CN103379595B - In WLAN (wireless local area network), STA obtains method, the Apparatus and system of data - Google Patents

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for a STA to obtain data in a wireless local area network, including: if the AP has data to send to the STA, according to the communication capability of the AP and the network condition, the STA receives the following data: Data identification information is added to a beacon, where the data identification information is used to instruct the STA to acquire data from the AP. Correspondingly, the embodiments of the present invention also provide a user equipment and a communication system. Through the above technical solution, the AP can selectively notify a specific STA to obtain data in a specific beacon according to its own capabilities, so as to coordinate multiple or The channel usage time of multiple groups of STAs enables STAs to obtain data from APs in a timely and orderly manner, thereby reducing the energy consumption of STAs in power-saving mode to obtain data and using channels more reasonably.

Description

Method, device and system for acquiring data by STA in wireless local area network

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a method, device and system for STAs to acquire data in a wireless local area network.

Background technique

In WLAN (WirelessLocalAreaNetworks, wireless local area network), because STA (Station, wireless station) is usually powered by battery, energy is limited, the MAC (MediumAccessControl, media access control) layer detailed specification defined by IEEE802.11 defines the power saving mode, Allow STA to work in "awake state" or "sleep state". AP (AccessPoint, access point) periodically broadcasts Beacon (beacon) according to BI (BeaconInterval, beacon interval), and STA working in power saving mode periodically receives beacon according to ListenInterval, where the beacon is used to notify A management frame for some specific information of the STA. ListenInterval is an integer greater than or equal to zero in the standard, meaning that there are ListenInterval BeaconIntervals between two adjacent beacons received periodically by the STA.

In the existing 802.11 standard, when an STA associates with an AP, it will identify its own ListenInterval value in the association request, and the STA selectively receives beacons according to the ListenInterval. When the AP has data to be sent to the STA, it marks the information in TIM (TrafficIndicationMap, traffic indication map) for broadcasting. After receiving the TIM containing the information, the STA obtains the data according to the standard regulations. Among them, the TIM is An information element used by the AP to notify the STA that the AP buffers data for the STA, and is generally included in the beacon.

In a network with a large number of STAs, due to fierce channel competition, although the AP indicates that there is data for the STA in the beacon received periodically by the STA, in the BI of the beacon, the AP will send data to too many STAs or There are too many STAs competing to upload data, resulting in the STA failing to compete for the channel in the BI to obtain data, the STA will always be active or even compete for the channel state for more than one BI, causing the STA to consume more energy. , for a STA with a large ListenInterval, the above solution may cause the AP to fail to send data to the STA in time.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for obtaining data by STAs in a wireless local area network, user equipment and a communication system, so that STAs working in a power saving mode in a wireless local area network can obtain data in a more timely and power-saving manner.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for obtaining data by a station STA in a wireless local area network, which is used for the STA to obtain data from its access point AP, including:

The AP periodically sends a beacon to the STA, and the time interval between two adjacent beacons sent is the beacon interval BI, and the beacon is used by the AP to notify the STA of specific information. a management frame;

If the AP has data to send to the STA, according to the AP’s communication capabilities and network conditions, add data identification information to the next beacon received by the STA, the data identification information is used to indicate the The STA acquires data from the AP.

An embodiment of the present invention also provides a user equipment, which is applied in a wireless local area network, and is characterized in that it includes: a memory, a processing unit, and an antenna, and the memory and the antenna are connected to the processing unit through a bus system, wherein,

The antenna periodically sends a beacon to the station STA accessing the user equipment, and the time interval between two adjacent beacons sent is a beacon interval BI, and the beacon is the user equipment A management frame used by the device to notify the STA of specific information;

The memory is used for buffering data to be sent to the STA;

The processing unit is configured to add data identification information to the next beacon received by the STA according to the communication capability and network conditions of the user equipment when the user equipment needs to send data to the STA , the data identification information is used to instruct the STA to acquire data from the user equipment.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication system, including: the user equipment described above, and at least one station STA, where the at least one STA communicates with the user equipment.

In the embodiment of the present invention, through the above technical solutions, when the AP has data to send to the STA, the AP selectively notifies the specific STA to obtain the data in a specific beacon according to its own communication capability and network conditions, so as to coordinate multiple Or the channel usage time of multiple groups of STAs, so that STAs can obtain data from the AP in a timely and orderly manner, so that STAs do not need to be in an active state for a long time to compete for channels to obtain data, thereby reducing the STA’s power-saving mode. The energy consumption of acquiring data also makes more reasonable and effective use of channels.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only These are some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained according to these drawings without any creative effort.

