidth may be divided into different types of TimeRUs for use by different users.

Exemplarily, the first access point can allocate the same type of TimeRU to the first site and the second site. That is, the IFFT length used by the first site and the second site can be the same, and can both be the first transform length. In this case, the first frame can also include third indication information, which can be used to indicate a third resource. The third indication information can include the first transform length and a third time resource index. The third time resource index can be used to indicate L positions among a plurality of positions included in the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first bandwidth, that is, to indicate the TimeRUs allocated to the second site. These L positions can be used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the second site. The positions indicated by the first time resource index and the third time resource index are different. Taking a first bandwidth of 20 MHz and a first transform length of 128 as an example, referring to the TimeRU division corresponding to Table 3, RU 1 (i.e., 128-length TimeRU 1) can be allocated to the first site, and RU 2 (i.e., 128-length TimeRU 2) can be allocated to the second site. The sampling point set corresponding to RU 1 can be [0:2:255], and the sampling point set corresponding to RU 2 can be [1:2:255]. It should be understood that, in the case of uplink resource allocation, the first resource and the third resource can be uplink resources, the first bandwidth can be carried in the common information field (commoninfo) in the first frame, and the first indication information and the third indication information can be carried in the user information field in the first frame. In the case of downlink resource allocation, the first resource and the third resource can be downlink resources, the first bandwidth can be carried in the SIG field in the first frame, and the first indication information and the third indication information can also be carried in the SIG field in the first frame. In one possible implementation, the SIG field can be divided into multiple areas, and different areas can be used to carry specific information. Exemplarily, the multiple areas may include a first area and a second area, wherein the first area can be used to carry common information of different users, such as the above-mentioned first bandwidth, and the second area can be used to carry user information corresponding to each user, such as the above-mentioned first indication information and the second indication information.

As another example, the first access point can allocate different types of TimeRUs to the first and second stations. That is, the first and second stations may use different IFFT lengths. For example, the IFFT length used by the second station may be the second transform length, where the first transform length and the second transform length are different. In this case, the first frame may further include second indication information, which may be used to indicate a second resource. The second indication information may include the second transform length (M) and a second time resource index. The second time resource index may be used to indicate M positions among a plurality of positions included in an OFDM symbol corresponding to the first bandwidth, thereby indicating the TimeRU allocated to the second station. The positions indicated by the first and second time resource indexes are different. For example, with a first bandwidth of 20 MHz, a first transform length of 32, and a second transform length of 64, as shown in Table 3, the TimeRU divisions corresponding to RU 1 (i.e., 32-length TimeRU 1) may be allocated to the first station, and RU 2 (i.e., 128-length TimeRU 2) may be allocated to the second station. Furthermore, the first access point may allocate 32-length TimeRU 2 to the fourth station and 64-length TimeRU 2 to the fifth station.

In some possible implementations, the first access point may further divide the frequency domain resources into multiple parts, with different parts allocated to different users. Exemplarily, the first indication information may further include a frequency domain resource index, which is used to indicate one or more subcarriers, and the one or more subcarriers may be some of the multiple subcarriers corresponding to the first bandwidth. In this case, different users can use the same TimeRU in the time domain and different subcarriers in the frequency domain. For example, taking the first bandwidth as 20 MHz and the first transform length as 128 as an example, refer to the TimeRU division corresponding to Table 3. Assuming that 128-length TimeRU 1 is allocated to STA1 and STA2, in the frequency domain, STA1 uses subcarriers -13:-1 and STA2 uses subcarriers 1:13. Afterwards, STA1 and STA2 using the same TimeRU can be distinguished by frequency domain resources.

303. The first site processes the first frame.

After receiving the first frame from the first access point, the first station may process/parse the first frame, and then may receive downlink data or send uplink data based on the first resource indicated by the first indication information in the first frame.

Exemplarily, when the first resource is an uplink resource, the first indication information may be carried in the user information field of the first frame, and accordingly, the first station may obtain the first indication information from the user information field of the first frame. When the first resource is a downlink resource, the first indication information may be carried in the SIG field of the first frame, and accordingly, the first station may obtain the first indication information from the SIG field of the first frame. In this case, the first frame may also include downlink data, and the first station may receive the corresponding downlink data in the first frame based on the first resource indicated by the first indication information.

