CN108462985B - Communication mode switching method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a communication mode switching method and device, wherein the communication mode switching method may include: a first station sends a first radio frame to a second station, the first radio frame contains communication mode switching information, and the communication mode switching The information is used to instruct the first station to switch between the energy saving mode and the active mode. The first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver. The energy saving mode includes a WUR state and an awake state. In the WUR state, the main transceiver is turned off and the WUR receiving After the wake-up frame, the main transceiver is turned on, the main transceiver is turned on in the awake state, and the main transceiver is always turned on in the active mode; when the first site receives the confirmation frame from the second site, the first site switches the communication mode. By adopting the embodiment of the present invention, the first station equipped with WUR is regulated to indicate to the second station that the first station switches between the energy saving mode and the active mode, thereby reducing power consumption.

Description

A communication mode switching method and device

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication mode switching method and device.

Background technique

In the Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) network, a considerable part of the energy of the device is wasted in idle listening when there is no received signal. The current traditional 802.11 protocol (802.11b/a/g/n/ac, etc.) related solutions The solution focuses on optimizing the sleep strategy of the device. In addition to optimizing the sleep strategy, another technical approach to reduce the energy waste of idle listening equipment is to use a Low Power Wake Up Receiver (LP-WUR) (abbreviated as WUR in this embodiment of the present invention). In addition to the traditional 802.11 main transceiver module (referred to as the main transceiver in this embodiment of the present invention), the site adds a new WUR part. When the main transceiver enters deep sleep, the low-power WUR wakes up and starts to work. If other stations need to communicate with the station, first send a WUR wake-up frame (Wake Up Packet, WUP) to the WUR of the station, and the WUR wakes up the main transceiver to communicate after correctly receiving the WUP sent to itself. This technology uses low-power WUR instead of the main transceiver to listen to the channel when the medium is idle (here, the energy consumption of the WUR listening/receiving state is about 0.1-1% of the main transceiver, that is, less than 100uW), which can effectively reduce Waste of energy when the site is idle listening.

However, there is currently no specification in the industry for how a site switches between the WUR-enabled and non-WUR-enabled communication modes. In the non-WUR-enabled communication mode, the station's main transceiver is always turned on.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a communication mode switching method and device, which standardize the first station equipped with WUR to indicate to the second station the switching between the energy saving mode and the active mode of the first station, thereby reducing power consumption.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication mode switching method, which may include: a first station sending a first radio frame to a second station, where the first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, and the communication mode switching information is used for In order to instruct the first station to switch between the energy saving mode and the active mode, the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, and the energy saving mode includes a WUR state and an awake state, and the WUR state is all The main transceiver is turned off, the WUR turns on the main transceiver after receiving the wake-up frame, and the wake-up state is that the main transceiver is turned on. The state is switched to the WUR state, and the main transceiver is always on in the active mode; when the first station receives the confirmation frame of the second station, the first station switches the communication mode.

In a possible design, the communication mode switching information is located in a preset field of the frame control field of the first radio frame; if the communication mode switching information includes a first identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that The first station will switch to the energy saving mode; if the communication mode switching information includes the second identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that the first station will switch to the active mode.

In a possible design, the preset field includes an energy management powermanagement field of the frame control field.

In a possible design, if the communication mode switching information includes the first identifier, the first station switches to the energy saving mode, and when the first station is in the WUR state, the first station receives the wake-up frame sent by the second station, and turn on the main transceiver; the first station sends a notification frame to the second station, and the notification frame is used to notify the second station of the first The station switches to the awake state.

In a possible design, after the first station sends a notification frame to the second station, the first station receives a second radio frame sent by the second station, the second radio frame includes indication information, and the indication The information is used to indicate whether the second site has a subsequent radio frame sent to the first site; if the second site does not have a subsequent radio frame sent to the first site, the first site closes all radio frames. the master transceiver and switch to the WUR state.

In a possible design, the power saving mode includes a first mode and a second mode, and in the first mode, the WUR state includes a WUR on sub-state and a WUR off sub-state; in the second mode , the WUR state includes a WUR on sub-state; in the WUR on sub-state, the WUR is turned on and the WUR receives the wake-up frame, and in the WUR off sub-state, the WUR is turned off.

In a possible design, the first station indicates to the second station that the energy saving mode of the first station is the first mode or the second mode; if the energy saving mode of the first station In the first mode, the first station switches between the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state according to a preset time period; or, if the energy saving mode of the first station is the first In a mode, the first site sends to the second site switching time indication information for indicating the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state; or, if the energy saving mode of the first site is all In the first mode, the first station receives the switching time indication information sent by the second station and used to indicate the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state.

In a possible design, before the first station sends the first radio frame to the second station, the first station indicates to the second station whether the WUR of the first station is activated.

In a possible design, the first site may indicate to the second site whether the WUR of the first site is activated in an indication manner that the first site sends capability information to the second site, and the capability information uses for indicating whether the first site is equipped with the WUR, and whether the WUR is equipped with the WUR is used to indicate whether the WUR is activated; or,

The first station sends WUR activation information to the second station, where the WUR activation information is used to indicate whether the first station enables the energy saving mode based on the WUR.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication mode switching method, which may include: a first station receiving a suggestion frame sent by a second station, where the suggestion frame includes a switching for instructing the first station to switch to an energy saving mode Indication information, the first site is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, the energy-saving mode includes a WUR state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, and the WUR turns on the wake-up frame after receiving the wake-up frame. a main transceiver; the first station determines whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggested frame.

In a possible design, the suggestion frame further includes time indication information for instructing the first station to switch to the energy saving mode.

In a possible design, if the first station is an access point AP, the second station is a station STA;

The first station determines whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggested frame, specifically, the first station determines to switch to the energy-saving mode if no objection frame is received.

In a possible design, if the first station is a station STA, the second station is an access point AP;

The suggestion frame is sent when the second station receives an energy-saving mode conversion request from the third station and the second station predicts that the first station of the same type as the third station needs to enter the energy-saving mode.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication mode switching apparatus, which is applied to a first site. The communication mode switching apparatus may include a transceiving unit and a switching unit. The transceiving unit is configured to send the first radio frame to the second site, The first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, and the communication mode switching information is used to instruct the first station to switch between the energy-saving mode and the active mode, and the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver. The power-saving mode includes a WUR state and an awake state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, the WUR turns on the main transceiver after receiving a wake-up frame, and the awake state is the main transceiver The machine is turned on, and the main transceiver is always turned on in the active mode; the switching unit is configured to switch the communication mode when receiving the confirmation frame of the second site.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication mode switching apparatus, which is applied to a first site. The communication mode switching apparatus may include a transceiving unit and a determining unit. The transceiving unit is configured to receive a suggestion frame sent by the second site. The suggestion frame includes switching instruction information for instructing the first station to switch to an energy-saving mode, the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, and the energy-saving mode includes a WUR state, and the WUR state is all The main transceiver is turned off, and the WUR turns on the main transceiver after receiving the wake-up frame; the determining unit is configured to determine whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggested frame.

