(19)
(11)EP 2 819 456 B1

(12)EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION

(45)Mention of the grant of the patent:
26.06.2019 Bulletin 2019/26

(21)Application number: 13751226.5

(22)Date of filing:  25.02.2013
(51)International Patent Classification (IPC): 
H04W 28/02(2009.01)
H04W 28/12(2009.01)
(86)International application number:
PCT/CN2013/071814
(87)International publication number:
WO 2013/123903 (29.08.2013 Gazette  2013/35)

(54)

METHOD, AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING NETWORK CONGESTION

VERFAHREN, UND VORRICHTUNG ZUR NETZWERKÜBERLASTUNGSSTEUERUNG

PROCÉDÉ, ET DISPOSITIF PERMETTANT DE COMMANDER UNE CONGESTION DE RÉSEAU


(84)Designated Contracting States:
AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR

(30)Priority: 24.02.2012 CN 201210044152

(43)Date of publication of application:
31.12.2014 Bulletin 2015/01

(73)Proprietor: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Longgang District Shenzhen, Guangdong 518129 (CN)

(72)Inventors:
  • WU, Tianyu
    Shenzhen Guangdong 518129 (CN)
  • CHEN, Chen
    Shenzhen Guangdong 518129 (CN)
  • HAO, Shuai
    Shenzhen Guangdong 518129 (CN)

(74)Representative: Isarpatent 
Patent- und Rechtsanwälte Behnisch Barth Charles Hassa Peckmann & Partner mbB Friedrichstrasse 31
80801 München
80801 München (DE)


(56)References cited: : 
EP-A2- 2 180 751
CN-A- 102 111 847
US-A1- 2005 094 558
CN-A- 101 584 234
US-A1- 2002 146 032
US-A1- 2011 044 303
  
      
    Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention).


    Description

    TECHNICAL FIELD



    [0001] The present invention relates to the field of communications and, in particular, relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling network congestion and a wireless local area network system.

    BACKGROUND



    [0002] Basic service set (Basic Service Set, BSS) is a basic element of a wireless local area network, which is composed of stations (Station, STA for short/ Stations, STAs for short) within a specific overlay area and with a specific relevance. A common relevance mode of stations in a BSS is that each STA therein is associated to a central station which specializes in basic service set management, the central station is called an access point (Access Point, AP). At present, a main application scenario is the sensor network, such as smart grid (Smart Grid, SG), where the number of STAs supported by an AP can be up to 6000. If the STAs have intensive operations, there will be a large number of STAs which need to send data to the AP within a period of time, then the STAs which are sending data may suffer a high probability of collision, which will easily cause network congestion.

    [0003] In a wireless communication system adopting distributed access, for example a wireless local area network (WLAN, Wireless Local Area Network), the precondition of accessing a channel is that all stations (including normal user-oriented stations and the AP) are regarded as equal STAs. The access mode is that each STA contends for a channel by way of randomly generating a backoff time in a contention window (Contention Window, CW) and progressively decreasing to zero.

    [0004] When network congestion occurs due to sending data by a large number of STAs, a method in prior art for easing network congestion is called "binary exponential backoff". In existing method, once a STA which is sending data meets with a collision, then the STA will resend (also called retransmit) the data; further, when the number of retransmission times does not reach a maximum number of data packet retransmission times, the STA doubles the CW, that is to double the contention window CW1 to 2CW1, and randomly selects an integer in an uniform distribution of range [0, 2CW1] to calculate a needed backoff time, and then resends the data when the backoff time is up. If a collision occurs when sending the data even when the calculated backoff time is up, the STA enlarges the contention window to 4CW1, and randomly selects an integer in an uniform distribution of range [0, 4CW1] to calculate a needed backoff time, and then resends the data when the backoff time is up, until the contention window is enlarged to a preset maximum value CWmax.

    [0005] In the above existing binary exponential backoff, the STA will double the contention window only when meeting with a collision, in addition, only the STAs which meet with collisions will double the contention window, which contributes limited control for congestion of the whole network. During serious network congestion, each STA may possibly contend for a channel after multiple collisions by using the above existing binary exponential backoff method, so as to resend the data, which suffers multiple times of unsuccessful retransmission, through the channel. Therefore, the method for controlling network congestion provided by the prior art has problems of long time consumption and low efficiency.

    [0006] Prior art document US 2005094558 A1 discloses a communication method, system and components that include use of traffic predictions determined by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). Preferably, the invention is implemented by predicting traffic in a wireless local area network (WLAN), between a WTRU and a WLAN access point (AP) that begins by determining a traffic level at the WTRU. Traffic prediction information is sent by the WTRU to the AP where it is used in conjunction with the generation of commands sent to the WLAN via the AP. WTRUs receive instructions as to admission and are preferably configured to receive and implement instructions to adjust the contention window used by the WTRU to transmit data. (See Abstract)

    [0007] Prior art document US 2011044303 A1 discloses a device, system and method of adjusting a contention window for wireless transmission. In some embodiments, a wireless communication unit may control transmissions of a wireless communication device in a wireless area network during a contention period, wherein the wireless communication unit is to select a back-off period within a contention-window having a contention-window size, which is adjusted based on a number of stations included in the wireless area network, and wherein the wireless communication unit is to wait for the back-off period prior to beginning a wireless transmission during the contention period. (See Abstract)

    [0008] Prior art document EP 2180751 A2 discloses a multiple-input multiple-output data transmission system which includes access stations and an access point having multiple receive antennas. An access point has a minimum contention window size decision unit to determine a minimum contention window size based on the number of receive antennas and a number of access stations, a broadcasting unit to broadcast the determined minimum contention window size to the access stations, and a receiver to receive data from the access stations in a contention window that is calculated based on the minimum contention window size. An access station receives the minimum contention window size from the access point, determines a first contention window size based on the minimum contention window size, and transmits data to the access point within the first contention window. If the transmission fails, the access station determines a second contention window size and retransmits the data in the second contention window. (See Abstract)

    SUMMARY



    [0009] Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, and an apparatus, as defined in the appended claims, for controlling network congestion, so as to rapidly reduce the congestion level of the network and improve the efficiency of congestion control.

    [0010] An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling network congestion, the method includes: sending a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data; the control frame or the beacon frame further includes a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, where the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.

    [0011] An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling network congestion, the method includes:

    receiving, by a station, a control frame or a beacon frame sent by an access point, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in a network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data;

    enlarging, by the station, the contention window according to the instruction field;

    determining, by the station, a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value;

    the control frame or the beacon frame further includes a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, where the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.



    [0012] An embodiment of the present invention provides an access point (AP), the access point includes: a sending module, configured to send a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data; the control frame or the beacon frame further includes a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, where the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.

    [0013] An embodiment of the present invention provides a user station (STA), the user STA includes:

    a receiving module, configured to receive a control frame or a beacon frame sent by an access point, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in a network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data;

    a contention window altering module, configured to enlarge the contention window according to the instruction field;

    a backoff time determining module, configured to determine a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value;

    the control frame or the beacon frame further includes a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, where the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.



    [0014] It can be seen from the above embodiments of the present invention that, compared to the method in the prior art that a single station enlarges the contention window only after the collision occurs, the method provided by embodiments of the present invention can achieve the congestion control for a network before collision occurs to a station, thereby avoiding more serious network congestion caused by each station still contending for a channel after the network congestion occurs; in another aspect, since an access point can send a control frame or a beacon frame to the station in the network when determining that congestion occurs to the current network, so as to instruct the station which needs to send data to re-determine a backoff time when receiving the control frame or the beacon frame, a rapidly congestion relief of the whole network is achieved from the overall situation, and also a fair channel contention of each station, after re-determining a backoff time, is guaranteed.

    BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS



    [0015] 

    Fig. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of a method for controlling network congestion provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 4a is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 4b is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 6 is a schematic flow diagram of a method for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 7a is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 7b is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 9a is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 9b is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 9c is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention;

    Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for controlling network congestion provided by an embodiment of the present invention.


    DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS



    [0016] The technical solutions in embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and comprehensively by reference to accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments provided by the present invention, but not all of them.

    [0017] Please refer to Fig. 1, which is a schematic flow diagram of a method for controlling network congestion provided by an embodiment of the present invention, the executive subject can be an access point (Access Point, AP) in a wireless local area network, the method mainly includes the following steps:

    S101, beginning to monitor a channel before each station sends data, so as to determine the congestion level of the current network.
    Different from the existing binary exponential backoff that a STA will only enlarge the contention window to twice after a collision occurs, in the method provided by embodiments of the present invention, an access point AP begins to monitor the channel before each STA sends data, or the access point AP monitors the channel all the time, and informs in advance the STA to enlarge the contention window according to the congestion level of the current network, rather than informing the STA to enlarge the contention window after the collision occurs to the STA in the network.

    S102, sending a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data.



    [0018] As an embodiment of the present invention, when the access point AP detects that the channel is busy, and the number of data packet received is less than a specific threshold, then the access point AP determines that congestion occurs in the current network. As another embodiment of the present invention, the access point AP can also determine the congestion level of the current network according to statistics such as the number of continuous collisions suffered by a station STA, the probability of collision within a period of time or the number of times of the event that the signal power is detected but the frame cannot be decoded; if a part of or all of the statistics reach a specific threshold, then it is determined that congestion occurs in the current network.

    [0019] It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, the conditions which trigger the access point to send the control frame or the beacon frame to the station in the network are only examples, but not limited to "beginning to monitor a channel before each station sends data, so as to determine the congestion level of the current network" as described in step S101, for example, by way of the channel sending report information after congestion etc., rather than monitoring the channel all the time, and triggering step S102 after acquiring the report of channel congestion.

    [0020] In an embodiment of the present invention, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window when the station in the network needs to send data. As shown in Fig. 2, which is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The newly constructed control frame includes a "frame control" field of 2 bytes (Byte), a "duration" field of 2 bytes (Byte) and a "frame check sequence (Frame Check Sequence, FCS) " field of 4 bytes (Byte), where the "duration" field is used to indicate the length of the control frame, the "FCS" field is used for error correction for each control frame, and the "frame control" field includes a "type" field and a "sub-type" field, the "sub-type" field is used to indicate that the control frame is a newly constructed control frame. The "frame control" field is the instruction field which instructs all stations or part of the stations to enlarge the contention window when the stations need to send data. When all stations or part of the stations (when the control frame is multicast by the AP to specific stations) receive the control frame, if the station just has data to send, since congestion occurs in the current network, the station enlarges the contention window CW according to the instruction of the "frame control" field, and randomly selects a value within the range of [0, CW] in the contention window to calculate a backoff time, or takes the enlarged contention window as an initial value to calculate the backoff time, for example, assuming that the station is contending for a channel, then the initial contention window CWmin can be enlarged to 2 × CWmin, and then 2 × CWmin is taken as the initial value to calculate the backoff time (Back off Time).

    [0021] Since the "frame control" field takes less bytes, the overhead is relatively low, and the change to the original communication protocol is little, which is relatively easy to achieve. In another aspect, since the control frame or the beacon frame is broadcast to all stations in the network (or multicast to part of the stations), the stations which receive the control frame or the beacon frame will re-determine a backoff time, therefore, the method for controlling network congestion according to embodiments of the present invention provides a fair contention for all stations in re-contending a channel.

    [0022] If the AP sending the control frame or the beacon frame to the station in the network is to broadcast the control frame or the beacon frame to all stations, then the beacon frame or the control frame shown in Fig. 2 can further include a "window" field, as shown in Fig. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention. The newly constructed control frame includes a "frame control" field of 2 bytes (Byte), a "duration" field of 2 bytes (Byte) and a "frame check sequence" field of 4 bytes (Byte) and a "window" field of 1 byte (Byte). The value hcw of the "window" field is used to instruct all stations in the network to enlarge the current contention window according to the hcw when the STAs need to send data, for example, to instruct all stations in the network to enlarge the current contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, that is, hcw×CWmin (for convenience of describing, the hcw×CWmin is recorded as CWdef), and randomly select a contention window value in the enlarged contention window, i. e. in the range of [0, CWdef] to calculate the backoff time, or take the enlarged contention window CWdef as the initial value to calculate the backoff time, where CWmin is the minimum value of the contention window.

    [0023] If the access point detects that congestion occurs in the current network through monitoring the channel, and part of the stations are about to send data, then the access point can multicast a control frame to the part of the stations in the network; the multicast control frame includes at least one "group number" field in addition to the "frame control" field of 2 bytes (Byte), the "duration" field of 2 bytes (Byte) and the "frame check sequence" field of 4 bytes (Byte) shown in Fig. 2, the "group number" field is used to indicate the stations in the network which need to receive the multicast control frame. As shown in Fig. 4a, which is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention, "group number 1" field indicates that the station in the network which needs to receive the multicast control frame is station 1 (STA1), "group number 2" field indicates that the station in the network which needs to receive the multicast control frame is station 2 (STA2), ... , "group number n" field indicates that the station in the network which needs to receive the multicast control frame is station n (STAn) etc.

    [0024] When the control frame multicast by the AP is the control frame shown in Fig. 4a, and when part of the stations receive the control frame, if the stations just have data to send, since congestion occurs in the current network, the stations enlarges the contention window CW according to the instruction of the "frame control" field, and randomly selects a contention window value within the range of [0, CW] to calculate a backoff time, or takes the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value to calculate the backoff time; assuming that the station 1 (STA1) corresponding to "group number 1" is contending for a channel, then the STA1 can enlarge the initial contention window CWmin to twice of CWmin, that is, 2×CWmin, and take 2×CWmin as the initial value of the contention window to calculate the backoff time; assuming that the station 2 (STA2) corresponding to "group number 2" is contending for a channel, then the STA2 can enlarge the initial contention window CWmin to twice of CWmin. that is, 2×CWmin, and take 2×CWmin as the initial value of the contention window to calculate the backoff time, it is similar when stations corresponding to other group numbers receive the control frame shown in Fig. 4a.

    [0025] The control frame shown in Fig. 4a can also include a "window" field with a value of hcw as shown in Fig. 3; as shown in Fig. 4b, Fig. 4b is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention. Since the control frame includes a single "window" field, the stations corresponding to all "group number" fields enlarge the current contention window according to the value of hcw of the same "window" field when the stations receive the control frame and need to send data, for example, station 1 (STA1) enlarges the current contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, that is hcw×cWmin, when STA1 needs to send data, station 2 (STA2) also enlarges the current contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin. that is hcw×CWmin, when STA2 needs to send data, etc.

    [0026] As another embodiment of the present invention, the control frame shown in Fig. 4b can also include "window" fields, the number of which is equal to the number of the "group number i" fields, each "window" field corresponds to each "group number i" field. As shown in Fig. 5, which is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention, where the value hicw of each "window" field is used to instruct the station corresponding to each "group number i" field which corresponds to the each "window" field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcwi and CWmin when the station needs to send data, that is, the value hcw1 of the "window 1" field is used to instruct the station 1 (STA1) corresponding to each "group number 1" field which corresponds to the "window 1" field to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcw1 of the "window 1" field when STA1 needs to send data, for example, station 1 (STA1) enlarges the current contention window to hcw1×CWmin when STA1 needs to send data; the value hcw2 of the "window 2" field is used to instruct the station 2 (STA2) corresponding to each "group number 2" field which corresponds to the "window 2" field to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcw2 of the "window 2" field when STA2 needs to send data, for example, STA2 enlarges the current contention window to hcw2×CWmin when STA2 needs to send data, ......, the value hcwn of the "window n" field is used to instruct the station n (STAn) corresponding to each "group number n" field which corresponds to the "window n" field to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcwn of the "window n" field when STAn needs to send data, for example, STAn enlarges the current contention window to hcwn×CWmin when STAn needs to send data, etc.