FIG. 1 is a network topology diagram of a network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the process of associating an AP with a STA according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the process of reassociation between an AP and an STA provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an example diagram of second identification information in a beacon provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of another method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of second identification information in a beacon provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a structural diagram of a user equipment provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Embodiment 1. Embodiment 1 of the present invention provides a method for a STA in a wireless local area network to obtain data, which is used for the STA in the wireless local area network to obtain data from an AP it accesses. Fig. 1 shows the typical network topological structure figure of application technical scheme of the present invention, according to Fig. 1, wireless local area network 100 comprises: access point (AP, AccessPoint) 120, and the station (STA, AccessPoint) by access point 120 access network Station) 110-115, which are associated with STAs 110-115 under the same AP 120 to form a basic service set (BSS); the wireless local area network 100 accesses the backbone network 140 through the gateway 130, and then connects to the server in the network.

It should be noted that the STA in the embodiment of the present invention refers to the basic logical entity in the wireless local area network. Specifically, the STA may be a terminal device including a wireless local area network interface. For example, many mobile phones and tablet computers on the market currently support the wireless local area network interface. The laptop also has a built-in wireless LAN interface. For some devices that do not have a wireless local area network interface, you can provide a wireless local area network interface by installing a WLAN wireless network card.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network provided by an embodiment of the present invention. According to FIG. 2, the method includes:

Step 201, the AP periodically sends a beacon to the STA, and the time interval between two adjacent beacons sent is the beacon interval BI;

It should be noted that the IEEE802.11 protocol defines a power management (power management) mechanism at the MAC layer, and proposes to use the state transition of the node between the active mode (active mode) and the power saving mode (power save mode, PSM) to reduce the overall energy. Consumption, thereby prolonging the battery life. According to the description of the IEEE802.11 protocol, in the time-driven energy-saving mechanism, the time axis is divided into continuous BI (BeaconInterval, beacon interval), and AP (AccessPoint, access point) periodically broadcasts Beacon (beacon) according to BI , the STA working in the power saving mode periodically receives the beacon according to the ListenInterval, wherein the beacon is a management frame used to notify the STA of some specific information.

Step 202, if the AP has data to send to the STA, according to the AP's communication capabilities and network conditions, add data identification information to the next beacon received by the STA, and the data identification information uses to instruct the STA to acquire data from the AP.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the AP can evenly arrange the STA data cached by itself in one or more BIs and send them to corresponding STAs according to its own communication capabilities and current network conditions. It should be noted that the communication capability of the AP includes, but is not limited to: the size of the storage space of the AP, the amount of data currently stored, the rate at which the AP sends data, and the like. In one embodiment, assuming that the next beacon received by the STA is beacon a, the AP can identify the TIM in beacon a, or add corresponding identification information to beacon a (for example, use STAID identify), and broadcast to inform the STA that in the BI of beacon a or the BI of other beacons after beacon a, obtain data from AP; wherein, TIM is a kind of data contained in the beacon Structure (information element), used to notify the STA that the AP caches data for the STA. After receiving the beacon containing the data identification information, the STA obtains the data according to the standard. In one embodiment, the STA obtains corresponding data by sending a PSPoll frame, wherein the PSPoll frame is a control frame specified in the 802.11 protocol, and is used for the STA in the power saving mode to request the AP to send the data frame buffered for the STA; In another embodiment, the AP may also proactively send corresponding data to the STA in the BI of the beacon a.

In the embodiment of the present invention, through the above technical solutions, when the AP has data to send to the STA, the AP selectively notifies the specific STA to obtain the data in a specific beacon according to its own communication capability and network conditions, so as to coordinate multiple Or the channel usage time of multiple groups of STAs, so that STAs can obtain data from the AP in a timely and orderly manner, so that STAs do not need to be in an active state for a long time to compete for channels to obtain data, thereby reducing the STA’s power-saving mode. The energy consumption of acquiring data also makes more reasonable and effective use of channels.