The following is a simple example of the processing process of the first station receiving downlink data.

Assume that a first station receives the first OFDM symbol in the first frame from a first access point. The first station can then obtain L time-domain signals at the location indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol. The first station can then perform an L-point FFT calculation based on the L time-domain signals to obtain a frequency-domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first station. For example, taking a first bandwidth of 20 MHz and a first transform length of 128 as an example, referring to the TimeRU partitioning corresponding to Table 3, it can be assumed that RU 1 (i.e., 128-length TimeRU 1) is assigned to the first station, and RU 2 (i.e., 128-length TimeRU 2) is assigned to the second station. The sampling point set corresponding to RU 1 can be [0:2:255], and the sampling point set corresponding to RU 2 can be [1:2:255]. After the first site receives the corresponding OFDM symbol (including 256 time domain signals), the first site can extract the sampling point set [0:2:255] in the OFDM symbol to obtain 128 time domain signals, and the second site can extract the sampling point set [1:2:255] in the OFDM symbol to obtain 128 time domain signals. Then the first site and the second site can perform 128-point FFT respectively to obtain the frequency domain signals of their corresponding downlink data.

The following briefly illustrates the relevant processing procedures of the first site when the first resource is an uplink resource.

Specifically, the first site can perform L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the first site to obtain L time domain signals. Afterwards, the first site can map the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in the second OFDM symbol, and can fill the other positions in the second OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index with 0 to obtain the second OFDM symbol. Thereafter, the first site can send the second OFDM symbol to the first access point. It should be understood that the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the above-mentioned first site can be a frequency domain signal obtained based on the uplink data of the first site. It should be understood that the other positions in the second OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index can be used to carry the uplink data corresponding to other sites. For example, taking the first bandwidth as 20MHz and the first transform length as 128 as an example, you can refer to the TimeRU division corresponding to Table 3, assuming that RU 1 (i.e., 128-lengthTimeRU 1) is assigned to the first site and RU 2 (i.e., 128-lengthTimeRU 2) is assigned to the second site. The first station can map the 128 time domain signals obtained by calculating the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the first station through a 128-point IFFT to [0:2:255], and fill the remaining positions [1:2:255] with 0, to obtain a complete OFDM symbol including a 256-bit time domain signal corresponding to a 20MHz bandwidth. Afterwards, the first station can normalize the OFDM symbol and add a CP for transmission. Similarly, the second station can map the 128 time domain signals obtained by calculating the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the second station through a 128-point IFFT to [1:2:255], and fill the remaining positions [0:2:255] with 0, to obtain a complete OFDM symbol including a 256-bit time domain signal corresponding to a 20MHz bandwidth. Afterwards, the second station can normalize the OFDM symbol and add a CP for transmission. Ultimately, the first access point can receive overlapping OFDM symbols of the first site and the second site, and the OFDM symbols sent by the first site and the OFDM symbols sent by the second site can be aligned (that is, the 256 time domain signals included in the OFDM symbols are aligned in sequence). In this case, the first access point can distinguish the first site and the second site based on the TimeRU allocated to the first site and the second site, and obtain the data corresponding to the first site and the second site.

It should be understood that for a fixed bandwidth, the number of sampling points included in the corresponding OFDM symbol can be fixed. Even if a single station is allocated only a portion of the OFDM symbol, during final transmission, the station needs to fill the remaining positions in the OFDM symbol with zeros before adding the CP for transmission. Therefore, for a fixed bandwidth, even if different stations use different IFFT lengths, they can use the same CP length. In other words, for a fixed bandwidth, a unified CP length can be supported, regardless of the IFFT length, which can improve transmission efficiency.