By implementing the embodiment of the present invention, the first station sends the first radio frame to the second station, where the first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, where the communication mode switching information is used to indicate the switching between the energy saving mode and the active mode of the first station Switching, the energy saving mode includes WUR state and awake state. The WUR state is turned off for the main transceiver. After the WUR receives the wake-up frame, the main transceiver is turned on. The awake state is turned on for the main transceiver. In active mode, the main transceiver is always on. When a station receives an acknowledgment frame from the second station, the first station switches the communication mode, and the power consumption can be reduced by actively notifying the second station of the switching of the first station between the two communication modes by the first station.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the background technology, the accompanying drawings required in the embodiments or the background technology of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2a is a schematic diagram of data monitoring in the prior art;

Figure 2b is a schematic diagram of data monitoring in the prior art;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a possible low-power receiver provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

4a is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of a WUP provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

4b is a schematic diagram of a frame structure of another WUP provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is an interaction diagram between an AP and a STA provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flowchart interaction diagram of a communication mode switching method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a schematic structural diagram of a frame control field provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a schematic diagram of a communication mode switching provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a schematic diagram of a frame structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

10 is a schematic diagram of another frame structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

11 is a schematic diagram of another frame structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

12 is a schematic diagram of another frame structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

13 is a schematic diagram of another frame structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

14 is a schematic diagram of a state transition of WUR activation provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart interaction diagram of another communication mode switching method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

16 is an interaction diagram between an AP and a STA provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

17a is a schematic structural diagram of a communication mode switching device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

17b is a schematic structural diagram of another communication mode switching apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

18a is a schematic structural diagram of a communication mode switching device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18b is a schematic structural diagram of another communication mode switching apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

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

The embodiments of the present invention may be applied to a wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN). Currently, the standard adopted by the WLAN is the IEEE (English: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Chinese: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 series. A WLAN may include multiple basic service sets (Basic Service Sets, BSSs). The network nodes in the BSS are sites, and the sites include an access point class site (AccessPoint, AP) and a non-access point class site (English: None Access Point Station, abbreviated as Non-AP STA), each basic service set may include one AP and multiple Non-AP STAs associated with the AP. It should be noted that the STAs in the embodiments of the present invention all refer to contactless A site in a class, the APs in the embodiments of the present invention all refer to a site in an access class.

Access point type sites, also known as wireless access points or hotspots, etc. APs are access points for mobile users to access wired networks. They are mainly deployed in homes, buildings, and campuses, with a typical coverage radius ranging from tens of meters to hundreds of meters. Of course, they can also be deployed outdoors. AP is equivalent to a bridge connecting wired network and wireless network. Its main function is to connect various wireless network clients together, and then connect the wireless network to Ethernet. Specifically, the AP may be a terminal device or a network device with a WiFi (English: Wireless Fidelity, Chinese: Wireless Fidelity) chip. Optionally, the AP may be a device supporting the 802.11ax standard, and further optionally, the AP may be a device supporting multiple WLAN standards such as 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a.

A non-access point station (English: None Access Point Station, referred to as: Non-AP STA) can be a wireless communication chip, a wireless sensor or a wireless communication terminal. For example: mobile phones that support WiFi communication, tablet computers that support WiFi communication, set-top boxes that support WiFi communication, smart TVs that support WiFi communication, smart wearable devices that support WiFi communication, in-vehicle communication that supports WiFi communication devices and computers that support WiFi communication. Optionally, the STA may support the 802.11ax standard, and further optionally, the station supports multiple WLAN standards such as 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, and 802.11a.

As shown in FIG. 1, which is an application scenario diagram of a BSS provided by an embodiment of the present invention, the BSS includes an AP, STA1, STA2, and STA3, and STA1, STA2, and STA3 are associated with the AP, and a site in this embodiment of the present invention may be The AP in FIG. 1 may also be the STA in FIG. 1 .

In a WiFi network, a considerable part of the energy of a station is wasted in idle listening when there is no received signal. The relevant solutions in the current traditional 802.11 protocol (802.11b/a/g/n/ac, etc.) focus on optimizing the station's sleep strategy. As shown in Figure 2a, when a station (such as a workstation, STA, or Station) does not send and receive messages (such as in the No data phase), if it continues to monitor the channel (ie, idle listening), considerable energy will be consumed. Therefore, a sleep schedule (Sleep Schedule) is introduced in Fig. 2b, so that the STA can enter a deep sleep (Deep Sleep) when there is no data transmission and reception, so as to reduce the energy consumption of continuous idle listening. However, when the STA is in deep sleep, the AP cannot communicate with the STA, and can only transmit between the two after the STA wakes up, which may cause a certain delay (latency). In order to avoid the high delay caused by the sleep mechanism, the STA usually wakes up from time to time according to a certain sleep strategy to check whether there is data to receive, but this reduces the sleep efficiency of the STA (wakes up from time to time but no useful data needs to be sent and received, which is relatively long. Time sleep consumes more energy).

In addition to optimizing the sleep strategy, another technical approach to reduce the energy waste of idle listening at a site is to use a Low Power Wake Up Receiver (LP-WUR) (abbreviated as WUR in this embodiment of the present invention). With the evolution of the wireless local area network WLAN standard, the IEEE802.11 working group is preparing for the research and formulation of the 802.11 standard with WUR as the core technology to reduce power consumption. The 802.11 standard has established SG (StudyGroup, study group) in IEEE in June 2016.

The technology with WUR as the core is that in addition to the traditional 802.11 main transceiver module, the receiver device (such as STA) adds a low-power wake-up receiver (WUR) part, as shown in Figure 3, when the 802.11 main transceiver module enters deep sleep After that, the low-power WUR wakes up and starts to work. If other devices (the AP on the left in the figure) need to communicate with the device with the WUR and 802.11 main transceiver module (the STA on the right in the figure), the AP first sends a WUR wake-up frame (WUP, Wake Up Packet, Also known as wake-up packet), WUR wakes up the 802.11 main transceiver module of the STA after correctly receiving the WUP sent to itself, and then goes to sleep by itself, and the AP communicates with the awake 802.11 main transceiver module. When the 802.11 main transceiver module and the AP complete the communication, it will go to sleep, and at the same time the WUR wakes up and starts to listen to whether there is a WUP sent to itself, so as to wake up the 802.11 main transceiver module.