Further, in a more specific implementation provided by the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 , the method for obtaining data by the STA in the wireless local area network provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes:

In step 301, the AP periodically sends a beacon to the STA communicating with it, and the time interval between two adjacent beacons sent is the beacon interval BI, and the beacon is used by the AP to notify A management frame of the specific information of each STA;

Step 302, when the AP has data to be sent to the STA in the sleep state, determine the next beacon a received by the STA after waking up from the sleep state;

Specifically, the AP may determine the next beacon a received by the STA according to the ListenInterval value of the STA; wherein the ListenInterval value represents the beacon between two adjacent beacons periodically received by the STA. The number of interval BeaconInterval;

It should be noted that, according to the above description of STA power-saving mode, STA only wakes up at a certain time for a period of time to monitor Beacon or interactive information, and stays in sleep state for the rest of the time. In the existing IEEE802.11 protocol, STA sleeps once The time is determined according to its ListenInterval value. In the IEEE802.11 protocol, ListenInterval is an integer greater than or equal to zero, which means the number of BeaconIntervals between two adjacent beacons periodically received by the STA. That is, there are ListenInterval BIs between two adjacent beacons received periodically by the STA; for example, if the ListenInterval of a certain STA is 10, it means that the STA wakes up after receiving a beacon after sleeping for 10 BIs, and then Receive the next beacon, that is, the STA sleeps once for 10 BIs; in this way, as long as the ListenInterval value of the STA is known, the next beacon a received by the STA can be determined.

In one embodiment, the ListenInterval value of an STA can be statically configured by the user using the STA. In an 802.11ah application scenario, there are generally 6000+ STAs working in power-saving mode. Therefore, the value of ListenInterval The setting should be as large as possible; in another embodiment, the STA can also adjust the ListenInterval value according to preset conditions. The preset conditions mentioned here can be the current battery power of the STA. For example, if the STA The current power is low, and the value of ListenInterval can be appropriately increased; the preset condition can also be the current network status or network parameters.

Optionally, in another embodiment, before step 302, it also includes:

Step 301a, when the STA associates with the AP, it identifies its own ListenInterval value in the association request, so that the AP saves its ListenInterval value.

Through this step, the STA reports its pre-configured ListenInterval value to the AP for storage during the process of associating with the AP, so that the AP can use the ListenInterval value to determine the next beacon received by the STA when sending data. a.

Optionally, in another embodiment, the AP may also reassign the ListenInterval value to the STA. Specifically, before step 302, it also includes:

In step 301b, the AP assigns a ListenInterval value to the STA during the association process with the STA, so that the STA uses the ListenInterval value to replace its original ListenInterval value.

Specifically, the specific implementation process of step 301b is shown in Figure 4. During the association process between the STA and the AP, it receives the association request AssociationRequest sent by the STA, and then notifies the STA of the ListenInterval value assigned to the STA in the AssociationResponseframe corresponding to the association request. STA, after receiving the STA, it replaces its original ListenInterval value with the ListenInterval value.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5 , during the process of reassociation between the STA and the AP, if necessary, the AP may also put the updated ListenInterval value in the ReassociationResponseframe to notify the STA. After the STA receives it, it replaces its original ListenInterval value with the ListenInterval value.

Step 303 , the AP decides whether to notify the STA in beacon a that the AP has its data according to its cached data volume, data transmission rate, and BI length.

In one embodiment, the AP can evenly arrange the data of the STAs cached by the AP in one or more BIs and send them to the corresponding STAs. Specifically, when the AP has data to send to a certain STA, the AP judges whether the currently cached data can be sent in one BI according to the size of the data it currently caches, the data transmission rate, and the length of the BI. If the cached data can be sent in one BI, it is decided to notify the STA that the AP has its data in the next beacon a received after the STA wakes up from the sleep state; if the current cached data cannot be sent in a BI After all the data in the AP have been sent, it is decided not to notify the STA in beacon a that there is its data in the AP.

In order to facilitate a better understanding and implementation of the above solution of the embodiment of the present invention, the processing flow of step 303 of the embodiment of the present invention is further described below by way of examples. Assuming that the AP currently receives data from the server or a third party to be sent to a certain STA (assumed to be A), and the size is 100kb, it will cache the data and count the size of the data it has currently cached (assumed to be 5M) , and then according to the data transmission rate (assumed to be 2M/s), and the length of BI (assumed to be 2s), it can be judged through calculation that the current cached data cannot be sent in one BI, so the AP can decide not to be in the STA The next beacon a received after waking up from the sleep state informs the STA that there is its data in the AP. In this way, after A wakes up from the current sleep state, since the received beacon a does not have its information identification , so it can immediately go to sleep or power-saving state until it receives the next beacon notifying it to receive data. In this way, through reasonable prediction based on the amount of buffered data, channels can be allocated reasonably, avoiding the occurrence of APs giving overtime at the same time. Many STAs send data or there are too many STAs competing to upload data, resulting in STAs failing to compete for a channel in a BI to obtain data, and thus being active or even competing for a channel for more than one BI, causing STAs to consume more much energy.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present invention, the amount of data buffered by the AP, the data transmission rate, and the length of the BI are used as factors considered when deciding whether to notify the STA in the beacon a that the AP has its data. It can be understood that the AP The amount of buffered data, the data transmission rate and the length of BI do not constitute a limitation on the solution of the present invention. It can be understood that in other implementation modes, other related parameters, such as channel quality and access to the AP, can also be used. The number of STAs in the AP is used as a consideration factor when deciding whether to notify the STA in the beacon a that the AP has its data, which will not be repeated here.