In the above processing flow, the corresponding IFFT length can be selected for the site based on the channel conditions, and different subcarrier spacings can be flexibly supported, thereby meeting the transmission distance, SNR and other requirements of scenarios such as LPI. Moreover, based on the actual situation/actual needs of each site, the access point can allocate different types of TimeRUs to different sites, which can improve resource utilization efficiency. In addition, this solution can reuse existing OFDM symbol lengths (such as 802.11be), and can reuse existing subcarrier division structures based on the number of IFFT points (such as the 802.11ac-related subcarrier division structure can be reused under the 20MHz bandwidth introduced above), thereby achieving low complexity. Furthermore, this solution also provides some smaller IFFT lengths (such as 32, 64, 128, etc.). The use of these smaller IFFT lengths can effectively reduce the peak to average power ratio (PAPR) of the time domain signal, thereby reducing the error caused by nonlinear distortion.

The above mainly introduces the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. It can be understood that in order to realize the corresponding functions mentioned above, the above-mentioned first access point and the first station may include hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. In combination with the units and steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiments of the present application, the first access point and the first station, etc., can be divided into functional modules according to the above-mentioned method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into a single module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules. It should be noted that the module division in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used.

In the case of dividing the functional modules according to their functions, FIG4 shows a possible structural diagram of a communication device 400. The communication device 400 may include a processing unit 401 and a sending unit 402.

In one possible design, the communication device 400 may be the first access point described above, or may be a chip in the first access point, or may be a processing system in the first access point, etc.

A processing unit 401 is configured to determine a first transform length L from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to a first bandwidth, where different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings;

The sending unit 402 is used to send a first frame to the first station STA, where the first frame includes the first bandwidth and first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first resource, and the first indication information includes the first transform length and a first time resource index, where the first transform length is used to indicate the inverse fast Fourier transform IFFT length, and the first time resource index is used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbol, where the L positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 401 is specifically configured to determine a first transform length from multiple transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth according to a channel condition, where the channel condition includes one or more of a received signal strength indicator, a signal-to-noise ratio, and a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio; and different transform lengths correspond to different channel conditions.

In a possible implementation, the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource.

In one possible implementation, before sending the first frame to the first STA, the processing unit 401 is further configured to:

Perform L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals;

Mapping the L time domain signals to a position indicated by the first time resource index in a first OFDM symbol;

The sending unit 402 sends the first frame to the first STA, including:

The first OFDM symbol is sent to the first STA.

In one possible implementation, the first frame also includes second indication information, which is used to indicate the second resource. The second indication information includes a second transform length M and a second time resource index. The second time resource index is used to indicate M positions in the OFDM symbol. The M positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the second STA. The first transform length is different from the second transform length, and the positions indicated by the first time resource index and the third time resource index are different.

In one possible implementation, when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; when the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; when the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; when the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; when the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, where the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers.

The specific operations of each unit in the above communication device 400 can refer to the description corresponding to the first access point in the above method embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

FIG5 shows a possible structural diagram of a communication device 500. The communication device 500 includes a receiving unit 501 and a processing unit 502. The communication device 500 may further include a sending unit 503.

In one possible design, the communication device 500 may be the aforementioned first site, or may be a chip in the first site, or may be a processing system in the first site, etc.

A receiving unit 501 is configured to receive a first frame from a first access point AP, the first frame including a first bandwidth and first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first resource, the first indication information including a first transform length L and a first time resource index, the first transform length being used to indicate an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) length, the first time resource index being used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the L positions being used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to a first STA; wherein the first bandwidth corresponds to multiple transform lengths, the multiple transform lengths including the first transform length, and different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings;

The processing unit 502 is configured to process the first frame.

In a possible implementation, the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource.

In a possible implementation, the receiving unit 501 receiving the first frame from the first AP includes:

receiving a first OFDM symbol from the first AP;

The processing unit 502 processes the first frame including:

Acquire L time domain signals at the position indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol;

An L-point FFT calculation is performed based on the L time domain signals to obtain a frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA.

In a possible implementation, after processing the first frame, the processing unit 502 is further configured to:

Perform L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals;

Mapping the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in the second OFDM symbol, and filling other positions in the second OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index with 0;

The apparatus 500 may further include:

The sending unit 503 is configured to send the second OFDM symbol to the first AP.

In one possible implementation, when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; when the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; when the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; when the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; when the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, where the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers.