This technology uses low-power WUR to replace the 802.11 main transceiver module to listen to the channel when the medium is idle (here, the energy consumption of the WUR listening/receiving state is about 0.1-1% of the 802.11 main transceiver module, that is, less than 100uW), which can Effectively reduce the waste of energy when the device is idle listening.

In order to realize low power consumption of WUR, its circuit structure and frame structure design (such as WUP) need to be relatively simple and low in complexity. For example, the WUR circuit structure may only include energy detection (energy detect) and radio frequency (RF, radiofrequency) parts, so some complex modulation methods cannot be demodulated. To this end, the WUP may adopt a simple implementation of binary amplitude keying (On-Off Keying, OOK) modulation, binary phase shift keying (Binary Phase Shift Keying, BPSK) or frequency shift keying (Frequency Shift Keying, FSK).

A possible WUP frame structure is shown in Figure 4a. The front is the Legacy 802.11 preamble (traditional 802.11 pilot), which can be understood by other surrounding 802.11 devices (the surrounding 802.11 devices that hear the preamble will not preempt the channel for a period of time) ) to protect the subsequent part of the wake-up frame from being interfered by legacy 802.11 devices. The following is the payload part of WUP, which is modulated by OOK, which can only be understood by WUR. This part may include wake-up preamble (Wake-Up Preamble, used to identify WUP signals), MAC Header (including WUR ID, used to distinguish different WURs), frame body (frame carrier, can carry some other information), FCS (Frame Check Sequence, frame check sequence, used to ensure that the received data is the same as the data sent). Here, the WUR ID information can be a partial or complete site association identifier, or the identifier of the WUR assigned to the site by the AP, or the receiving MAC address or part of the receiving MAC address of the site, or other information that can distinguish the WURs of different sites. In addition, the WUP payload part can be narrowband transmission, that is, different from the traditional 802.11 preamble transmitted based on 20M bandwidth as the basic unit, for example, the narrowband can be 1M, 2M, 4M, 8M, 16M and so on. The WUP payload portion can also be transmitted as a base unit based on 20M bandwidth.

Figure 4b shows another possible WUP frame structure, which includes 802.11 legacy preamble, wake-up preamble, signaling fields (used to carry some physical layer signaling, such as AP ID, WUR ID, modulation and coding indication, etc.) , MAC header, frame body, frame check sequence.

In the specific wake-up radio communication process, as shown in Figure 5, the AP sends a wake-up frame to a single station STA. After the STA receives the wake-up frame, it sends a PS-Poll frame or an acknowledgment frame to the AP to tell the AP that it has woken up, and then the AP Reply with an ACK frame or directly transmit a data frame to the STA. In addition, the AP can also directly send the data frame to the station after the STA wakes up without waiting for the STA to send the PS-Poll frame.

When a site works based on WUR, its energy consumption is far less than that of a site that has always been based on the 802.11 main transceiver module. Usually, it can work based on WUR in some scenarios to save power consumption. In some scenarios, it needs to always be based on the 802.11 main transceiver module. In order to reduce the delay, the embodiment of the present invention proposes a communication mode switching mode of the station before the energy-saving mode (that is, working based on WUR) and the active mode (that is, working based on WUR all the time), which can not only meet the purpose of saving power consumption, but also meet the delay requirement.

Please refer to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is an interactive flowchart of a communication mode switching method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the communication mode switching method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

Step S10: the first station sends a first radio frame to the second station, where the first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, and the communication mode switching information is used to indicate that the first station is between the energy saving mode and the active mode The first site is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, the energy-saving mode includes a WUR state and a wake-up state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, and after the WUR receives the wake-up frame, Turn on the main transceiver, the awake state is that the main transceiver is turned on, and the main transceiver is always turned on in the active mode;

Step S11: the second site sends an acknowledgement frame to the first site;

Step S12: When the first station receives the confirmation frame of the second station, the first station switches the communication mode.

In addition, the above process may not include steps S11 and S12, but only include step S10. For example, in some cases, the STA directly switches the communication mode after sending the first radio frame, that is, the default AP can receive the first radio frame.

In one embodiment, the first station may be a STA or an AP, and the second station may be a STA or an AP. If the first station is an AP, the second station is a STA, and if the first station is a STA, the second station is an AP. The first site is equipped with a WUR and a master transceiver, which may be an 802.11 master transceiver module. The following embodiments take the first station as an STA as an example for illustration.

The first station, that is, the STA can be in the active mode and the energy-saving mode. When the STA is in the active mode, the STA can only be in the awake state, that is, the main transceiver of the STA is always on; when the STA is in the energy-saving mode, the STA can be in the awake state. And the WUR state, the awake state and the WUR state can be switched between each other. The above WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off. After the WUR of the STA receives the wake-up frame, it turns on the main transceiver. When the main transceiver is turned on, the station STA switches to the awake state in the energy-saving mode.

Specifically, when the STA is in the WUR state of the energy saving mode, if the AP needs to send a data frame to the STA, it must first send a wake-up frame to the STA to wake it up. After the STA turns on the main transceiver, the AP sends the STA to the STA. Send data frames.

Usually, the STA can switch between the active mode and the energy-saving mode. The switching method is mainly indicated by the communication mode switching information in the first radio frame sent by the STA. The communication mode switching information can be carried in the first radio frame. The energy management power management field in the frame control field of the radio frame may also be other fields. The first radio frame may be any radio frame sent by the STA to the AP, such as a data frame, a management frame, and the like. As shown in FIG. 7 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a frame control field provided by an embodiment of the present invention, the communication mode switching information may be carried in the energy management field in FIG. 7 , or in the more fragments field, or in more fragments. data more data field.

As shown in Figure 8, for example, when the value of the energy management power management field is set to 1, it means that the STA wishes to switch from the active mode to the energy-saving mode; when the value of the energy management power management field is set to 0, it means that the STA wishes to switch from the active mode to the energy-saving mode. Switch from energy saving mode to active mode. It should be noted that this embodiment of the present invention does not limit the existence form of the communication mode switching information. For example, it may be one bit in FIG. 8, or of course, it may be multiple bits. When the communication mode switching information is preset as the first identifier , the communication mode switching information indicates that the STA will switch to the energy saving mode, and when the communication mode switching information is the second identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that the STA will switch to the active mode.

The STA sends the first radio frame to the AP, and the communication mode switching information carried in the first radio frame indicates that the STA will enter the power saving mode, and after the AP sends the confirmation frame to the STA, the STA can enter the power saving mode, and the STA can enter the power saving mode. The working state is converted to the WUR state, and the WUR state is that the main transceiver of the STA is turned off, the WUR is turned on, and the WUR can receive the wake-up frame. Before the AP needs to perform data communication with the STA, it needs to send a wake-up frame to the WUR of the STA. After receiving the wake-up frame sent by the AP, the STA can wake up its main transceiver, and then send a PS-Poll frame to the AP to indicate that it is in an awake state. When the AP receives the PS-Poll frame sent by the STA and learns that the STA is in an awake state, it can use the main transceiver to send a data frame to the STA. It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present invention, when the STA enters the energy saving mode, it enters the WUR state by default. It is understandable that, after the STA enters the energy saving mode, it may not enter the WUR state.

