Communication method, communications apparatus, user equipment, and communications system

Abstract

An example communication method of the present disclosure includes: sending indication information to two or more user equipments, where the indication information includes timeslot indication information and frequency band indication information of the two or more user equipments, at least two user equipments in the two or more user equipments have same timeslot indication information, and the user equipments that have the same timeslot indication information have different frequency band indication information; and obtaining an acknowledgment frame sent by one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments in a timeslot indicated by respective timeslot indication information and by using a frequency band indicated by respective frequency band indication information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A communication method, applied to Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system, wherein the method comprises:
 sending indication information to two or more user equipments, wherein the indication information comprises timeslot indication information and frequency band indication information of the two or more user equipments, the timeslot indication information indicates one or more timeslots in which the two or more user equipments send a respective acknowledgment frame, the frequency band indication information indicates one or more frequency bands used by the two or more user equipments for sending the respective acknowledgment frame, at least two user equipments in the two or more user equipments have same timeslot indication information, the user equipments that have the same timeslot indication information have different frequency band indication information, and the indication information comprises at least one bit, a quantity of bit included in the indication information is associated with a quantity K of the two or more user equipments, or a quantity M of frequency bands, or a quantity N of filtering paths, and   obtaining an acknowledgment frame sent by one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments in a timeslot indicated by respective timeslot indication information and by using a frequency band indicated by respective frequency band indication information, wherein the acknowledgment frame sent by the one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments is used to indicate that the one or more user equipments have correctly received a data packet.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the sending indication information to two or more user equipments comprises:
 sending the indication information to the two or more user equipments by using control signaling; or   sending the indication information to the two or more user equipments by using a data frame; or   sending the indication information to the two or more user equipments by using a beacon frame.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the obtaining an acknowledgment frame sent by one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments in a timeslot indicated by respective timeslot indication information and by using a frequency band indicated by respective frequency band indication information comprises:
 receiving, by using M frequency bands, a first acknowledgment frame set sent by the one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments in a first timeslot by using different frequency bands, wherein the first timeslot is one of timeslots indicated by the timeslot indication information, the first acknowledgment frame set comprises acknowledgment frames sent by the one or more user equipments in the first timeslot by using the different frequency bands, the two or more user equipments comprise K user equipments, and M and K are greater than or equal to 2;   respectively filtering the first acknowledgment frame set by using at least X filtering paths of N filtering paths; and   respectively obtaining, from the first acknowledgment frame set, a first acknowledgment frame to an X th  acknowledgment frame sent by using the different frequency bands, wherein N is greater than or equal to 2 and is less than or equal to a quantity of antennas, X is a quantity of acknowledgment frames comprised in the first acknowledgment frame set, X is less than or equal to N, and operating frequency bands of the X filtering paths are in one-to-one correspondence with and the same as the frequency bands used for sending acknowledgment frames in the first acknowledgment frame set.   
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein
 when K is less than or equal to M and M is less than or equal to N, or when K is less than or equal to N and N is less than or equal to M, frequency band indication information of the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments respectively indicates K different frequency bands of the M frequency bands, and timeslot indication information of the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments indicates a same timeslot.   
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein
 when K is greater than M and M is less than or equal to N,   the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments are grouped into Q user equipment sets, wherein Q is at least one of K/M, a rounded-up value of K/M, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/M;   frequency band indication information of user equipments in each user equipment set of the Q user equipment sets indicates all or some of the M frequency bands from a first frequency band to an M th  frequency band;   timeslot indication information of the user equipments in each user equipment set of the Q user equipment sets indicates a same timeslot; and   timeslot indication information of user equipments in any two user equipment sets of the Q user equipment sets indicates different timeslots.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein
 when K is greater than N and N is less than or equal to M,
 the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments are grouped into P user equipment sets, wherein P is at least one of K/N, a rounded-up value of K/N, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/N; 
 frequency band indication information of user equipments in each user equipment set of the P user equipment sets indicates all or some of any N different frequency bands of the M frequency bands; 
 timeslot indication information of the user equipments in each user equipment set indicates a same timeslot; and 
 timeslot indication information of user equipments in any two user equipment sets of the P user equipment sets indicates different timeslots. 
   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the indication information comprises at least (log 2 M+log 2 J)×K bits, wherein log 2 M bits are used to indicate frequency band indication information of one user equipment in the two or more user equipments, and log 2 J bits are used to indicate timeslot indication information of one user equipment in the two or more user equipments; and
 when K is less than or equal to M and M is less than or equal to N, or when K is less than or equal to N and N is less than or equal to M, J is 2; 
 when K is greater than M and M is less than or equal to N, J is at least one of K/M, a rounded-up value of K/M, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/M; or 
 when K is greater than N and N is less than or equal to M, J is at least one of K/N, a rounded-up value of K/N, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/N. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein when M is less than or equal to 4 and K is less than or equal to 16, the indication information is at least 4×K bits. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein when the indication information is sent to each user equipment in the two or more user equipments by using the data frame, the indication information is comprised in a very high throughput signal (A VHT-SIG-A) in the data frame. 
     