The specific operations of each unit in the above-mentioned communication device 500 can refer to the corresponding description of the first station in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

In one possible implementation, in the communication device shown in Figures 4 and 5, the processing unit can be one or more processors/logic circuits, the sending unit can be a transmitter, and the receiving unit can be a receiver. The sending unit and the receiving unit can be integrated into a device, such as a transceiver. In the embodiment of the present application, the processor and the transceiver can be coupled. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the connection method between the processor and the transceiver. In the process of executing the above method, the process of sending information (such as sending the first frame) in the above method can be understood as the process of the processor outputting the above information. When outputting the above information, the processor can output the above information to the transceiver so that the transceiver can transmit it. After being output by the processor, the above information may also need to undergo other processing before reaching the transceiver. Similarly, the process of receiving information (such as receiving the first frame) in the above method can be understood as the process of the processor receiving the input information. When the processor receives the input information, the transceiver receives the above information and inputs it into the processor. Furthermore, after the transceiver receives the above information, the above information may need to undergo other processing before being input into the processor.

Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of a possible hardware structure of a communication device 600 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Communication device 600 may include a communication interface 604 and at least one processor 602. Optionally, it may also include a bus 603. Furthermore, it may optionally include at least one memory 601, wherein memory 601, processor 602, and communication interface 604 may be connected via bus 603.

Memory 601 is used to provide storage space for storing data such as an operating system and computer programs. Memory 601 can be one or a combination of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM).

Processor 602 is a module that performs arithmetic operations and/or logical operations, and can specifically be one or more combinations of processing modules such as a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a microprocessor unit (MPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and a complex programmable logic device (CPLD).

The communication interface 604 is used to receive data sent externally and/or send data externally. It can be a wired link interface such as an Ethernet cable, or a wireless link interface (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, general wireless transmission, etc.). Optionally, the communication interface 604 can also include a transmitter (such as a radio frequency transmitter, antenna, etc.) or a receiver coupled to the interface.

In one design, the communication device 600 can be used to perform the functions of the first access point in the aforementioned embodiment. For details, please refer to the corresponding description of the first access point in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

In another design, the communication device 600 can be used to perform the functions of the first site in the aforementioned embodiment. For details, please refer to the corresponding description of the first site in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

In one possible design, the processor 602 in the device 600 is used to read the computer program stored in the memory 601 to execute the operations performed by the first access point or the first station in the aforementioned communication method, such as the communication method described in the embodiment corresponding to Figure 3.

It should be noted that the communication device 600 shown in FIG6 is only one implementation of the embodiment of the present application. In actual applications, the communication device 600 may also include more or fewer components, which is not limited here.

An embodiment of the present application further discloses a communication system, which includes a first access point and a first station. The first access point is used to perform the operations performed by the first access point in any of the above method embodiments, and the first station is used to perform the operations performed by the first station in any of the above method embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application further discloses a chip, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute a computer program or computer instructions stored in a memory, so that the chip performs the operations performed by the first access point in the above method embodiment, or performs the operations performed by the first station in the above method embodiment.

As a possible implementation, the memory is located outside the chip.

An embodiment of the present application further discloses a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon. When the instructions are executed, the operations performed by the first access point in the above method embodiment or the operations performed by the first station in the above method embodiment are performed.

An embodiment of the present application further discloses a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed, perform the operations performed by the first access point in the above method embodiment, or the operations performed by the first station in the above method embodiment.

It should be understood that the transmission in the embodiments of the present application can be direct transmission or indirect transmission. Direct transmission means that a device or module sends information/data directly to a corresponding device or module, and indirect transmission means that a device or module sends information/data to a corresponding device or module through another device or module.