Optionally, when the STA is in the power saving mode, it may be in the awake state or the WUR state. The embodiment of the present invention proposes a switching process between an awake state and a WUR state in an energy saving mode.

Optionally, the switching process for switching the WUR state of the station STA to the awake state is as follows:

Step 1: The AP sends a wake-up frame to the STA, where the wake-up frame carries the identity of the STA.

Step 2: After receiving the wake-up frame sent by the AP, the STA turns on the main transceiver, thereby transitioning from the WUR state to the awake state.

Step 3: The STA sends a notification frame to the AP, where the notification frame is used to instruct the STA to transition from the WUR state to the awake state. Usually, the notification frame is a PS-Poll frame or an APSD trigger frame.

When the AP receives the notification frame sent by the STA, it can reply with an acknowledgment frame, or it can directly send a data frame or a management frame to the STA for communication.

Optionally, the switching process for switching the awake state of the station STA to the WUR state is as follows:

Step 1: During the communication between the AP and the STA, the AP sends a second radio frame to the STA, the second radio frame may be a data frame or a management frame, and the second radio frame carries indication information, and the indication information is used for Indicates whether the AP still needs to send subsequent radio frames to the STA after sending the second radio frame. The indication information may be carried in the more data field in the frame control in the radio frame. Exemplarily, more data=1 indicates that the AP has subsequent radio frames to send to the STA, and more data=0 indicates that there are no subsequent radio frames to send.

Step 2: The STA obtains the indication information, and judges according to the indication information whether the AP has any subsequent radio frames to send to the STA. If there are no subsequent radio frames to send, the STA transitions from the awake state to: WUR state, that is, the main transceiver is turned off and WUR is turned on.

When the STA is in the energy saving mode, the STA sends a first radio frame to the AP, the communication mode switching information carried in the first radio frame indicates that the STA will enter the active mode, and the AP sends an acknowledgement frame to the STA. The STA enters an active mode, with its main transceiver always on and in an awake state. The AP can perform data communication with the STA. As long as the STA does not instruct the AP to switch the communication mode, the main transceiver of the STA is always turned on.

In the above embodiment, the WUR state in the energy saving mode only considers the situation that the WUR is in the open state, and does not consider the situation that the WUR may also be closed. This embodiment will further consider the situation that the WUR can also be turned off to further save energy.

The power saving mode may include a first mode and a second mode, in which the STA may be in an awake state, a WUR on sub-state (ie, WUR on) and a WUR off sub-state (ie, WUR off). In the second mode, the STA may be in an awake state and a WUR on substate (ie, WUR on).

Optionally, the STA may alternately turn on and off the WUR periodically to further save energy. According to the WUR periodical ON time of the STA, the AP may periodically send the wake-up frame, so that the STA receives the wake-up frame when the WUR is ON (ie, in the WUR on sub-state). This operation mode is particularly efficient in multi-user scenarios. Optionally, the AP can periodically send a wake-up beacon frame, and the wake-up beacon frame carries the wake-up information for 0, 1 or more STAs. The above-mentioned multiple STAs turn on the WUR when the AP sends the wake-up beacon frame, and turn off the WUR in the rest of the time. If the STA receives the wake-up information in the wake-up beacon frame, it can wake up its main transceiver and send a PS-Poll frame to the AP to enter the wake-up state.

Or, the STA actively indicates to the AP the switching time indication information of the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state; or, the STA receives the information sent by the AP to indicate the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state; State switching time indication information. The AP may send a wake-up frame to the STA when the STA is in the WUR on sub-state. Optionally, the switching time indication information may be carried in the activation frame of the WUR.

Optionally, after the STA enters the second mode in the power saving mode, the STA can only be in the awake state and the WUR on sub-state. In this state, the WUR can be turned on, so it can also be called the WUR on sub-state. When the STA's main transceiver is turned off, the WUR is always on, and the AP can send a wake-up frame to the STA. After the STA's WUR receives the wake-up frame, it wakes up the main transceiver to communicate.

When the STA enters the energy saving mode, in order to distinguish whether the STA enters the first mode or the second mode, the STA should indicate to the AP whether the STA enters the first mode or the second mode when sending the communication mode switching information to the AP. Optionally, the STA indicates to the AP as follows:

Step 1: The STA sends a first radio frame to the AP, where the first radio frame carries communication mode switching information, and the communication mode switching information indicates that the STA will enter the energy saving mode. The communication mode switching information may be located in the power management information field in the frame control field of the first radio frame. For example, power management=1 indicates that the STA will enter a power saving mode.

Step 2: The STA sends energy saving mode information to the AP, where the energy saving mode information is used to indicate whether the STA enters the first mode or the second mode. The energy saving mode information may be located in the more fragments information field or the more data information field in the framecontrol field of the third radio frame. For example, more fragments=0 (or more data=0) means that the STA will enter the first mode, and more fragments=1 (or more data=1) means that the STA will enter the second mode.

Step 3: The AP sends an acknowledgement frame to the STA.

Step 4: If the energy saving mode information indicates the first mode, the STA will enter the first mode and turn on its WUR; if the energy saving mode information indicates the second mode, the STA will enter the first mode. In the second mode, when the AP sends a wake-up beacon frame, its WUR is turned on.

It should be noted that the communication mode switching information in the above step 1 and the energy saving mode information in step 2 may be sent in the same frame, that is, the STA only needs to send one radio frame, which carries the communication mode switching information and the energy saving mode at the same time. information, at this time step 1 and step 2 are combined into one step, and the first radio frame and the third radio frame refer to the same radio frame. In addition, the above process can also start directly from step 2 without step 1.

To sum up, when the STA is in the first mode of the power saving mode, the STA may be in the awake state, the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state. The process of switching the awake state to the WUR on sub-state may be that the AP does not send the wireless frames to the STA subsequently; the process of switching the WUR on sub-state to the awake state may be that the AP sends a wake-up frame to the STA, and the STA's WUR receives the wake-up frame after receiving the wake-up frame. , wake up the main transceiver of the STA, so that the STA switches from the WUR on sub-state to the awake state. The switch between the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state is determined by the time when the AP sends the wake-up beacon frame, that is, the STA is in the WUR on sub-state when the AP sends the wake-up beacon frame. When the wake-up information for the STA is received, it transitions to the WUR off sub-state.