Step 304, if yes, the AP adds first identification information to the beacon a, so that the STA obtains data from the AP in the BI of the beacon a after receiving the beacon a;

Specifically, in an embodiment, the AP may identify the TIM in beacon a as the added first identification information, or add STA-specific information (for example, use STAID for identification) in beacon a as the added first identification information. The first identification information is broadcasted to notify the STA that in the BI of beacon a, data is obtained from the AP.

In one embodiment, the STA obtains corresponding data by sending a PSPoll frame, wherein the PSPoll frame is a control frame specified in the 802.11 protocol, and is used for the STA in the power saving mode to request the AP to send the data frame buffered for the STA; In another embodiment, the AP may also proactively send corresponding data to the STA in the BI of the beacon a.

Further, the method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network provided by an embodiment of the present invention further includes:

Step 305, if not, AP selects another beacon after beacon a (hereinafter referred to as beacon b), and adds second identification information to beacon a to notify the STA that it is in the beacon Receive data in BI of b;

Specifically, in an embodiment, the beacon b selected by the AP may be any beacon after the beacon a.

It should be noted that, in an optimal embodiment of the invention, the AP can select the Nth beacon after beacon a as beacon b according to its cached data volume, data transmission rate, and BI length, and 1< =N<ListenInterval; Beacon b is the beacon between Beacon a and the Beacon that is behind the value of ListenInterval from Beacon a, that is, Beacon b wakes up and receives the two adjacent beacons periodically according to the ListenInterval value of the STA. between beacons. Specifically, the AP can estimate the data sent to the STA according to its cached data volume, data transmission rate, and BI length, and which beacon BI after the BI of beacon a can be sent at one time, so as to determine the beacon b. After the AP selects the beacon b, it adds the second identification information to the beacon a, which is used to notify the STA to receive or obtain data in the BI of the beacon b. When the STA wakes up and receives the beacon a, that is This information is available. Specifically, in one embodiment, FIG. 6 is an example of the second identification information in beacon a, and beacon a may carry the second identification information as an information element (InformationElement) in the beacon frame, so as to Prompt the STA to receive or obtain data in the BI of the beacon b. According to FIG. 6, the second identification information contains the identification of the STA and the number N, so as to notify the corresponding STA of the STA identification in the beacon a that the corresponding STA is the first after the beacon a. N BIs are used to receive or obtain data; STAID can be AID, which can uniquely identify STA.

After the STA receives the beacon a and obtains the information, it can immediately enter the sleep or power saving state. Then the STA can obtain the corresponding data in the following two ways, specifically, according to Figure 7:

The first method: as shown in (a) in Figure 7, the STA can stay in sleep or power-saving state until the broadcast time of beacon b and then wake up and receive beacon b. In the BI of beacon b, by sending PS- Poll frames are used to obtain the corresponding data, or as shown in Figure 7(b), the AP actively sends the corresponding data to the STA in the BI. Wherein, the beacon b includes a TIM that indicates that there is data delivered to the STA.

The second method: as shown in Figure 7(c), the STA can stay in the sleep or power-saving state until it wakes up after the beacon b broadcast is completed, and directly obtains the corresponding PS-Poll frame in the BI of the beacon b. data, or the AP actively sends the corresponding data to the STA in the BI.

After the STA obtains the corresponding data, it can immediately enter the sleep or power saving state until the beacon aListenInterval value away from the beacon wakes up and receives the beacon again, that is, the STA wakes up periodically according to the ListenInterval value and receives the beacon.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present invention, no data identification information may be added to the beacon b to notify the STA to acquire data in the BI of the beacon b. Like the beacon a, the first identification information is added to the beacon b again.

In the embodiment of the present invention, through the above technical solutions, when the AP has data to send to the STA, the AP selectively notifies the specific STA to obtain the data in a specific beacon according to its own communication capability and network conditions, so as to coordinate multiple Or the channel usage time of multiple groups of STAs, so that STAs can obtain data from the AP in a timely and orderly manner, so that STAs do not need to be in an active state for a long time to compete for channels to obtain data, thereby reducing the STA’s power-saving mode. The energy consumption of acquiring data also makes more reasonable and effective use of channels.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides another method for obtaining data by a STA in a wireless local area network, which is used for the STA to obtain data from an AP it accesses. This method can also be applied in the network system shown in FIG. 1 .