Obviously, the embodiments described above are only some of the embodiments of this application, and not all of them. Reference to "embodiments" herein means that the specific features, structures, or characteristics described in connection with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor does it refer to independent or alternative embodiments that are mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It is understood, both explicitly and implicitly, that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments. All other embodiments derived by persons of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application. In the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application, the terms "first," "second," "third," and so on are used to distinguish between different objects, not to describe a specific order. Furthermore, the terms "including," "having," and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a list of steps or elements may be included, or alternatively, steps or elements not listed may be included, or alternatively, other steps or elements inherent to the process, method, product, or device may be included. It is understandable that, in some embodiments, the equal sign of the above-mentioned conditional judgment can be taken as greater than one end or less than one end. For example, the above-mentioned conditional judgment of a threshold being greater than, less than, or equal to can also be changed to a conditional judgment of the threshold being greater than, equal to, or less than. This is not limited here. It is also understandable that, for an architecture with multiple devices or modules, if one of the devices or modules generates information and another device or module uses the information, there can be multiple ways for the other device to obtain the information. For example, the device or module that generates the information can send the information directly to the device or module that uses the information (equivalent to direct sending), or the device or module that generates the information can send the information to the device or module that uses the information through other devices or modules (equivalent to indirect sending).

It will be appreciated that only the parts relevant to the present application, not all of the contents, are shown in the accompanying drawings. It will be appreciated that some exemplary embodiments are described as processes or methods depicted as flow charts. Although the flow charts describe the various operations (or steps) as sequential processes, many of the operations therein can be implemented in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the various operations can be rearranged as long as it is logical. The process can be terminated when its operation is completed, but can also have additional steps not included in the accompanying drawings. The process can correspond to a method, function, procedure, subroutine, subprogram, etc.

As used in this specification, the terms "component," "module," "system," "unit," and the like are used to refer to computer-related entities, hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a unit can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, an execution thread, a program, and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these units can be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. For example, a unit can communicate through local and/or remote processes based on signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from a second unit interacting with another unit in a local system, a distributed system, and/or a network. For example, the Internet interacts with other systems via signals).

The specific implementation methods described above further illustrate the purpose, technical solutions and beneficial effects of this application. It should be understood that the above description is only the specific implementation methods of this application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made on the basis of the technical solutions of this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application.

Claims (33)