Optionally, the STA may work in a WUR-based energy-saving mode, or may work in a non-WUR-based energy-saving mode, for example, although the STA is equipped with a WUR, the WUR is not activated.

This embodiment of the present invention proposes a method for activating WUR. Optionally, the method for activating WUR may include the following three optional implementation manners:

The first implementation is that the STA sends capability information to the AP, where the capability information includes information on whether the STA is equipped with a WUR. When the STA is equipped with WUR, it is considered that WUR is activated. The capability information may be contained in a proberequest frame, an association request frame or a reassociation request frame.

In a second implementation manner, the STA sends WUR activation information to the AP, where the WUR activation information is used to indicate whether the STA enables the WUR-based energy saving mode. The activation information may be carried in an information field in a radio frame, for example, a 1-bit information bit, the information bit being 1 indicates that the WUR is activated, and the information bit being 0 indicates that the WUR is not activated. The activation information may be contained in an association request frame or a reassociation request frame. Further, the activation information may be located in the WUR operation unit (ie the WUR operation element) in the association request frame or the reassociation request frame, or in the high efficiency (High Efficiency, HE) operation unit (ie the HE operation element), as shown in FIG. 9 , the WUR activation information is located in the WUR activation (ie, WUR activation) field of the WUR operation unit; as shown in FIG. 10 , the WUR activation information is located in the WUR activation (ie, WUR activation) field of the HE operation unit. Exemplarily, WUR activation is indicated when WUR activation=1.

The third way is that the STA sends a specific type of frame to the AP to carry the WUR activation information. For example, the STA can send an ADDWUR frame (or ADDWUR request frame) to indicate that the STA will enable (or request to enable) WUR-based energy saving model. The ADDWUR request frame structure is shown in Figure 11 . The ADDWUR request frame is an action frame, and the category field in the action field is used to indicate the type of action frame, where the category field is equal to a predefined value, indicating WUR-related actions; WUR action The value of the field is equal to a predefined value, representing an ADDWUR request. Optionally, the ADDWUR request frame may include the WUR duty cycle mode field, indicating the first mode or the second mode, if it is the first mode, optionally, the ADDWUR request frame may also include the WUR duty cycle interval field, which indicates the first mode. The period during which WUR is turned on. In particular, when the AP periodically sends the wake-up beacon frame, the WUR duty cycle interval field may indicate the period at which the STA receives the wake-up beacon frame. It will receive one; optionally, it can also include the WUR on duration field to indicate the length of time that the WUR is turned on each time.

Optionally, after the AP receives the ADDWUR request frame sent by the STA, it can reply with an ADDWURresponse frame as a response. The corresponding frame structure is shown in Figure 12. Similarly, here the category field is equal to a predefined value, representing WUR-related actions; the value of the WUR action field is equal to a predefined value, representing ADDWURresponse. Status code indicates whether the activation was successful. The rest of the fields have the same meaning as the ADDWUR request

On the other hand, when the STA enables the WUR-based energy-saving mode, the STA can also send a specific type of frame to the AP to instruct the AP to deactivate the WUR, that is, the WUR-based energy-saving mode is not enabled. For example, the STA can send a DELWUR frame to indicate The STA will not turn on the WUR-based power saving mode. The frame structure of DELWUR is shown in Figure 13. The Reason Code indicates the reason for deactivating WUR.

As shown in FIG. 14 , which is a schematic diagram of a transition between WUR activation and WUR deactivation provided by an embodiment of the present invention, when WUR is activated, the STA enables the WUR-based energy-saving mode, and the STA can be in either the active mode or the energy-saving mode. The energy-saving mode includes the awake state and the WUR state, and the awake state and the WUR state can be switched between each other. In addition, when the WUR is deactivated, the STA turns off the WUR-based energy saving mode, that is, the WUR is always turned off. The STA can switch between the active mode and the energy-saving mode. The energy-saving mode includes the awake state and the dormant state. The dormant state means that the main transceiver of the STA is turned off and is in the dormant state. At this time, the AP cannot communicate with the STA, and only waits for the STA. The AP can communicate with the STA only when its main transceiver is turned on and in the awake state.

By implementing the embodiment of the present invention, the first station sends the first radio frame to the second station, where the first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, where the communication mode switching information is used to indicate the switching between the energy saving mode and the active mode of the first station Switching, the energy saving mode includes WUR state and awake state. The WUR state is turned off for the main transceiver. After the WUR receives the wake-up frame, the main transceiver is turned on. The awake state is turned on for the main transceiver. In active mode, the main transceiver is always on. When a station receives an acknowledgment frame from the second station, the first station switches the communication mode, and the power consumption can be reduced by actively notifying the second station of the switching of the first station between the two communication modes by the first station.

Please refer to FIG. 15 , which is an interaction flowchart of another communication mode switching method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the communication mode switching method according to the embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

S20, the second site sends a suggestion frame to the first site;

S21: The first station receives a suggestion frame sent by the second station, where the suggestion frame includes switching instruction information for instructing the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode, and the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver , the energy saving mode includes a WUR state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, and the WUR turns on the main transceiver after receiving the wake-up frame;

S22, the first station determines whether to switch to the energy saving mode according to the suggested frame.

In one embodiment, the first site may be a STA or an AP, and the second site may be a STA or an AP. For example, if the first site is a STA, the second site is an AP. If the first site is an AP, the second site is an AP. STA. The first site is equipped with WUR and main transceiver.

The following takes the first site as the STA and the second site as the AP as an example. This embodiment proposes an AP triggering the STA to enter the energy-saving mode. The energy-saving mode includes the WUR state. The WUR state is that the main transceiver of the STA is turned off. After the frame, the main transceiver is turned on to communicate with the AP.

For example, when the STA is in the WUR state in the energy-saving mode, the AP sends a wake-up frame to the STA, wakes up the STA's main transceiver, and performs data transmission. After the STA's main transceiver completes the data transmission, the AP can instruct the STA to re-enter the energy-saving mode The WUR state of the schema.

Optionally, the way of indicating the AP to the STA may include the following steps:

Step 1: The AP sends a suggestion frame to the STA, where the suggestion frame carries switching instruction information for instructing the STA to switch to the power saving mode, that is, the AP recommends the STA to enter the WUR state in the power saving mode.

Step 2: The STA receives the suggestion frame, the STA sends an acknowledgement frame to the AP, and at the same time the STA enters the WUR state in the power saving mode.

Optionally, the way of indicating the AP to the STA may include the following steps:

Step 1: The AP sends a suggestion frame to the STA, where the suggestion frame carries handover indication information and time indication information, the handover indication information is used to instruct the STA to enter the WUR state in the energy saving mode, and the time indication information includes time information T , the time indication information is used to indicate that the STA can enter the WUR state in the power saving mode after time T.