When the number of STAs in the wireless local area network is relatively large, the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention may first group all or part of the STAs associated with the AP according to certain rules. A group of STAs (Group) have the same ListenInterval value. Based on this premise, as shown in Figure 8, the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention further includes:

In step 801, the AP periodically sends a beacon to each STA in each Group communicated with it, and the time interval between two adjacent beacons sent is the beacon interval BI, and the beacon is the A management frame used by the AP to notify each STA of specific information;

Step 802, when the AP has data to be delivered to the Group, determine the latest next beacon that the Group wakes up and receives (hereinafter referred to as the beacon by beacon a).

Specifically, the AP may determine the next beacon a received by the STA according to the ListenInterval value of the STA; wherein the ListenInterval value represents the beacon between two adjacent beacons periodically received by the STA. The number of BeaconInterval intervals.

In step 803, the AP decides whether to notify the Group in beacon a to obtain the corresponding data (the corresponding data is unicast data from the AP to the STA) according to its cached data volume, data transmission rate and BI length.

In one embodiment, the AP can evenly arrange the data of each group cached by the AP in one or more BIs and send them to the corresponding groups. Specifically, when the AP has data to send to a certain group, the AP judges whether the currently cached data can be sent in one BI according to the amount of data it currently caches, the data transmission rate, and the length of the BI. If all the cached data can be sent in one BI, it is decided to notify the Group that there is data in the AP in the next beacon a received after the Group wakes up from sleep; if the current cached data cannot be sent in one BI After all the data in the group are sent, it is decided not to notify the Group in beacon a that the AP has its data.

Step 804, if yes, the AP notifies the Group that there is corresponding data in the beacon a, so that the STAs in the Group wake up and receive the beacon a, and send PS-Poll frames in the BI of the beacon a Obtain the corresponding data by means, or the AP actively sends the corresponding data to the STAs in the Group in the BI of beacon a.

It should be noted that the AP can notify the Group that there is corresponding data by identifying the TIM in the beacon a, or identifying it with the GroupID in the beacon a.

Further, the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention also includes:

Step 805, if not, AP selects another beacon after beacon a (hereinafter referred to as beacon b), and notifies the Group in beacon a to receive data in the BI of beacon b .

In an embodiment, the beacon b selected by the AP may be any beacon after the beacon a.

In an optimal embodiment of the invention, the AP can select the Nth beacon after beacon a as beacon b according to its cached data volume, data transmission rate, and BI length, and 1<=N<ListenInterval; That is, beacon b must be a beacon between beacon a and the beacon after the ListenInterval value of beacon a, that is, beacon b wakes up periodically and receives two adjacent beacons in the Group according to the ListenInterval value between. After the AP selects the beacon b, it notifies the group in the beacon a to receive or obtain data in the BI of the beacon b, and the beacon a can carry the information as an information element (InformationElement) in the beacon In the frame, when the STA wakes up and receives the beacon a, it can obtain this information.

After the STA receives the beacon a and obtains the information, it can immediately enter the sleep or power saving state. Then STA can obtain the corresponding data in the following two ways. Specifically, according to Figure 9, it is assumed that STA1 and STA2 form a Group:

The first method: as shown in (a) in Figure 9, STA1 and STA2 in the Group can stay in sleep or power-saving state until the broadcast time of beacon b and then wake up and receive beacon b, STA1 and STA2 in the Group In the BI of the beacon b, the corresponding data is obtained by sending a PS-Poll frame, or the AP actively sends the corresponding data to the STAs of the Group in the BI.

The second way: as shown in Figure 9(b), Group can stay in sleep or power-saving state until it wakes up after the broadcast of beacon b is completed, and directly obtains the corresponding PS-Poll frame in the BI of beacon b. data, or the AP actively sends the corresponding data to the STAs of the Group in the BI.