A communication method, applied to a first access point AP, is characterized in that the method comprises: Determining a first transform length L from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth, where different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings; A first frame is sent to a first station STA, where the first frame includes the first bandwidth and first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first resource, and the first indication information includes the first transform length and a first time resource index, where the first transform length is used to indicate the inverse fast Fourier transform IFFT length, and the first time resource index is used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbol, where the L positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the first transform length from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth comprises: The first transform length is determined from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth according to a channel condition, wherein the channel condition includes one or more of a received signal strength indicator, a signal-to-noise ratio, and a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio; different transform lengths correspond to different channel conditions. The method according to claim 1 or 2 is characterized in that the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource. The method according to claim 1 or 2 is characterized in that the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that before sending the first frame to the first STA, the method further comprises: Performing L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; Mapping the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in a first OFDM symbol; The sending the first frame to the first STA includes: Send the first OFDM symbol to the first STA. The method according to any one of claims 1-5 is characterized in that the first frame also includes second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the second resource, the second indication information includes a second transform length M and a second time resource index, the second time resource index is used to indicate M positions in the OFDM symbol, the M positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the second STA, the first transform length is different from the second transform length, and the positions indicated by the first time resource index and the third time resource index are different. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; When the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; When the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; When the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; When the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048. The method according to any one of claims 1-7 is characterized in that the first indication information also includes a frequency domain resource index, and the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers. A communication method, applied to a first station (STA), is characterized in that the method includes: Receiving a first frame from a first access point AP, the first frame including a first bandwidth and first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first resource, the first indication information including a first transform length L and a first time resource index, the first transform length being used to indicate an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) length, the first time resource index being used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the L positions being used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA; wherein the first bandwidth corresponds to multiple transform lengths, the multiple transform lengths including the first transform length, and different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings; The first frame is processed. The method according to claim 9 is characterized in that the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource. The method according to claim 9 is characterized in that the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource. The method according to claim 11, wherein receiving the first frame from the first AP comprises: receiving a first OFDM symbol from the first AP; The processing of the first frame comprises: Acquire L time domain signals at the position indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol; An L-point FFT calculation is performed based on the L time domain signals to obtain a frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that after processing the first frame, the method further comprises: Perform L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; Mapping the L time domain signals to the positions indicated by the first time resource index in a second OFDM symbol, and filling other positions in the second OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index with 0; The second OFDM symbol is sent to the first AP. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; When the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; When the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; When the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; When the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 14 is characterized in that the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, and the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers. A communication device, comprising: a processing unit, configured to determine a first transform length L from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth, where different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings; A sending unit is used to send a first frame to a first station STA, where the first frame includes the first bandwidth and first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate a first resource, the first indication information includes the first transform length and a first time resource index, the first transform length is used to indicate the inverse fast Fourier transform IFFT length, and the first time resource index is used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM symbol, and the L positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the first STA. The device according to claim 16, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to: The first transform length is determined from a plurality of transform lengths corresponding to the first bandwidth according to a channel condition, wherein the channel condition includes one or more of a received signal strength indicator, a signal-to-noise ratio, and a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio; different transform lengths correspond to different channel conditions. The device according to claim 16 or 17 is characterized in that the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource. The device according to claim 16 or 17 is characterized in that the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein, before sending the first frame to the first STA, the processing unit is further configured to: Performing L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; Mapping the L time domain signals to the position indicated by the first time resource index in a first OFDM symbol; The sending unit sending the first frame to the first STA includes: Send the first OFDM symbol to the first STA. The device according to any one of claims 16-20 is characterized in that the first frame also includes second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the second resource, the second indication information includes a second transform length M and a second time resource index, the second time resource index is used to indicate M positions in the OFDM symbol, the M positions are used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to the second STA, the first transform length is different from the second transform length, and the positions indicated by the first time resource index and the third time resource index are different. The device according to any one of claims 16 to 21, wherein when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; When the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; When the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; When the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; When the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048. The device according to any one of claims 16 to 22 is characterized in that the first indication information further includes a frequency domain resource index, and the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers. A communication device, comprising: A receiving unit, configured to receive a first frame from a first access point AP, the first frame including a first bandwidth and first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first resource, the first indication information including a first transform length L and a first time resource index, the first transform length being used to indicate an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) length, the first time resource index being used to indicate L positions in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the L positions being used to carry downlink data or uplink data corresponding to a first STA; wherein the first bandwidth corresponds to multiple transform lengths, the multiple transform lengths including the first transform length, and different transform lengths correspond to different subcarrier spacings; A processing unit is configured to process the first frame. The device according to claim 24 is characterized in that the first frame is a trigger frame, the first indication information is carried in a user information field of the first frame, and the first resource is an uplink resource. The device according to claim 24 is characterized in that the first indication information is carried in a signaling SIG field of the first frame, and the first resource is a downlink resource. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the receiving unit receives the first frame from the first AP, comprising: receiving a first OFDM symbol from the first AP; The processing unit processes the first frame, comprising: Acquire L time domain signals at the position indicated by the first time resource index in the first OFDM symbol; An L-point FFT calculation is performed based on the L time domain signals to obtain a frequency domain signal of the downlink data corresponding to the first STA. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein after processing the first frame, the processing unit is further configured to: Perform L-point IFFT calculations based on the frequency domain signal of the uplink data corresponding to the first STA to obtain L time domain signals; Mapping the L time domain signals to the positions indicated by the first time resource index in a second OFDM symbol, and filling other positions in the second OFDM symbol except the position indicated by the first time resource index with 0; The device further comprises: A sending unit is used to send the second OFDM symbol to the first AP. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 28, wherein when the first bandwidth is 20 MHz, the first length is 32, 64 or 128; When the first bandwidth is 40 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128 or 256; When the first bandwidth is 80 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512; When the first bandwidth is 160 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024; When the first bandwidth is 320 MHz, the first length is 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048. The device according to any one of claims 24-29 is characterized in that the first indication information also includes a frequency domain resource index, and the frequency domain resource index is used to indicate one or more subcarriers. A communication device, characterized in that it includes a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to receive and/or send data; the processor calls a computer program or computer instruction stored in a memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, or implements the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or computer instructions, and the computer program or computer instructions are executed by a processor to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, or to implement the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product includes computer program code or computer instructions, and when the computer program code or computer instructions are executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 9 to 15 is implemented.