Step 2: The STA receives the suggestion frame, the STA sends an acknowledgement frame to the AP, and the STA enters the WUR state in the power saving mode.

In the following, the first site is an AP and the second site is a STA. The AP is equipped with a WUR and a main transceiver. When the AP is in the WUR state in the energy-saving mode, the STA can also wake up the AP and perform data transmission. After the data transmission is completed, the STA may also suggest that the AP enter the WUR state in the power saving mode, that is, the STA instructs the AP to enter the power saving mode.

It should be noted that when the STA proposes the AP to enter the WUR state, it can ask other STAs whether they agree, that is, other STAs can also receive the proposed frame. When other STAs want to send data to the AP, they can send wireless frame, indicating that the AP does not agree to enter the energy-saving mode. The specific process can be as follows:

Step 1: STA1 sends a suggestion frame to the AP, where the suggestion frame carries handover indication information, and the handover indication information is used to indicate that STA1 recommends the AP to enter the WUR state in the power saving mode. Optionally, the suggestion frame may further carry time indication information, where the time indication information includes time information T, indicating that the AP can enter the WUR state after time T.

Step 2: If the AP does not receive the objection frame sent by other STAs, it enters the WUR state in the energy saving mode (or, when the time indication information exists, does not receive the objection frame sent by other STAs within the time T, then enters the WUR state. state).

Optionally, the first site is a STA, and the second site is an AP. When the AP receives a request to switch to an energy-saving mode from a STA, that is, the STA needs to switch to an energy-saving mode, the AP predicts that there will be STAs of the same type as the STA. To enter the power saving mode, the AP can ask one or more other STAs whether they want to enter the power saving mode. The specific steps are shown in Figure 16 (the AP receives the energy-saving mode conversion request from STA0, and the AP predicts that STA1 and STA2 of the same type as STA0 also need to enter the energy-saving mode):

Step 1: The AP sends a trigger frame (that is, a suggested frame in the embodiment of the present invention) to STA1 and STA2, where the trigger frame carries indication information, and the indication information is used to ask the STA1 and STA2 for an energy-saving mode conversion request.

Step 2: STA1 and STA2 determine whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the trigger frame, and send a WUR mode switching request to the AP if it is necessary to switch to the energy-saving mode.

Step 3: After the AP receives the WUR mode switching requests sent by the STA1 and STA2, the AP sends an acknowledgement frame.

By implementing the embodiment of the present invention, the first station receives a suggestion frame sent by the second station, where the suggestion frame includes switching instruction information for instructing the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode, and the first station determines whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggestion frame The energy-saving mode includes the WUR state. By instructing the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode, the second station can flexibly control the time for the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode and reduce the power consumption of the first station.

The method of the embodiment of the present invention is described in detail above, and the apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention is provided below.

17a and 17b , which are schematic structural diagrams of a communication mode switching apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The communication mode switching apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the first site in the embodiment of FIG. 6 , and the first site may be an AP or STA, if the first station is an AP, the second station is a STA; if the first station is a STA, the second station is an AP.

As shown in Figure 17a, the device may include: a transceiver unit 101 and a switching unit 102, wherein:

The transceiver unit 101, which can be configured to perform the sending action performed by the first station described in the method in FIG. 6 above;

The handover unit 102 can be configured to perform the handover action performed by the first station described in the method of FIG. 6 above;

The transceiver unit 101 may be implemented by the transceiver 1001 in FIG. 17b, and the switching unit 102 may be implemented by the processor 1002 in FIG. 17b.

For specific details, reference may be made to the description in the above method, which will not be repeated here.

For example, the transceiver unit 101 is configured to send a first radio frame to a second station, where the first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, and the communication mode switching information is used to indicate that the first station is in an energy saving mode and an active mode Switching between, the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, the energy-saving mode includes a WUR state and a wake-up state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, and the WUR receives a wake-up frame After that, the main transceiver is turned on, the awake state is that the main transceiver is turned on, and the main transceiver is always turned on in the active mode;

The switching unit is configured to switch the communication mode when receiving the confirmation frame of the second station.

Optionally, the communication mode switching information is located in a preset field of a frame control field of the first radio frame;

If the communication mode switching information includes a first identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that the first station will switch to the energy-saving mode;

If the communication mode switching information includes the second identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that the first station will switch to the active mode.

Optionally, the preset field includes a power management field of the frame control field.

Optionally, if the communication mode switching information includes the first identifier, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a wake-up frame sent by the second site when the first site is in the WUR state, and receive a wake-up frame sent by the second site. Turn on the main transceiver; send a notification frame to the second station, where the notification frame is used to notify the second station that the first station switches to the awake state.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second radio frame sent by the second station, where the second radio frame includes indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate whether there is subsequent transmission by the second station a radio frame to the first site;

The switching unit is further configured to turn off the main transceiver and switch to the WUR state if the second station does not subsequently have a radio frame sent to the first station.

Optionally, the energy saving mode includes a first mode and a second mode, and in the first mode, the WUR state includes a WUR on sub-state and a WUR off sub-state;

In the second mode, the WUR state includes a WUR on sub-state;

In the WUR on substate, the WUR is on and the WUR receives the wake-up frame, and in the WURoff substate, the WUR is off.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to indicate to the second station that the energy saving mode of the first station is the first mode or the second mode;

The switching unit is further configured to switch between the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state according to a preset time period if the energy saving mode of the first site is the first mode; or, the The transceiver unit is further configured to send, to the second site, switching time indication information for indicating the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state if the energy-saving mode of the first site is the first mode; Alternatively, the transceiver unit is further configured to, if the energy saving mode of the first site is the first mode, receive a message sent by the second site for indicating the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state. Switching time indication information.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is further configured to indicate to the second site whether the WUR of the first site is activated.

Optionally, the transceiver unit indicating to the second site whether the WUR of the first site is activated specifically includes:

Send capability information to the second site, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the first site is equipped with the WUR, and whether the WUR is equipped with the WUR is used to indicate whether the WUR is activated; or,

Sending WUR activation information to the second station, where the WUR activation information is used to indicate whether the first station enables the energy saving mode based on the WUR.

Correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 17b , the apparatus may include: a transceiver 1001 and a processor 1002 . The processor 1002 is configured to control the operation of the apparatus, including sending the first radio frame to the second station through the transceiver 1001 . Further, a memory 1003 may also be included, and the memory 1003 may include a read-only memory and a random access memory for providing instructions and data to the processor 1002 . The memory 1003 may be integrated in the processor 1002 or may be independent of the processor 1002 . A portion of memory 1003 may also include non-volatile row random access memory (NVRAM). Various components of the device are coupled together through a bus system, wherein the bus system 1009 includes a power bus, a control bus and a status signal bus in addition to a data bus. However, for the sake of clarity, the various buses are labeled as bus system 1009 in the figure.