    [0027] It can be seen from the above method for controlling network congestion provided by embodiments of the present invention that, in one aspect, since an access point monitors the channel all the time before each station sends data, compared to the method in the prior art that a single station enlarges the contention window only after the collision occurs, the method provided by embodiments of the present invention can achieve the congestion control for a network before collision occurs to a station, thereby avoiding more serious network congestion caused by each station still contending for a channel after the network congestion occurs; in another aspect, since the access point can send a control frame or a beacon frame to the station in the network when determining that congestion occurs to the current network, so as to instruct the station which needs to send data to re-determine a backoff time when receiving the control frame or the beacon frame, a rapidly congestion relief of the whole network is achieved from the overall situation, and also a fair channel contention of each station, after re-determining a backoff time, is guaranteed.

    [0028] Please refer to Fig. 6, which is a schematic flow diagram of a method for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention, the method includes the following steps:

    S601, a station STA receives a control frame or a beacon frame sent by an access point, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in a network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data.
    In this embodiment, if the control frame received by the station STA is a control frame broadcast or multicast by an access point, the structure of which is as shown in Fig. 2, including a "frame control" field of 2 bytes (Byte), a "duration" field of 2 bytes (Byte) and a "frame check sequence (Frame Check Sequence, FCS)" field of 4 bytes (Byte), where the "duration" field is used to indicate the length of the control frame, the "FCS" field is used for error correction for each control frame, and the "frame control" field includes a "type" field and a "sub-type" field, the "sub-type" field is used to indicate that the control frame is a newly constructed control frame. The "frame control" field is the instruction field which instructs all stations or part of the stations to enlarge the contention window when the stations need to send data.

    S602, the station STA enlarges the contention window according to the instruction field of the control frame.



    [0029] In embodiments of the present invention, there are two situations when the station needs to send data, the first one of which is that the station already has data but the channel is busy thus the station is in a backing off state, the second one of which is that the station just received data and is contending for a channel, that is, the station is contending for a channel and is about to send the data received through the channel which is acquired through contention.

    [0030] As for the first situation, i. e. the STA received the control frame or the beacon frame broadcast by the access point and the STA is backing off, as an embodiment that the station STA enlarges the contention window according to the instruction field of the control frame, the station STA can enlarge the currently used contention window CW to twice of CW, i. e. 2xCW; as another embodiment that the station STA enlarges the contention window according to the instruction field of the control frame, the station STA can also use a specific value rather than the currently used contention window as a standard to enlarge the contention window, that is to keep the currently used contention window unchanged, and enlarge the contention window for next time to twice of CWmin, i. e. 2×CWmin, and take 2×CWmin as the initial value of the contention window for next time, where the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window, and the CWmin is a preset minimum value which can be set according to the provision of standards or protocols.

    [0031] As for the second situation, that is, the STA has received the control frame or the beacon frame broadcast by the access point and the STA is contending for a channel, as an embodiment that the station STA enlarges the contention window according to the instruction field of the control frame, the station STA enlarges the contention window for currently contending for the channel to twice of CWmin, i. e. 2×CWmin, where the CWmin is the preset minimum value of the contention window.

    [0032] The control frame shown in Fig. 2 only instructs all stations or part of the stations in the network to enlarge the contention window when the stations need to send data, however, the enlargement range is decided by the stations which receive the control frame. In the embodiments of the present invention, a coefficient may be carried in the control frame by the access point, which is used to instruct all stations or part of the stations in the network to enlarge the contention window according to the coefficient when the stations need to send data, that is, if the access point broadcasts the control frame or beacon frame to all stations in the network, then the control frame or the beacon frame can further include a "window" field with value of hcw, as shown in Fig. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention. The value hcw of the "window" field is used to instruct all stations in the network to enlarge the current contention window according to the hcw when the stations needs to send data. For example, if the station STA is backing off, then the STA enlarges the currently used contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, i. e. hcw×CWmin, when receiving the control frame carrying a "window" field with a value of hcw, where the CWmin is the preset minimum value of the contention window; or, if the station STA is contending for a channel, then the STA enlarges the contention window for contending a channel to a product of hcw and CWmin, i. e. hcw×CWmin, when receiving the control frame carrying a "window" field with a value of hcw.

    [0033] If the control frame received by the station STA is multicast by the access point, then the multicast control frame further includes at least one "group number" field, used to indicate the stations in the network which need to receive the control frame. As shown in Fig. 4a, which is a schematic structural diagram of a control frame provided by another embodiment of the present invention, "group number 1" field instructs that the station in the network which needs to receive the multicast control frame is station 1 (STA1), "group number 2" field instructs that the station in the network which needs to receive the multicast control frame is station 2 (STA2), ... , "group number n" field instructs that the station in the network which needs to receive the multicast control frame is station n (STAn) etc. If part of the stations in the network receive the control frame shown in Fig. 4a, when station 1 (STA1) corresponding to "group number 1" field, station 2 (STA2) corresponding to "group number 2" field, ... , station n (STAn) corresponding to "group number n" have data to send and are backing off, all of them can enlarge the currently used contention window CW to twice of the contention window CW, i. e. 2×CW, or, enlarge the contention window for next time to twice of CWmin, i. e. 2×CWmin rather than changing the currently used contention window, and take 2×CWmin as the initial value of the contention window for next time, where CWmin is the preset minimum value of the contention window. If part of the stations in the network receive the control frame shown in Fig. 4a, when station 1 (STA1) corresponding to "group number 1" field, station 2 (STA2) corresponding to "group number 2" field, ......, station n (STAn) corresponding to "group number n" have data to send and are contending for a channel, all of them can enlarge the currently used contention window to twice of CWmin, i. e. 2×CWmin, where CWmin is the preset minimum value of the contention window.

    [0034] If the structure of the control frame multicast by the access point is as shown in Fig. 4b, that is, the control frame includes a "window" field with a value of hcw; since the control frame includes a single "window" field, the stations corresponding to all "group number" fields enlarge the current contention window according to the value of hcw of the same "window" field when the stations receive the control frame and need to send data, for example, station 1 (STA1) enlarges the current contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, that is hcw×CWmin, when STA1 needs to send data, station 2 (STA2) also enlarges the current contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, that is hcw×CWmin, when STA2 needs to send data, etc.

    [0035] If the control frame multicast by the access point further includes "window" fields, the number of which is equal to the number of the group number fields, each "window" field corresponds to a "group number" field, as shown in Fig. 5. Where, the value hcwi of each "window" field is used to instruct the station corresponding to each "group number i" field which corresponds to the each "window" field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcwi and CWmin when the station needs to send data, that is, the value hcwi of each window field is used to instruct the station corresponding to each "group number i" field which corresponds to the each window field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcwi and CWmin when the STA needs to send data, for example, station 1 (STA1) enlarges the current contention window to hcw1×CWmin when STA1 needs to send data; the value hcw2 of the "window 2" field is used to instruct the station 2 (STA2) corresponding to each "group number 2" field which corresponds to the "window 2" field to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcw2 of the "window 2" field when STA2 needs to send data, for example, station 2 (STA2) enlarges the current contention window to hcw2×CWmin when STA2 needs to send data, ......, the value hcwn of the "window n" field is used to instruct the station n (STAn) corresponding to each "group number n" field which corresponds to the "window n" field to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcwn of the "window n" field when STAn needs to send data, for example, station n (STAn) enlarges the current contention window to hcwn×CWmin when STAn needs to send data, etc.

    [0036] S603, the station STA determines a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value.