It should be noted that as long as the AP notifies the STA itself or its group to obtain data in the BI of the beacon b, the STA will wake up in the BI and obtain corresponding data. If the AP notifies the STA that the group it belongs to obtains data in the BI of beacon b, but in fact the AP has no data to deliver to the STA, the STA also wakes up and tries to obtain data. As far as this embodiment is concerned, the second identification information can be added to the beacon a to notify the STA itself or its group to obtain data in the BI of the beacon b, as shown in FIG. 10 , the second identification information It is possible to separately identify each STA that has data to be delivered in the Group (such as using TIM), or it is possible to use GroupID (such as using TIM) to uniformly identify a group of STAs. The left figure in Figure 10 is the second identification in beacon a Information example 1 means that the AP informs the Group to receive or obtain data at the nth BI after beacon a; the right picture in Figure 10 is the second identification information example 2 in beacon a, which means that the AP informs the group in the STA1, 3 and 6 receive or obtain data at the Nth BI after beacon a. GroupID is not necessarily carried here.

After the STA of the Group obtains the corresponding data, it can immediately enter the sleep or power saving state until the beacon aListenInterval value away from the beacon wakes up and receives the beacon again, that is, the Group wakes up periodically according to the ListenInterval value and receives the signal mark.

It should also be noted that the AP can simultaneously process multiple groups of STAs, or simultaneously process one or more groups of STAs and/or one or more STAs according to the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, through the above technical solutions, when the AP has data to send to a group formed by a specific STA, the AP selectively notifies the specific group in a specific beacon to obtain data according to its own communication capability and network conditions, To coordinate the channel usage time of multiple or multiple groups of STAs, so that STAs can obtain data from the AP in a timely and orderly manner, so that STAs do not need to be active for a long time to compete for channels to obtain data, thereby reducing the STA’s The energy consumption of acquiring data in the power saving mode also makes more reasonable and effective use of the channel.

Embodiments of the present invention further provide device embodiments for implementing the steps and methods in the above method embodiments. The embodiments of the present invention can be applied to various communication systems, and especially can be adapted to the network system shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 11 shows a structural diagram of a user equipment. According to FIG. 11 , the user equipment 10 includes: a processing unit 101 , a memory 102 and an antenna 103 . The processing unit 101 controls the operation of the user equipment 10, and the processing unit 101 may also be referred to as a CPU. Memory 102 may include read-only memory and random-access memory for providing instructions and data to processing unit 306 . A portion of memory 102 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). In a specific application, the user equipment 10 may be embedded or itself may be a wireless communication device such as a wireless access point, a WiFI hotspot or a wireless router. Various components of the user equipment 10 are coupled together through the bus system 100, wherein the bus system includes not only a data bus, but also a power bus, a control bus and a status signal bus. However, for clarity of illustration, the various buses are labeled as bus system 100 in the figures.

The method for an STA to obtain data disclosed in the embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the user equipment 10 provided in this embodiment, or implemented by the user equipment 10 . In the implementation process, each step of the above method may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of the hardware of the user equipment 10 or an instruction in the form of software. These instructions can be realized and controlled by the processing unit 101 of the user equipment 10 in cooperation. For performing the method disclosed in the first and second embodiments of the present invention, the processing unit 101 can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable Logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components.

Specifically, in the user equipment 10 provided in Embodiment 3 of the present invention, the antenna 103 periodically sends a beacon to each STA that is communicatively connected with the user equipment 10 and works in the power saving mode, wherein the beacon is used to notify the STA A management frame of some specific information, the time interval between two adjacent beacons sent by the antenna 103 is BI (BeaconInterval, beacon slot), and the STA working in the power saving mode receives periodically according to ListenInterval Beacon, ListenInterval is an integer greater than or equal to zero in the standard, which means that there are ListenInterval BIs between two adjacent beacons that STA periodically receives;

The memory 102 is used for caching data to be sent to the STA;

The processing unit 101 is configured to add data identification information to the next beacon received by the STA according to the communication capability and network conditions of the user equipment 10 itself when the user equipment 10 has data to be sent to the STA, so The data identification information is used to instruct the STA to acquire data from the user equipment.

It should be noted that, for the specific working process of the processing unit 101, reference may be made to step 202, steps 302-305, and steps 802-705 of the embodiment of the present invention, which will not be repeated here.

Specifically, the processing unit 101 adds data identification information to the next beacon received by the STA according to the amount of data in the memory 102, the data transmission rate of the antenna 103, and the BI length.

In one embodiment, when the processing unit 101 judges that all the data currently buffered by itself can be sent in one BI according to the amount of data in the memory 102, the data transmission rate of the antenna 103, and the length of the BI, the STA receives The first identification information is added to the next beacon (hereinafter referred to as beacon a) to indicate that the STA acquires data from the AP in the BI of the next beacon.