The process disclosed on the first site side in FIG. 6 in this embodiment of the present application may be applied to the transceiver 1001 and the processor 1002 . In the implementation process, each step of the process implemented by the apparatus may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor 1002 or instructions in the form of software. The processor 1002 may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute the embodiments of the present application. The disclosed methods, steps, and logical block diagrams of . A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the methods disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as executed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software modules may be located in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers and other storage media mature in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 1003, and the processor 1002 reads the information in the memory 1003, and completes the steps of the instruction flow in the embodiment of the present invention in combination with its hardware.

Optionally, the transceiver 1001 is configured to send a first radio frame to the second station, where the first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, and the communication mode switching information is used to indicate that the first station is in the energy saving mode and the active mode. Switching between modes, the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, the energy-saving mode includes a WUR state and an awake state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, and the WUR receives a wake-up After the frame, the main transceiver is turned on, the awake state is that the main transceiver is turned on, and the main transceiver is always turned on in the active mode;

The processor 1002 is configured to switch the communication mode when receiving the confirmation frame of the second station.

By implementing the embodiment of the present invention, the first station sends the first radio frame to the second station, where the first radio frame includes communication mode switching information, where the communication mode switching information is used to indicate the switching between the energy saving mode and the active mode of the first station Switching, the energy saving mode includes WUR state and awake state. The WUR state is turned off for the main transceiver. After the WUR receives the wake-up frame, the main transceiver is turned on. The awake state is turned on for the main transceiver. In active mode, the main transceiver is always on. When a station receives an acknowledgment frame from the second station, the first station switches the communication mode, and the power consumption can be reduced by actively notifying the second station of the switching of the first station between the two communication modes by the first station.

18a and 18b , which are schematic structural diagrams of a communication mode switching apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The communication mode switching apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the first site in the embodiment of FIG. 15 , and the first site may be an AP or STA, if the first station is an AP, the second station is a STA; if the first station is a STA, the second station is an AP.

As shown in Figure 18a, the apparatus may include: a transceiver unit 201 and a determination unit 202, wherein:

The transceiver unit 201, which can be configured to perform the receiving action performed by the first station described in the method of FIG. 15 above;

a switching unit 202, which can be configured to perform the determination action performed by the first station described in the method of FIG. 15 above;

The transceiver unit 201 may be implemented by the transceiver 2001 in FIG. 18b, and the switching unit 202 may be implemented by the processor 2002 in FIG. 18b.

For specific details, reference may be made to the description in the above method, which will not be repeated here.

For example, the transceiver unit 201 is configured to receive a suggestion frame sent by the second station, where the suggestion frame includes switching instruction information for instructing the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode, and the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, the energy saving mode includes a WUR state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, and the WUR turns on the main transceiver after receiving a wake-up frame;

The determining unit 202 is configured to determine whether to switch to the energy saving mode according to the suggested frame.

Optionally, the suggestion frame further includes time indication information for instructing the first station to switch to the energy saving mode.

Optionally, if the first site is an access point AP, the second site is a site STA;

The determining unit 202 determines whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggested frame, specifically including:

If no objection frame is received, it is determined to switch to the energy saving mode.

Optionally, if the first site is a site STA, the second site is an access point AP;

The suggestion frame is sent when the second station receives an energy-saving mode conversion request from the third station and the second station predicts that the first station of the same type as the third station needs to enter the energy-saving mode.

Correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 18b , the apparatus may include: a transceiver 2001 and a processor 2002 . The processor 2002 is configured to control the operation of the apparatus, including sending the first radio frame to the second station through the transceiver 2001 . Further, a memory 2003 may also be included, and the memory 2003 may include a read-only memory and a random access memory for providing instructions and data to the processor 2002 . The memory 2003 may be integrated in the processor 2002 or may be independent of the processor 2002 . A portion of memory 2003 may also include non-volatile row random access memory (NVRAM). Various components of the device are coupled together through a bus system, wherein the bus system 2009 includes a power bus, a control bus and a status signal bus in addition to the data bus. However, for the sake of clarity, the various buses are labeled as bus system 2009 in the figure.

The process disclosed on the first site side in FIG. 15 in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to the transceiver 2001 and the processor 2002 . In the implementation process, each step of the process implemented by the apparatus can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor 2002 or an instruction in the form of software. The processor 2002 may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute the embodiments of the present application. The disclosed methods, steps, and logical block diagrams of . A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the methods disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as executed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software modules may be located in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers and other storage media mature in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 2003, and the processor 2002 reads the information in the memory 2003, and completes the steps of the instruction flow in the embodiment of the present invention in combination with its hardware.

Optionally, the transceiver 2001 is configured to receive a suggestion frame sent by a second station, where the suggestion frame includes switching instruction information for instructing the first station to switch to an energy-saving mode, and the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a main transceiver, the energy saving mode includes a WUR state, the WUR state is that the main transceiver is turned off, and the WUR turns on the main transceiver after receiving the wake-up frame;

The processor 2002 is configured to determine whether to switch to the energy saving mode according to the suggested frame.

By implementing the embodiment of the present invention, the first station receives a suggestion frame sent by the second station, where the suggestion frame includes switching instruction information for instructing the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode, and the first station determines whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggestion frame The energy-saving mode includes the WUR state. By instructing the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode, the second station can flexibly control the time for the first station to switch to the energy-saving mode and reduce the power consumption of the first station.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or part of the processes in the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented. The process can be completed by instructing the relevant hardware by a computer program, and the program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed , which may include the processes of the foregoing method embodiments. The aforementioned storage medium includes: ROM or random storage memory RAM, magnetic disk or optical disk and other mediums that can store program codes.