    [0037] As discussed above, assuming that the value of the currently used contention window is CW, and the enlarged contention window is 2xCW, or, assuming that the value of the enlarged contention window is hcw×CWmin (hcw×CWmin is denoted as CWdef), or, assuming that the enlarged contention window value is 2×CWmin, where hcw is the value of the "window" field, CWmin is the preset minimum value of the contention window, when the station STA which received the control frame has data to send and is backing off, the station STA can randomly select a value within [0, 2xCW] or [0, CWdef], and then multiply the value by a corresponding protocol time slot to acquire a backoff time (Back off Time), the equation is TBoT = Random (0, 2xCW) × Tst, or, TBoT = Random (0, CWdef) × Tst, in the equation, TBoT is the backoff time, Random () is a random selection function, Tst is the protocol time slot.

    [0038] In embodiments of the present invention, the enlarged contention window can be regarded as the initial value to determine the backoff time. For example, when the station STA which received the control frame has data to send and is contending for a channel, the station STA can select the enlarged contention window 2×CWmin or CWdef as the initial value of the current contention window, and then multiply the value by a corresponding protocol time slot to acquire a backoff time, the equation is TBoT = 2×CWmin×Tst, or, TBoT = CWdef×Tst, in the equation, TBoT is the backoff time, Tst is the protocol time slot.

    [0039] Please refer to Fig. 7a, which is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by an embodiment of the present invention. For convenience of describing, only the parts relevant to the embodiments of the present invention are illustrated. The apparatus for controlling network congestion shown in Fig. 7a can be an access point (Access Point, AP) in a wireless local area network, which includes:
    a sending module 702, configured to send a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in the network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station in the network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in the network to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data.

    [0040] The apparatus for controlling network congestion shown in Fig. 7a can further include a monitoring module 701, as shown in Fig. 7b, which is an apparatus 7b for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention. The monitoring module 701 is configured to begin to monitor a channel before each station sends data, so as to determine the congestion level of the current network, the sending module 702 can acquire the channel monitoring result of the monitoring module 701, so as to be informed that whether congestion occurs to the current network or not.

    [0041] It should be noted that, in the above implementing manners of the apparatus for controlling network congestion, the division of each function module is only an example for illustration, in practical applications, the above functions can be accomplished by different functional modules, that is to divide the interior structure of the apparatus for controlling network congestion into different functional modules to accomplish all or part of the above functions according to needs, for example for configuration requirement of corresponding hardware or for convenience of software implementation. Moreover, in practical applications, the corresponding functional module of this embodiment can be implemented by corresponding hardware, and can also be implemented by corresponding software executed by corresponding hardware, for example, the preceding monitoring module can be a hardware which executes the beginning to monitor the channel before each STA sends data so as to determine the congestion level of the current network, such as a monitor, and also can be a general processor or other hardware device which can execute corresponding computer program to accomplish the preceding function; as another example, the preceding sending module can be a hardware which executes the sending the control frame or the beacon frame to stations in the network when determining that congestion occurs to the current network, such as a transmitter, and also can be a general processor or other hardware device which can execute corresponding computer program to accomplish the preceding function (each embodiment provided by the present specification can use the above described principle).

    [0042] In the apparatus for controlling network congestion shown in Fig. 7a or Fig. 7b, if the sending module 702 sending the control frame or the beacon frame is to broadcast the control frame or the beacon frame to all stations in the network, then the control frame or the beacon frame further includes a "window" field with a value of hcw, as shown in Fig. 3. The value hcw of the "window" field shown in Fig. 3 is used to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window according to the hcw when the station needs to send data. For example, the instructing the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data includes: instructing all the stations to enlarge the contention windows of all the stations to a product of hcw and CWmin when the stations need to send data, the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window. If the sending module 702 sending the control frame or the beacon frame is to multicast the control frame to part of the stations in the network, then the control frame further includes at least one "group number" field (including "group number 1" field, "group number 2" field, ..., "group number n" field), as shown in Fig. 4a, the "group number" field is used to indicate the station in the network which needs to receive the control frame.

    [0043] Further, the control frame, which includes at least one group number field, multicast by the sending module 702 can further include a "window" field with a value of hcw, as shown in Fig. 4b, the value hcw of the "window" field is used to instruct the station, which needs to receive the control frame, in the network to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcw of the "window" field when the station needs to send data, for example, instructing the station, which needs to receive the control frame, in the network to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin when the station needs to send data, the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.

    [0044] Further, the control frame, which includes at least one "group number" field, multicast by the sending module 702 can further includes "window" fields, the number of which is equal to the number of "group number" fields, as shown in Fig. 5. Each "window" field corresponds to each "group number i" field, the value hcwi of each "window" field is used to instruct the station corresponding to each "group number i" field which corresponds to the each "window" field to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcw of the "window" field when the STA needs to send data, for example, instructing the station corresponding to each "group number i" field which corresponds to the each "window" field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin when the STA needs to send data, the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.

    [0045] Please refer to Fig. 8, which is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 800 for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention. For convenience of describing, only the parts relevant to the embodiments of the present invention are illustrated. The apparatus 800 for controlling network congestion can be a station (Station, STA) in a wireless local area network, which includes a receiving module 801, a contention window altering module 802 and a backoff time determining module 803, where:

    the receiving module 801 is configured to receive a control frame or a beacon frame sent by an access point, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in the network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data;

    the contention window altering module 802 is configured to enlarge the contention window according to the instruction field;

    the backoff time determining module 803 is configured to determine a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value.



    [0046] It should be noted that, in the above implementing manners of the device for controlling network congestion, the division of each function module is only an example for illustration, in practical applications, the above functions can be accomplished by different functional modules, that is to divide the interior structure of the device for controlling network congestion into different functional modules to accomplish all or part of the above functions according to needs, for example for configuration requirement of corresponding hardware or for convenience of software implementation,. Moreover, in practical applications, the corresponding functional module of this embodiment can be implemented by corresponding hardware, and can also be implemented by corresponding software executed by corresponding hardware, for example, the preceding receiving module can be a hardware which executes the receiving the control frame or the beacon frame sent by the access point, such as a receiver, and also can be a general processor or other hardware device which can execute corresponding computer program to accomplish the preceding function; as another example, the preceding contention window altering module can be a hardware which executes the enlarging the contention window according to the instruction field, such as a contention window altering device, and also can be a general processor or other hardware device which can execute corresponding computer program to accomplish the preceding function (each embodiment provided by the present specification can use the above described principle).

    [0047] If the control frame received by the receiving module 801 is the control frame or the beacon frame broadcast by the access point, and the apparatus is backing off, then the contention window altering module 802 shown in Fig. 8 can further include a first altering unit 901 or a second altering unit 902, as shown in Fig. 9a or Fig. 9b, which is an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention.

    [0048] Where the apparatus 9b for controlling network congestion includes:

    the first altering unit 901, configured to enlarge the currently used contention window CW to twice of CW, i. e. 2×CW;

    Where the apparatus 9b for controlling network congestion includes:
    the second altering unit 902, configured to enlarge the contention window for next time to twice of CWmin, the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.



    [0049] If the control frame or the beacon frame received by the receiving module 801 is broadcast by the access point, and the apparatus is contending for a channel, then the contention window altering module 802 shown in Fig. 8 can further include a third altering unit 903, the backoff time determining module 803 can include a first determining unit 904, as shown in Fig. 9c, which is an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention, where the apparatus 9c for controlling network congestion includes:

    the third altering unit 903, configured to enlarge the current contention window contending for a channel to twice of CWmin, i. e. 2×CWmin, the CWmin is the preset minimum value of the contention window;

    the first determining unit 904, configured to take the 2×CWmin as the initial value of the contention window to determine the backoff time.