     
         10 . A communications apparatus that is configured to operate in Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system, wherein the communications apparatus comprises:
 one or more hardware processors;   a non-transitory computer readable medium including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, facilitate performing operations comprising:   sending indication information to two or more user equipments, wherein the indication information comprises timeslot indication information and frequency band indication information of the two or more user equipments, the timeslot indication information indicates one or more timeslots in which the two or more user equipments send a respective acknowledgment frame, the frequency band indication information indicates one or more frequency bands used by the two or more user equipments for sending the respective acknowledgment frame, at least two user equipments in the two or more user equipments have same timeslot indication information, the user equipments that have the same timeslot indication information have different frequency band indication information, and the indication information comprises at least one bit, a quantity of bit included in the indication information is associated with a quantity K of the two or more user equipments, or a quantity M of frequency bands, or a quantity N of filtering paths, wherein   obtaining an acknowledgment frame sent by one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments in a timeslot indicated by respective timeslot indication information and by using a frequency band indicated by respective frequency band indication information, wherein the acknowledgment frame sent by the one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments is used to indicate that the one or more user equipments have correctly received a data packet.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the operations comprise:
 sending the indication information to the two or more user equipments by using control signaling; or   sending the indication information to the two or more user equipments by using a data frame; or   sending the indication information to the two or more user equipments by using a beacon frame.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the communications apparatus further comprises:
 at least two antennas and N filters cooperating with the one or more hardware processors, wherein each filter is connected to one antenna, and N is greater than or equal to 2 and is less than or equal to a quantity of antennas, wherein   the at least two antennas are configured to:
 receive, by using M frequency bands, a first acknowledgment frame set sent by the one or more user equipments of the two or more user equipments in a first timeslot by using different frequency bands, wherein the first timeslot is one of timeslots indicated by the timeslot indication information, the first acknowledgment frame set comprises acknowledgment frames sent by the one or more user equipments in the first timeslot by using the different frequency bands, the two or more user equipments comprise K user equipments, and M and K are greater than or equal to 2; and 
   the N filters are configured to:
 respectively filter the first acknowledgment frame set by using at least X filters of the N filters; 
 respectively obtain, from the first acknowledgment frame set, a first acknowledgment frame to an X th  acknowledgment frame sent by using the different frequency bands, wherein N is greater than or equal to 2, X is a quantity of acknowledgment frames comprised in the first acknowledgment frame set, X is less than or equal to N, and operating frequency bands of the X filters are in one-to-one correspondence with and the same as the frequency bands used for sending acknowledgment frames in the first acknowledgment frame set; and 
 respectively send the first acknowledgment frame to the X th  acknowledgment frame to the one or more hardware processors. 
   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein
 when K is less than or equal to M and M is less than or equal to N, or when K is less than or equal to N and N is less than or equal to M, frequency band indication information of the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments respectively indicates K different frequency bands of the M frequency bands, and timeslot indication information of the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments indicates a same timeslot.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein
 when K is greater than M and M is less than or equal to N,
 the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments are grouped into Q user equipment sets, wherein Q is at least one of K/M, a rounded-up value of K/M, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/M; and 
 frequency band indication information of user equipments in each user equipment set of the Q user equipment sets indicates all or some of the M frequency bands from a first frequency band to an M th  frequency band; 
 timeslot indication information of the user equipments in each user equipment set of the Q user equipment sets indicates a same timeslot; and 
 timeslot indication information of user equipments in any two user equipment sets of the Q user equipment sets indicates different timeslots. 
   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein
 when K is greater than N and N is less than or equal to M,
 the K user equipments of the two or more user equipments are grouped into P user equipment sets, wherein P is at least one of K/N, a rounded-up value of K/N, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/N; 
 frequency band indication information of user equipments in each user equipment set of the P user equipment sets indicates all or some of any N different frequency bands of the M frequency bands; 
 timeslot indication information of the user equipments in each user equipment set indicates a same timeslot; and 
 timeslot indication information of user equipments in any two user equipment sets of the P user equipment sets indicates different timeslots. 
   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the indication information comprises at least (log 2 M+log 2 J)×K bits, log 2 M bits are used to indicate frequency band indication information of one user equipment in the two or more user equipments, and log 2 J bits are used to indicate timeslot indication information of one user equipment in the two or more user equipments; and
 when K is less than or equal to M and M is less than or equal to N, or when K is less than or equal to N and N is less than or equal to M, J is 2; 
 when K is greater than M and M is less than or equal to N, J is at least one of K/M, a rounded-up value of K/M, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/M; or when K is greater than N and N is less than or equal to M, J is at least one of K/N, a rounded-up value of K/N, or 1 plus a rounded-down value of K/N. 
 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein when M is less than or equal to 4 and K is less than or equal to 16, the indication information is at least 4×K bits. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein when the operations comprise: sending the indication information to each user equipment in the two or more user equipments by using the data frame, and the indication information is comprised in a very high throughput signal A (VHT-SIG-A) in the data frame. 
     
     
         19 . A user equipment that is configured to operate in Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system, wherein the user equipment comprises:
 a receiver configured to receive indication information, wherein the indication information comprises timeslot indication information and frequency band indication information of two or more user equipments, the timeslot indication information indicates one or more timeslots in which the two or more user equipments send a respective acknowledgment frame, the frequency band indication information indicates one or more frequency bands used by the two or more user equipments for sending the respective acknowledgment frame, at least two user equipments in the two or more user equipments have same timeslot indication information, the user equipments that have the same timeslot indication information have different frequency band indication information, and the indication information comprises at least one bit, a quantity of bit included in the indication information is associated with a quantity K of the two or more user equipments, or a quantity M of frequency bands, or a quantity N of filtering paths;   a processor configured to:
 obtain timeslot indication information and frequency band indication information of the user equipment from the indication information; and 
 obtain a data packet of the user equipment; and 
   a transmitter configured to send an acknowledgment frame according to the timeslot indication information and the frequency band indication information of the user equipment, in a timeslot indicated by the timeslot indication information of the user equipment, and by using a frequency band indicated by the frequency band indication information of the user equipment, wherein the acknowledgment frame is used to indicate that the user equipment has successfully received the data packet.   
     
     
         20 . The user equipment according to  claim 19 , wherein the receiver is configured to: receive the indication information by using at least one of control signaling, a data frame, or a beacon frame.