In another embodiment, when the processing unit 101 judges that all the data currently buffered by itself cannot be sent in one BI according to the amount of data in the memory 102, the data transmission rate of the antenna 103, and the length of the BI, the STA The second identification information is added to the received next beacon to indicate that after receiving the next beacon, the STA will remain in a sleep state until another beacon after the next beacon (hereinafter referred to as signal Mark b refers to the broadcast time of the beacon) or wakes up after the broadcast of the other beacon is completed, and obtains corresponding data in the BI of the other beacon.

It should be noted that, in an embodiment, the processing unit 101 may select any beacon following the beacon a as the beacon b.

It should be noted that, in an optimal embodiment of the invention, the processing unit 101 can select the Nth beacon after the beacon a according to the amount of data in the memory 102, the data transmission rate of the antenna 103, and the BI length, as Beacon b, and 1<=N<ListenInterval; that is, beacon b is the beacon between beacon a and the beacon after the value of ListenInterval from beacon a, that is, beacon b wakes up periodically in STA according to the value of ListenInterval And received between two adjacent beacons. Specifically, the processing unit 101 can estimate the data destined for the STA according to the amount of data in the memory 102, the data transmission rate of the antenna 103, and the BI length, which beacon BI after the BI of the beacon a can be sent at one time Go out, so as to determine the beacon b. After the AP selects the beacon b, it adds the second identification information to the beacon a, which is used to notify the STA to receive or obtain data in the BI of the beacon b. When the STA wakes up and receives the beacon a, that is This information is available. Specifically, in one embodiment, FIG. 6 is an example of the second identification information in beacon a, and beacon a may carry the second identification information as an information element (InformationElement) in the beacon frame, so as to Prompt the STA to receive or obtain data in the BI of the beacon b. According to FIG. 6, the second identification information contains the identification of the STA and the number N, so as to notify the corresponding STA of the STA identification in the beacon a that the corresponding STA is the first after the beacon a. N BIs are used to receive or obtain data; STAID can be AID, which can uniquely identify STA.

Further, in an embodiment, the antenna 103 is also used to receive the association request sent by the STA; correspondingly, the processing unit 101 is also used to assign a ListenInterval value to the STA, and assign the STA to the STA The ListenInterval value is added to the association response message corresponding to the association request, and sent to the STA through the antenna 103, so that after the STA receives the association response message, it replaces its original value with the assigned ListenInterval value. There are ListenInterval values.

In the embodiment of the present invention, through the above technical solutions, when the user equipment has data to send to the STA, the user equipment selectively notifies a specific STA to obtain data in a specific beacon according to its own communication capability and network conditions, so as to coordinate The channel usage time of multiple or multiple groups of STAs enables STAs to obtain data from the AP in a timely and orderly manner, so that STAs do not need to be active for a long time to compete for channels to obtain data, thereby reducing the power consumption of STAs. The energy consumption of acquiring data in this mode also utilizes the channel more reasonably and effectively.

As shown in FIG. 12, an embodiment of the present invention also provides a communication system, including: multiple STAs (110-115 in FIG. 12) and an access point 120;

Wherein, the access point 120 may be the user equipment 10 of the third embodiment of the present invention; in one embodiment, when the STA (such as 110-115 in FIG. 11 ) associates with the user equipment, it may Identify its own ListenInterval value in the user equipment, so that the user equipment saves the ListenInterval value; in another embodiment, the access point 120 may also assign a ListenInterval value to the STA during the association or re-association process with the STA, So that the STA uses the ListenInterval value to replace its original ListenInterval value.

In the embodiment of the present invention, through the above technical solutions, when the user equipment has data to send to the STA, the user equipment selectively notifies a specific STA to obtain data in a specific beacon according to its own communication capability and network conditions, so as to coordinate The channel usage time of multiple or multiple groups of STAs enables STAs to obtain data from the AP in a timely and orderly manner, so that STAs do not need to be active for a long time to compete for channels to obtain data, thereby reducing the power consumption of STAs. The energy consumption of acquiring data in this mode also utilizes the channel more reasonably and effectively.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that: it can still be Modifications are made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent replacements are made to some of the technical features; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. in WLAN (wireless local area network), site STA obtains a method for data, obtains data, it is characterized in that, comprising for STA from the access point AP that it accesses:

AP periodically sends beacon to described STA, and the time interval between two that send adjacent beacons is beacon interval BI, and described beacon is that described AP is for notifying a kind of management frames of described STA customizing messages;

If described AP has data to need to send to described STA, according to communication capacity and the network condition of described AP, in the next beacon that described STA receives, increase data identification information, described data identification information is used to indicate described STA and obtains data from described AP;

According to communication capacity and the network condition of described AP, in the next beacon that described STA receives, increase data identification information, specifically comprise:

Described AP, according to its buffer data size, data transmission rate and BI length, increases data identification information in the next beacon that described STA receives;

Described AP, according to its buffer data size, data transmission rate and BI length, increases data identification information, specifically comprises in the next beacon that described STA receives:

If described AP is according to the length of the data volume size of self current cache, data transmission rate and BI, judge that the data of current own cache all can not send in a BI, increase by the second identification information in the next beacon then received at described STA, to indicate described STA after receiving described next beacon, keep sleep state until airtime of another beacon of described next beacon or the broadcast of another beacon described are waken up after completing again, and in the BI of another beacon described, obtain corresponding data.