    [0050] In the apparatus for controlling network congestion shown in Fig. 8, the control frame or the beacon frame received by the receiving module 801 further includes a "window" field with a value of hcw. If the apparatus is backing off, then the contention window altering module 802 can include a fourth altering unit 1001, as shown in Fig. 10, which is an apparatus for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention. The fourth altering unit 1001 is configured to enlarge the currently used contention window to hcw×CWmin, the CWmin is the preset minimum value of the contention window. If the apparatus is contending for a channel, then the contention window altering module 802 can include a fifth altering unit 1101, the backoff time determining module 803 includes a second determining unit 1102, as shown in Fig. 11, which is an apparatus 110 for controlling network congestion provided by another embodiment of the present invention. The fifth altering unit 1101 is configured to enlarge the current contention window for contending a channel to hcw×CWmin, and the second determining unit 1102 is configured to take hcw×CWmin as an initial value to determine the backoff time.

    [0051] In the apparatus for controlling network congestion as shown in Fig. 8, if the control frame received by the receiving module 801 is multicast by the access point, then the control frame further includes at least one "group number" field, as shown in Fig. 4a. The "group number" field (including "group number 1" field, "group number 2" field, ... , "group number n" field) shown in Fig. 4a is used to indicate the station in the network which needs to receive the control frame. Further, the control frame further includes a "window" field with a value of hcw, as shown in Fig. 3. The value hcw of the "window" field shown in Fig. 3 is used to instruct the station, which needs to receive the control frame, in the network to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcw of the "window" field when the station needs to send data. Further, the control frame further includes "window" fields, the number of which is equal to the number of "group number" fields, as shown in Fig. 5. Each "window" field as shown in Fig. 5 corresponds to each "group number i" field, the value hcwi of each "window" field is used to instruct the station corresponding to each "group number i" field which corresponds to the each "window" field to enlarge the current contention window according to the value hcw of the "window" field when the STA needs to send data, for example, instructing the station corresponding to each "group number i" field which corresponds to the each "window" field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin when the STA needs to send data, the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.

    [0052] Please refer to Fig. 12, a wireless local area network system is provided by an embodiment of the present invention, which can control network congestion better. For convenience of describing, only the parts relevant to the embodiments of the present invention are illustrated. The wireless local area network system shown in Fig. 12 includes an access point 1201 and a station 1202, the access point 1201 can be the apparatus for controlling network congestion shown in Fig. 7, and the station 1202 can be the control apparatus for controlling network congestion shown in any one of Figs. 8 to 11, where:

    the access point 1201 is configured to begin to monitor a channel before each station sends data, so as to determine the congestion level of the current network, and send a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in the network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station in the network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data;

    the station 1202 is configured to receive the control frame or the beacon frame sent by the access point 1201, enlarge the contention window according to the instruction field, determine a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in the network to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data.



    [0053] It should be noted that, since the content of information interaction and implementation between the above modules/units is based on a same concept with the method embodiment of the present invention, and the technical effect thereof is the same with the method embodiment of the present invention, for the details please refer to the description in the method embodiment, which will not be described here.

    [0054] Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all of or part of the steps in various methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by a program instructing relevant hardware, such as one or more or all of the following methods:

    Method I includes:

    beginning to monitor a channel before each station sends data, so as to determine the congestion level of the current network;

    sending a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruction the station to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data.

    Method II includes:

    receiving, by a station STA, a control frame or a beacon frame sent by an access point, the control frame or the beacon frame includes an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in a network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data;

    enlarging, by the station STA, the contention window according to the instruction field;

    determining, by the station STA, a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value.



    [0055] Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that all or a part of the steps in various methods according to the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by a program instructing relevant hardware, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as a read-only memory (ROM, Read Only Memory), a random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk etc.


    Claims

    1. A method for controlling network congestion, comprising:

    sending (S102) a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data, the control frame or the beacon frame comprises an instruction field which is used to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data;

    wherein the control frame or the beacon frame further comprises a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, wherein the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.


     
    2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the sending a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network is to broadcast the control frame or the beacon frame to all stations in the network;
    the instructing the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data comprises: instructing all the stations in the network to enlarge contention windows of all the stations to the product of hcw and CWmin when the stations need to send data.
     
    3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, if the sending a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network is to multicast the control frame or the beacon frame to a part of the stations in the network, then the control frame further comprises at least one group number field which is used to indicate the stations in the network which need to receive the control frame.
     
    4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the value hcw of the window field is used to instruct the stations, which need to receive the control frame, in the network to enlarge the contention window to the product of hcw and CWmin when the stations need to send data.
     
    5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the number of the window field is equal to the number of the group number field, each window field corresponds to each group number field, a value hcwi of each window field is used to instruct a station corresponding to a group number (i) field which corresponds to the each window field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcwi and CWmin when the station needs to send data.
     
    6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, before the sending a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network, the method comprises:
    beginning (S101) to monitor a channel before each station sends data, so as to determine a congestion level of the current network.
     
    7. A method for controlling network congestion, comprising:

    receiving (S601), by a station, a control frame or a beacon frame sent by an access point, the control frame or the beacon frame comprises an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in a network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data;

    enlarging (S602), by the station, the contention window according to the instruction field;

    wherein the control frame or the beacon frame further comprises a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, wherein the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window;

    determining (S603), by the station, a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value.


     
    8. The method according to claim 7, wherein if the station is backing off, then the enlarging, by the station, the contention window according to the instruction field comprises: enlarging, by the station, the currently used contention window to the product of hcw and CWmin;
    if the station is contending for a channel, then the enlarging, by the station, the contention window according to the instruction field comprises: enlarging, by the station, the current contention window for contending a channel to the product of hcw and CWmin, the determining, by the station, a backoff time by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value comprises: determining, by the station, the backoff time by taking the product of hcw and CWmin as the contention window initial value.
     
    9. The method according to claim 7, wherein, if the control frame received by the station STA is multicast by the access point, then the control frame further comprises at least one group number field which is used to indicate the stations in the network which need to receive the control frame.
     
    10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the value hcw is used to instruct the stations, which need to receive the control frame, in the network to enlarge the contention window to the product of hcw and CWmin when the stations need to send data.
     
    11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the number of the window field is equal to the number of the group number field, each window field corresponds to each group number field, a value hcwi of each window field is used to instruct a station corresponding to a group number (i) field which corresponds to the each window field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcwi and CWmin when the station needs to send data.
     
    12. An access point, AP, comprising:

    a sending module (702), configured to send a control frame or a beacon frame to a station in a network when network congestion occurs, so as to instruct the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data, the control frame or the beacon frame comprises an instruction field which is used to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window when the station needs to send data;

    wherein the control frame or the beacon frame further comprises a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, wherein the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window.


     
    13. The access point according to claim 12, wherein, the sending module (702) sending the control frame or the beacon frame to the station in the network is to broadcast the control frame or the beacon frame to all stations in the network; the instructing the station to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data comprises: instructing all the stations in the network to enlarge the contention window to the product of hcw and CWmin when the stations need to send data.
     
    14. The access point according to claim 12, wherein, if the sending module (702) sending the control frame or the beacon frame to the station in the network is to multicast the control frame or the beacon frame to a part of the stations in the network, then the control frame further comprises at least one group number field which is used to indicate the stations in the network which need to receive the control frame.
     
    15. The access point according to claim 14, wherein the value hcw of the window field is used to instruct the stations, which need to receive the control frame, in the network to enlarge the contention window to the product of hcw and CWmin when the stations need to send data.
     
    16. The access point according to claim 15, wherein the number of the window field is equal to the number of the group number field, each window field corresponds to each group number field, a value hcwi of each window field is used to instruct a station corresponding to a group number (i) field which corresponds to the each window field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcwi and CWmin when the station needs to send data.
     
    17. The access point according to any one of claims 12 to 15, further comprising:
    a monitoring module (701), configured to begin to monitor a channel before each station sends data, so as to determine a congestion level of the current network.
     