Claims (26)

1. A method for switching communication modes, comprising:

a first station sends a first wireless frame to a second station, wherein the first wireless frame comprises communication mode switching information, the communication mode switching information is used for indicating the first station to switch between a power saving mode and an active mode, the first station is provided with a wakeup receiver WUR and a host transceiver, the power saving mode comprises a WUR state and an awake state, the WUR state is that the host transceiver is closed, the WUR receives the wakeup frame and then opens the host transceiver, the awake state is that the host transceiver is opened, the host transceiver is always opened in the active mode, and if the communication mode switching information comprises a first identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that the first station is to be switched to the power saving mode; if the communication mode switching information contains a second identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that the first station is to be switched to an active mode;

and when the first station receives the acknowledgement frame of the second station, the first station switches the communication mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication mode switch information is located in a preset field of a frame control field of the first radio frame.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the preset field comprises an energy management power management field of the frame control field.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein if the communication mode switching information includes the first identifier, after the first station switches the communication mode, the method further comprises:

when the first station is in the WUR state, the first station receives a wake-up frame sent by the second station and turns on the main transceiver;

the first station sends a notification frame to the second station, wherein the notification frame is used for notifying the second station that the first station is switched to the awake state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein after the first station sends a notification frame to the second station, further comprising:

the first site receives a second wireless frame sent by the second site, wherein the second wireless frame comprises indication information, and the indication information is used for indicating whether the second site has a wireless frame sent to the first site subsequently or not;

and if the second station does not have a wireless frame sent to the first station subsequently, the first station closes the main transceiver and switches to the WUR state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the power save mode includes a first mode and a second mode, the WUR state in the first mode including a WUR on sub-state and a WUR off sub-state;

in the second mode, the WUR state comprises a WUR on sub-state;

in the WUR on sub-state, the WUR is on and the WUR receives the wake-up frame, and in the WUR off sub-state, the WUR is off.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

the first station indicates the energy-saving mode of the first station to the second station as the first mode or the second mode;

if the energy-saving mode of the first station is the first mode, the first station switches between the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state according to a preset time period; or, if the power saving mode of the first station is the first mode, the first station sends switching time indication information for indicating the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state to the second station; or, if the power saving mode of the first station is the first mode, the first station receives switching time indication information which is sent by the second station and used for indicating the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state.

8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein prior to the first station transmitting the first radio frame to the second station, further comprising:

the first station indicates to the second station whether the WUR of the first station is active.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first station indicating to the second station whether the WUR of the first station is active comprises:

the first station sending capability information to the second station, the capability information indicating whether the first station is equipped with the WUR, and whether the first station is equipped with the WUR indicating whether the WUR is active; or,

the first station sends WUR activation information to the second station, wherein the WUR activation information is used for indicating whether the first station starts the energy-saving mode based on the WUR.

10. A method for switching communication modes, comprising:

a first station receives a suggestion frame sent by a second station, wherein the suggestion frame comprises switching indication information used for indicating the first station to switch to an energy-saving mode, the first station is provided with a wakeup receiver WUR and a host transceiver, the energy-saving mode comprises a WUR state, the WUR state is that the host transceiver is closed, the WUR receives the wakeup frame and then opens the host transceiver, and the suggestion frame is sent when the second station receives an energy-saving mode switching request of a third station and the second station predicts that the first station with the same type as the third station needs to enter the energy-saving mode;

and the first station determines whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggestion frame.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the advice frame further comprises time indication information for instructing the first station to switch to the power save mode.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein if the first station is an access point AP, the second station is a station STA;

the first station determines whether to switch to the energy-saving mode according to the suggestion frame, and the determining includes:

and if the first station does not receive the reverse-pair frame, the first station determines to switch to the energy-saving mode.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the second station is an Access Point (AP) if the first station is a Station (STA).

14. A communication mode switching apparatus applied to a first station, comprising:

a transceiver unit, configured to send a first wireless frame to a second station, where the first wireless frame includes communication mode switching information, where the communication mode switching information is used to instruct the first station to switch between a power saving mode and an active mode, the first station is equipped with a wake-up receiver WUR and a host transceiver, the power saving mode includes a WUR state and an awake state, the WUR state is that the host transceiver is off, the WUR turns on the host transceiver after receiving the wake-up frame, the awake state is that the host transceiver is on, the host transceiver is always on in the active mode, and if the communication mode switching information includes a first identifier, the communication mode switching information instructs the first station to switch to the power saving mode; if the communication mode switching information contains a second identifier, the communication mode switching information indicates that the first station is to be switched to an active mode;

and the switching unit is used for switching the communication mode when receiving the acknowledgement frame of the second station.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the communication mode switch information is located in a preset field of a frame control field of the first radio frame.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the preset field comprises an energy management power management field of the frame control field.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein if the communication mode switching information includes the first identifier, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a wake-up frame sent by the second station and turn on the main transceiver when the first station is in the WUR state; and sending a notification frame to the second station, wherein the notification frame is used for notifying the second station that the first station is switched to the awake state.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transceiving unit is further configured to receive a second wireless frame sent by the second station, and the second wireless frame includes indication information indicating whether there is a subsequent wireless frame sent by the second station to the first station;

the switching unit is further configured to turn off the host transceiver and switch to the WUR state if the second station subsequently does not have a wireless frame to be sent to the first station.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the power save mode includes a first mode and a second mode, the WUR state in the first mode including a WUR on sub-state and a WUR off sub-state;

in the second mode, the WUR state comprises a WUR on sub-state;

in the WUR on sub-state, the WUR is on and the WUR receives the wake-up frame, and in the WUR off sub-state, the WUR is off.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to indicate to the second station that the power saving mode of the first station is the first mode or the second mode;

the switching unit is further configured to switch between the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state according to a preset time period if the energy saving mode of the first station is the first mode; or, the transceiver unit is further configured to send, to the second station, switching time indication information for indicating the WUR on sub-state and the WUR off sub-state if the power saving mode of the first station is the first mode; or, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive, if the power saving mode of the first station is the first mode, switching time indication information sent by the second station and used for indicating the WUR on sub-state and the WURoff sub-state.

21. The apparatus of any one of claims 14-20, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to indicate to the second station whether the WUR for the first station is active.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the transceiver unit to indicate to the second station whether the WUR of the first station is active specifically comprises:

transmitting capability information to the second station, the capability information indicating whether the first station is equipped with the WUR, the equipping of the WUR indicating whether the WUR is active; or,

transmitting WUR activation information to the second station, the WUR activation information indicating whether the first station turns on the power saving mode based on the WUR.

23. A communication mode switching device applied to a first station is characterized by comprising

A transceiver unit, configured to receive a suggestion frame sent by a second station, where the suggestion frame includes switching indication information used to indicate that the first station switches to an energy saving mode, and the first station is equipped with a wakeup receiver WUR and a host transceiver, where the energy saving mode includes a WUR state, the WUR state is that the host transceiver is turned off, the WUR turns on the host transceiver after receiving the wakeup frame, and the suggestion frame is sent when the second station receives an energy saving mode switching request from a third station, and the second station predicts that the first station of the same type as the third station needs to enter the energy saving mode;

a determining unit, configured to determine whether to switch to the energy saving mode according to the suggestion frame.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the advice frame further comprises time indication information for instructing the first station to switch to the power save mode.

25. The apparatus according to claim 23 or 24, wherein if the first station is an access point AP, the second station is a station STA;

the determining unit determines whether to switch to the energy saving mode according to the suggested frame, and specifically includes:

and if the reverse-pair frame is not received, determining to switch to the energy-saving mode.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the second station is an Access Point (AP) if the first station is a Station (STA).

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