2. the method for claim 1, is characterized in that, described AP, according to its buffer data size, data transmission rate and BI length, increases data identification information, specifically comprises in the next beacon that described STA receives:

If described AP is according to the length of the data volume size of self current cache, data transmission rate and BI, judge that the data of current own cache all can send in a BI, increase by the first identification information in the next beacon then received at described STA, to indicate described STA in the BI of described next beacon, obtain data from described AP.

3. the method for claim 1, it is characterized in that, another beacon described, be specially the N number of beacon after the next beacon that described STA receives, and 1<=N<ListenInterval, wherein ListenInterval is the number of the beacon interval BI between adjacent two beacons of described STA periodic receipt, and the value of N is determined according to its buffer data size, data transmission rate and BI length by described AP.

4. the method as described in any one of claim 1-3, it is characterized in that, also comprise: described AP receives the association request that described STA sends, the ListenInterval value distributing to described STA is added on asks in corresponding associate response message with described association, after receiving described associate response message to make described STA, substitute oneself original ListenInterval value by the ListenInterval value of described distribution.

5. a subscriber equipment, in a wireless local area network, it is characterized in that, comprising: memory, processing unit and antenna, described memory is connected with described processing unit by bus system with antenna in application, wherein,

Described antenna, site STA periodically to the described subscriber equipment of access sends beacon, and the time interval between two the adjacent beacons sent is beacon interval BI, described beacon is that described subscriber equipment is for notifying a kind of management frames of described STA customizing messages;

Described memory, will be addressed to the data of described STA for buffer memory;

Described processing unit, during for having data to need to send to described STA at described subscriber equipment, according to communication capacity and the network condition of described subscriber equipment, in the next beacon that described STA receives, increase data identification information, described data identification information is used to indicate described STA and obtains data from described subscriber equipment;

Described processing unit specifically for, according to data transmission rate and the BI length of the data volume in described memory, described antenna, in the next beacon that described STA receives, increase data identification information;

Described processing unit specifically for, according to data transmission rate and the BI length of the data volume in described memory, described antenna, when judging that the data of current own cache all can not send in a BI, in the next beacon that described STA receives, increase by the second identification information, to indicate described STA after receiving described next beacon, keep sleep state until airtime of another beacon of described next beacon or the broadcast of another beacon described are waken up after completing again, and in the BI of another beacon described, obtain corresponding data.

6. subscriber equipment as claimed in claim 5, it is characterized in that, described processing unit specifically for, according to data transmission rate and the BI length of the data volume in described memory, described antenna, when judging that the data of current own cache all can send in a BI, in the next beacon that described STA receives, increase by the first identification information, to indicate described STA in the BI of described next beacon, obtain data from described subscriber equipment.

7. subscriber equipment as claimed in claim 5, it is characterized in that, another beacon described, be specially the N number of beacon after the next beacon that described STA receives, and 1<=N<ListenInterval, wherein ListenInterval is the number of the beacon interval BI between adjacent two beacons of described STA periodic receipt, and the value of N is determined according to the data transmission rate of the data volume in described memory, described antenna and BI length by described processing unit.

8. the subscriber equipment as described in any one of claim 5-7, is characterized in that, described antenna also for, receive described STA send association request; Described processing unit also for, distribute to described STA ListenInterval value, and the ListenInterval value distributing to described STA is added on asks in corresponding associate response message with described association, described STA is sent to by described antenna, after receiving described associate response message to make described STA, substitute oneself original ListenInterval value by the ListenInterval value of described distribution.

9. a communication system, is characterized in that, comprising: the subscriber equipment as described in any one of claim 5-8, and at least one site STA, and at least one STA described is connected with described communications of user equipment.

10. system as claimed in claim 9, is characterized in that, at least one STA described, when associating with described subscriber equipment, identifies the ListenInterval value of oneself, preserves described ListenInterval value to make described subscriber equipment in association request.