    18. A user station STA, comprising:

    a receiving module (801), configured to receive a control frame or a beacon frame sent by an access point, the control frame or the beacon frame comprises an instruction field which is used to instruct the station in a network to enlarge a contention window when the station needs to send data;

    a contention window altering module (802), configured to enlarge the contention window according to the instruction field;

    wherein, the control frame or the beacon frame further comprises a window field with a value of hcw, and the value of hcw of the window field is configured to instruct the station to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcw and CWmin, wherein the CWmin is a preset minimum value of the contention window;

    a backoff time determining module (803), configured to determine a backoff time by randomly selecting a contention window value in the enlarged contention window or by taking the enlarged contention window as a contention window initial value.


     
    19. The user station STA according to claim 18, wherein
    if the user station is backing off, then the contention window altering module (802) comprises a fourth altering unit, configured to enlarge the currently used contention window to the product of hcw and CWmin;
    if the user station is contending for a channel, then the contention window altering module (802) comprises a fifth altering unit, configured to enlarge the current contention window for contending a channel to the product of hcw and CWmin, the backoff time determining module (803) comprises a second determining unit, configured to determine the backoff time by taking the product of hcw and CWmin as the contention window initial value.
     
    20. The user station STA according to claim 18, wherein, if the control frame received by the receiving module (801) is multicast by the access point, then the control frame further comprises at least one group number field which is used to indicate the stations in the network which need to receive the control frame.
     
    21. The user station STA according to claim 20, wherein the value of hcw of the window field is used to instruct the stations, which need to receive the control frame, in the network to enlarge the contention window to the product of hcw and CWmin when the stations need to send data.
     
    22. The user station STA according to claim 20, wherein the number of the window field is equal to the number of the group number field, each window field corresponds to each group number field, a value hcwi of each window field is used to instruct a station corresponding to a group number (i) field which corresponds to the each window field to enlarge the contention window to a product of hcwi and CWmin when the station needs to send data.
     


    Ansprüche

    1. Verfahren zur Netzwerküberlastungssteuerung, umfassend:

    Senden (S102) eines Steuerrahmens oder eines "Beacon"-Rahmens an eine Station in einem Netzwerk, wenn es zu einer Netzwerküberlastung kommt, um so die Station anzuweisen, ein Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss, wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ein Anweisungsfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Station anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss;

    wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ferner ein Fensterfeld mit einem Wert hcw umfasst und der Wert hcw des Fensterfeldes dazu konfiguriert ist, die Station anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wobei CWmin ein voreingestellter Mindestwert des Wettbewerbsfensters ist.


     
    2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei das Senden eines Steuerrahmens oder eines "Beacon"-Rahmens an eine Station in einem Netzwerk den Steuerrahmen oder den "Beacon"-Rahmen mittels "Broadcast" an alle Stationen in dem Netzwerk senden soll; das Anweisen der Station, ein Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss, umfasst: Anweisen aller Stationen in dem Netzwerk, Wettbewerbsfenster aller Stationen auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Stationen Daten senden müssen.
     
    3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei, wenn das Senden eines Steuerrahmens oder eines "Beacon"-Rahmens an eine Station in einem Netzwerk den Steuerrahmen oder den "Beacon"-Rahmen mittels "Multicast" zu einem Teil der Stationen in dem Netzwerk senden soll, der Steuerrahmen ferner mindestens ein Gruppennummernfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk anzugeben, die den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen.
     
    4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 3, wobei der Wert hcw des Fensterfeldes dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk, welche den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Stationen Daten senden müssen.
     
    5. Verfahren nach Anspruch 3, wobei die Nummer des Fensterfeldes gleich der Nummer des Gruppennummernfeldes ist, jedes Fensterfeld jedem Gruppennummernfeld entspricht, ein Wert hcwi von jedem Fensterfeld dazu verwendet wird, eine Station, die einem Gruppennummer-(i)-Feld entspricht, welches jedem Fensterfeld entspricht, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcwi und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss.
     
    6. Verfahren nach einem beliebigen der Ansprüche 1 bis 5, wobei, vor dem Senden eines Steuerrahmens oder eines "Beacon"-Rahmens an eine Station in einem Netzwerk, das Verfahren umfasst:
    Beginnen (S101), einen Kanal zu überwachen, ehe jede Station Daten sendet, um so einen Überlastungsgrad des aktuellen Netzwerks zu bestimmen.
     
    7. Verfahren zur Netzwerküberlastungssteuerung, umfassend:

    Empfangen (S601), durch eine Station, eines durch einen Zugangspunkt gesendeten Steuerrahmens oder "Beacon"-Rahmens, wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ein Anweisungsfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Station in einem Netzwerk anzuweisen, ein Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss;

    Vergrößern (S602) des Wettbewerbsfensters durch die Station gemäß dem Anweisungsfeld;

    wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ferner ein Fensterfeld mit einem Wert hcw umfasst und der Wert hcw des Fensterfeldes dazu konfiguriert ist, die Station anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wobei CWmin ein voreingestellter Mindestwert des Wettbewerbsfensters ist;

    Bestimmen (S603) einer "Backoff"-Zeit durch die Station durch zufälliges Auswählen eines Wettbewerbsfensterwerts in dem vergrößerten Wettbewerbsfenster oder durch Heranziehen des vergrößerten Wettbewerbsfensters als Wettbewerbsfensterinitialwert.


     
    8. Verfahren nach Anspruch 7, wobei, wenn die Station ein "Backoff" durchführt, das Vergrößern des Wettbewerbsfensters durch die Station gemäß dem Anweisungsfeld umfasst: Vergrößern des aktuell verwendeten Wettbewerbsfensters auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin durch die Station;
    wenn die Station um einen Kanal konkurriert, das Vergrößern des Wettbewerbsfensters durch die Station gemäß dem Anweisungsfeld umfasst: Vergrößern des aktuellen Wettbewerbsfensters durch die Station zum Konkurrieren um einen Kanal auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin, wobei das Bestimmen einer "Backoff"-Zeit durch die Station durch Heranziehen des vergrößerten Wettbewerbsfensters als Wettbewerbsfensterinitialwert umfasst: Bestimmen der "Backoff"-Zeit durch die Station durch Heranziehen des Produkts aus hcw und CWmin als Wettbewerbsfensterinitialwert.
     
    9. Verfahren nach Anspruch 7, wobei, wenn der Steuerrahmen, der durch die Station STA empfangen wird, durch den Zugangspunkt mittels "Multicast" gesendet wird, der Steuerrahmen ferner mindestens ein Gruppennummernfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk anzugeben, welche den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen.
     
    10. Verfahren nach Anspruch 9, wobei der Wert hcw dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk, welche den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Stationen Daten senden müssen.
     
    11. Verfahren nach Anspruch 9, wobei die Nummer des Fensterfeldes gleich der Nummer des Gruppennummernfeldes ist, jedes Fensterfeld jedem Gruppennummernfeld entspricht, ein Wert hcwi von jedem Fensterfeld dazu verwendet wird, eine Station, die einem Gruppennummer-(i)-Feld entspricht, welches jedem Fensterfeld entspricht, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcwi und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss.
     
    12. Zugangspunkt AP, umfassend:

    ein Sendemodul (702), das dazu ausgebildet ist, einen Steuerrahmen oder einen "Beacon"-Rahmen an eine Station in einem Netzwerk zu senden, wenn es zu einer Netzwerküberlastung kommt, um so die Station anzuweisen, ein Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss, wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ein Anweisungsfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Station anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss;

    wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ferner ein Fensterfeld mit einem Wert hcw umfasst und der Wert hcw des Fensterfeldes dazu konfiguriert ist, die Station anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wobei CWmin ein voreingestellter Mindestwert des Wettbewerbsfensters ist.


     
    13. Zugangspunkt nach Anspruch 12, wobei das Sendemodul (702), das den Steuerrahmen oder den "Beacon"-Rahmen an die Station in dem Netzwerk sendet, den Steuerrahmen oder den "Beacon"-Rahmen mittels "Broadcast" an alle Stationen in dem Netzwerk senden soll; das Anweisen der Station, ein Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss, umfasst: Anweisen aller Stationen in dem Netzwerk, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Stationen Daten senden müssen.
     
    14. Zugangspunkt nach Anspruch 12, wobei, wenn das Sendemodul (702), das den Steuerrahmen oder den "Beacon"-Rahmen an die Station in dem Netzwerk sendet, den Steuerrahmen oder den "Beacon"-Rahmen mittels "Multicast" an einen Teil der Stationen in dem Netzwerk senden soll, der Steuerrahmen ferner mindestens ein Gruppennummernfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk anzugeben, welche den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen.
     
    15. Zugangspunkt nach Anspruch 14, wobei der Wert hcw des Fensterfeldes dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk, welche den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Stationen Daten senden müssen.
     
    16. Zugangspunkt nach Anspruch 15, wobei die Nummer des Fensterfeldes gleich der Nummer des Gruppennummernfeldes ist, jedes Fensterfeld jedem Gruppennummernfeld entspricht, ein Wert hcwi von jedem Fensterfeld dazu verwendet wird, eine Station, die einem Gruppennummer-(i)-Feld entspricht, welches jedem Fensterfeld entspricht, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcwi und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss.
     
    17. Zugangspunkt nach einem beliebigen der Ansprüche 12 bis 15, ferner umfassend:
    ein Überwachungsmodul (701), das dazu ausgebildet ist, damit zu beginnen, einen Kanal zu überwachen, ehe jede Station Daten sendet, um so einen Überlastungsgrad des aktuellen Netzwerks zu bestimmen.
     
    18. Benutzerstation STA, umfassend:

    ein Empfangsmodul (801), das dazu ausgebildet ist, einen durch einen Zugangspunkt gesendeten Steuerrahmen oder "Beacon"-Rahmen zu empfangen, wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ein Anweisungsfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Station in einem Netzwerk anzuweisen, ein Wettbewerbsfenster zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss;

    ein Wettbewerbsfensteränderungsmodul (802), das dazu ausgebildet ist, das Wettbewerbsfenster gemäß dem Anweisungsfeld zu vergrößern;

    wobei der Steuerrahmen oder der "Beacon"-Rahmen ferner ein Fensterfeld mit einem Wert hcw umfasst und der Wert hcw des Fensterfeldes dazu konfiguriert ist, die Station anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wobei CWmin ein voreingestellter Mindestwert des Wettbewerbsfensters ist;

    ein "Backoff"-Zeit-Bestimmungsmodul (803), das dazu ausgebildet ist, eine "Backoff"-Zeit durch zufälliges Auswählen eines Wettbewerbsfensterwerts in dem vergrößerten Wettbewerbsfenster oder durch Heranziehen des vergrößerten Wettbewerbsfensters als Wettbewerbsfensterinitialwert zu bestimmen.


     
    19. Benutzerstation STA nach Anspruch 18, wobei,
    wenn die Benutzerstation ein "Backoff" durchführt, das Wettbewerbsfensteränderungsmodul (802) eine vierte Änderungseinheit umfasst, die dazu ausgebildet ist, das aktuell verwendete Wettbewerbsfenster auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern;
    wenn die Benutzerstation um einen Kanal konkurriert, das Wettbewerbsfensteränderungsmodul (802) eine fünfte Änderungseinheit umfasst, die dazu ausgebildet ist, das aktuelle Wettbewerbsfenster zum Konkurrieren um einen Kanal auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wobei das "Backoff"-Zeit-Bestimmungsmodul (803) eine zweite Bestimmungseinheit umfasst, die dazu ausgebildet ist, die "Backoff"-Zeit durch Heranziehen des Produkts aus hcw und CWmin als Wettbewerbsfensterinitialwert zu bestimmen.
     
    20. Benutzerstation STA nach Anspruch 18, wobei, wenn der Steuerrahmen, der durch das Empfangsmodul (801) empfangen wird, mittels "Multicast" durch den Zugangspunkt gesendet wird, der Steuerrahmen ferner mindestens ein Gruppennummernfeld umfasst, das dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk anzugeben, welche den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen.
     
    21. Benutzerstation STA nach Anspruch 20, wobei der Wert hcw des Fensterfeldes dazu verwendet wird, die Stationen in dem Netzwerk, welche den Steuerrahmen empfangen müssen, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf das Produkt aus hcw und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Stationen Daten senden müssen.
     
    22. Benutzerstation STA nach Anspruch 20, wobei die Nummer des Fensterfeldes gleich der Nummer des Gruppennummernfeldes ist, jedes Fensterfeld jedem Gruppennummernfeld entspricht, ein Wert hcwi von jedem Fensterfeld dazu verwendet wird, eine Station, die einem Gruppennummer-(i)-Feld entspricht, welches jedem Fensterfeld entspricht, anzuweisen, das Wettbewerbsfenster auf ein Produkt aus hcwi und CWmin zu vergrößern, wenn die Station Daten senden muss.
     


    Revendications

    1. Procédé de contrôle de congestion de réseau, comprenant :

    l'envoi (S102) d'une trame de commande ou d'une trame balise à une station dans un réseau dans lequel se produit une congestion de réseau, de manière à ordonner à la station d'agrandir une fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données, la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprenant un champ d'instruction qui est utilisé pour donner instruction à la station d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données ;

    dans lequel la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprend en outre un champ de fenêtre d'une valeur de hcw, et la valeur de hcw du champ de fenêtre est configurée pour donner instruction à la station d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcw et CWmin, CWmin étant une valeur minimum prédéfinie de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès.


     
    2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel l'envoi d'une trame de commande ou d'une trame balise à une station dans un réseau consiste à diffuser la trame de commande ou la trame balise à toutes les stations dans le réseau ;
    l'instruction à la station d'agrandir une fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données comprend : l'instruction à toutes les stations dans le réseau d'agrandir des fenêtres de conflit d'accès de toutes les stations au produit de hcw et CWmin quand les stations doivent envoyer des données.
     
    3. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel, si l'envoi d'une trame de commande ou d'une trame balise à une station dans un réseau consiste à multidiffuser la trame de commande ou la trame balise à une partie des stations dans le réseau, la trame de commande comprend alors en outre au moins un champ de numéro de groupe qui est utilisé pour indiquer les stations dans le réseau qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande.
     
    4. Procédé selon la revendication 3, dans lequel la valeur hcw du champ de fenêtre est utilisée pour donner instruction aux stations, qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande , dans le réseau d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès au produit de hcw et CWmin quand les stations doivent envoyer des données.
     
    5. Procédé selon la revendication 3, dans lequel le numéro du champ de fenêtre est égal au numéro du champ de numéro de groupe, chaque champ de fenêtre correspond à chaque champ de numéro de groupe, une valeur hcwi de chaque champ de fenêtre est utilisée pour donner instruction à une station correspondant à un champ de numéro de groupe (i) qui correspond à chaque champ de fenêtre d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcwi et CWmin quand la station doit envoyer des données.
     
    6. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 5, comprenant, avant l'envoi d'une trame de commande ou d'une trame balise à une station dans un réseau :
    le lancement (S101) d'une surveillance d'un canal avant que chaque station envoie des données, de manière à déterminer un niveau de congestion du réseau courant.
     
    7. Procédé de commande d'une congestion de réseau, comprenant :

    la réception (S601), par une station, d'une trame de commande ou d'une trame balise envoyée par un point d'accès, la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprenant un champ d'instruction qui est utilisé pour donner instruction à la station dans un réseau d'agrandir une fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données ;

    l'agrandissement (S602), par la station, de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès conformément au champ d'instruction ;

    dans lequel la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprend en outre un champ de fenêtre d'une valeur de hcw, et la valeur de hcw du champ de fenêtre est configurée pour donner instruction à la station d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcw et CWmin CWmin étant une valeur minium prédéfinie de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès ;

    la détermination (S603), par la station, d'un temps de mise en retrait en sélectionnant de manière aléatoire une valeur de fenêtre de conflit d'accès dans la fenêtre de conflit d'accès agrandie ou en utilisant la fenêtre de conflit d'accès agrandie comme valeur initiale de fenêtre de conflit d'accès.


     
    8. Procédé selon la revendication 7, dans lequel si la station se met en retrait, l'agrandissement, par la station, de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès conformément au champ d'instruction comprend alors :

    l'agrandissement, par la station, de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès présentement utilisée au produit de hcw et CWmin ;

    si la station est en conflit d'accès pour un canal, l'agrandissement, par la station, de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès conformément au champ d'instruction comprend alors :

    l'agrandissement, par la station, de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès actuelle pour accéder à un canal au produit de hcw et CWmin, la détermination, par la station, d'un temps de mise en retrait en utilisant la fenêtre de conflit d'accès agrandie comme valeur initiale de fenêtre de conflit d'accès comprend : la détermination, par la station, du temps de mise en retrait en utilisant le produit de hcw et CWmin comme valeur initiale de fenêtre de conflit d'accès.


     
    9. Procédé selon la revendication 7, dans lequel, si la trame de commande reçue par la station STA est multidiffusée par le point d'accès, la trame de commande comprend alors en outre au moins un champ de numéro de groupe qui est utilisé pour indiquer les stations dans le réseau qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande.
     
    10. Procédé selon la revendication 9, dans lequel la valeur hcw est utilisée pour donner instruction aux stations, qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande , dans le réseau d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès au produit de hcw et CWmin quand les stations doivent envoyer des données.
     
    11. Procédé selon la revendication 9, dans lequel le numéro du champ de fenêtre est égal au numéro du champ de numéro de groupe, chaque champ de fenêtre correspond à chaque champ de numéro de groupe, une valeur hcwi de chaque champ de fenêtre est utilisée pour donner instruction à une station correspondant à un champ de numéro de groupe (i) qui correspond à chaque champ de fenêtre d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcwi et CWmin quand la station doit envoyer des données.
     
    12. Point d'accès, AP, comprenant :

    un module d'envoi (702), configuré pour envoyer une trame de commande ou une trame balise à une station dans un réseau quand une congestion de réseau se produit, de manière à donner instruction à la station d'agrandir une fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données, la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprenant un champ d'instruction qui est utilisé pour donner instruction à la station d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données ;

    dans lequel la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprend en outre un champ de fenêtre d'une valeur de hcw, et la valeur de hcw du champ de fenêtre est configurée pour donner instruction à la station d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcw et CWmin, CWmin étant une valeur minimum prédéfinie de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès.


     
    13. Point d'accès selon la revendication 12, dans lequel, l'envoi par le module d'envoi (702) de la trame de commande ou de la trame balise à la station dans le réseau consiste à diffuser la trame de commande ou la trame balise à toutes les stations dans le réseau ; l'instruction à la station d'agrandir une fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données comprend : l'instruction à toutes les stations dans le réseau d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès au produit de hcw et CWmin quand les stations doivent envoyer des données.
     
    14. Point d'accès selon la revendication 12, dans lequel, si l'envoi par le module d'envoi (702) de la trame de commande ou de la trame balise à la station dans le réseau consiste à multidiffuser la trame de commande ou la trame balise à une partie des stations dans le réseau, la trame de commande comprend alors en outre au moins un champ de numéro de groupe qui est utilisé pour indiquer les stations dans le réseau qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande.
     
    15. Point d'accès selon la revendication 14, dans lequel la valeur hcw du champ de fenêtre est utilisée pour donner instruction aux stations, qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande , dans le réseau d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès au produit de hcw et CWmin quand les stations doivent envoyer des données.
     
    16. Point d'accès selon la revendication 15, dans lequel dans lequel le numéro du champ de fenêtre est égal au numéro du champ de numéro de groupe, chaque champ de fenêtre correspond à chaque champ de numéro de groupe, une valeur hcwi de chaque champ de fenêtre est utilisée pour donner instruction à une station correspondant à un champ de numéro de groupe (i) qui correspond à chaque champ de fenêtre d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcwi et CWmin quand la station doit envoyer des données.
     
    17. Point d'accès selon l'une quelconque des revendications 12 à 15, comprenant en outre :
    un module de surveillance (701), configuré pour lancer la surveillance d'un canal avant que chaque station envoie des données, de manière à déterminer un niveau de congestion du réseau courant.
     
    18. Station d'utilisateur STA, comprenant :

    un module de réception (801), configuré pour recevoir une trame de commande ou une trame balise envoyée par un point d'accès, la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprenant un champ d'instruction qui est utilisé pour donner instruction à la station dans un réseau d'agrandir une fenêtre de conflit d'accès quand la station doit envoyer des données ;

    un module de modification de fenêtre de conflit d'accès (802), configuré pour agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès conformément au champ d'instruction ;

    dans lequel, la trame de commande ou la trame balise comprend en outre un champ de fenêtre d'une valeur de hcw, et la valeur de hcw du champ de fenêtre est configurée pour donner instruction à la station d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcw et CWmin, CWmin étant une valeur minimum prédéfinie de la fenêtre de conflit d'accès ;

    un module de détermination de temps de mise en retrait (803), configuré pour déterminer un temps de mise en retrait en sélectionnant de manière aléatoire une valeur de fenêtre de conflit d'accès dans la fenêtre de conflit d'accès agrandie ou en utilisant la fenêtre de conflit d'accès agrandie comme valeur initiale de fenêtre de conflit d'accès.


     
    19. Station d'utilisateur STA selon la revendication 18, dans laquelle
    si la station d'utilisateur se met en retrait, le module de modification de fenêtre de conflit d'accès (802) comprend alors une quatrième unité de modification, configurée pour agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès présentement utilisée au produit de hcw et CWmin ;
    si la station d'utilisateur est en conflit d'accès pour un canal, le module de modification de fenêtre de conflit d'accès (802) comprend alors une cinquième unité de modification, configurée pour agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès actuelle pour accéder à un canal au produit de hcw et CWmin, le module de détermination de temps de mise en retrait (803) comprend une seconde unité de détermination, configurée pour déterminer le temps de mise en retrait en utilisant le produit de hcw et CWmin comme valeur initiale de fenêtre de conflit d'accès.
     
    20. Station d'utilisateur STA selon la revendication 18, dans laquelle, si la trame de commande reçue par le module de réception (801) est multidiffusée par le point d'accès, la trame de commande comprend alors en outre au moins un champ de numéro de groupe qui est utilisé pour indiquer les stations dans le réseau qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande.
     
    21. Station d'utilisateur STA selon la revendication 20, dans laquelle la valeur hcw du champ de fenêtre est utilisée pour donner instruction aux stations, qui doivent recevoir la trame de commande, dans le réseau d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès au produit de hcw et CWmin quand les stations doivent envoyer des données.
     
    22. Station d'utilisateur STA selon la revendication 20, dans laquelle le numéro du champ de fenêtre est égal au numéro du champ de numéro de groupe, chaque champ de fenêtre correspond à chaque champ de numéro de groupe, une valeur hcwi de chaque champ de fenêtre est utilisée pour donner instruction à une station correspondant à un champ de numéro de groupe (i) qui correspond à chaque champ de fenêtre d'agrandir la fenêtre de conflit d'accès à un produit de hcwi et CWmin quand la station doit envoyer des données.
     




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    Cited references

    REFERENCES CITED IN THE DESCRIPTION



    This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader's convenience only. It does not form part of the European patent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot be excluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.

    Patent documents cited in the description