CN102761938B

CN102761938B - A kind of method managing access point working group and access point

Info

Publication number: CN102761938B
Application number: CN201110110719.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 丁志明; 方平; 树贵明; 张志勇
Original assignee: Huawei Device Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Device Co Ltd; Huawei Device Shenzhen Co Ltd
Priority date: 2011-04-29
Filing date: 2011-04-29
Publication date: 2016-12-28
Anticipated expiration: 2031-04-29
Also published as: CN102761938A

Abstract

nullThe embodiment of the invention discloses a kind of method managing access point working group and access point，The embodiment of the present invention uses and the access point in access point working group is divided into main access point and secondary access point，Can be with negotiation communication mechanism between main access point and secondary access point，The most main access point receives, according to the communication mechanism determined after consulting, load information and/or the status information that secondary access point reports，And according to the communication mechanism determined after consulting，According to the load information received and/or status information, the state of secondary access point is controlled，Thus the flexible management of the access point working group that achieves a butt joint，Such as，When the total load of access point working group is heavier，Controlled secondary access point by main access point and enter service state，To meet the demand of user terminal，And when the total load of access point working group is lighter，Controlled secondary access point by main access point and enter holding state，To save electric energy.

Description

Method for managing access point working group and access point

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method for managing an Access Point (AP) workgroup and an AP.

Background

The Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) hotspot internet access is an important way for Wireless internet access, and corresponding access points are arranged in many public places. However, the bandwidth resource of one access point is limited, and if too many user terminals access the internet through one access point at the same time, the bandwidth allocated to each user terminal will be very small, resulting in very slow internet access speed, or even no video media service. In order to provide available bandwidth resources in densely populated areas, the prior art proposes to use multiple access points to cover the same area, wherein the multiple access points covering the same area are referred to as an access point active set. Although the application requirement of the user terminal in the coverage area can be satisfied by using a plurality of access points to cover the same area, if a plurality of access points are used to cover the same area, the power consumption is relatively wasted under the condition of fewer users.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for managing an access point working group and an access point, which can flexibly manage the access point working group, meet the requirements of a user terminal and save electric energy.

A method of managing an access point workgroup, comprising:

a main access point in an access point working group negotiates a communication mechanism with at least one auxiliary access point in the access point working group;

the main access point receives load information and/or state information sent by the auxiliary access points in the access point working group according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation;

and the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one auxiliary access point in the access point working group according to the received load information and/or the state information and the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so that the auxiliary access point receiving the message or the instruction switches the state.

A method of managing an access point workgroup, comprising:

a secondary access point in an access point working group negotiates a communication mechanism with a main access point in the access point working group;

the auxiliary access point sends load information and/or state information to the main access point according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation;

the auxiliary access point receives a message or an instruction sent by the main access point at least according to the received load information and/or state information;

and the secondary access point switches the state according to the received message or instruction.

An access point, comprising:

a negotiation unit, configured to negotiate a communication mechanism with at least one secondary access point in the access point working group;

a receiving unit, configured to receive load information and/or state information reported by a secondary access point in the access point working group according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation;

and the sending unit is used for sending a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in the access point working group according to the received load information and/or the state information and the communication mechanism determined after negotiation so as to switch the state of the secondary access point receiving the message or the instruction.

An access point, as a secondary access point, comprising:

a negotiation unit, configured to negotiate a communication mechanism with a master access point in an access point working group;

a sending unit, configured to send load information and/or state information to the master access point according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation;

a receiving unit, configured to receive, by the secondary access point, a message or an instruction sent by the primary access point at least according to the received load information and/or status information;

and the switching unit is used for switching the state of the secondary access point according to the received message or instruction.

The embodiment of the invention divides the access points in the access point working group into a main access point and an auxiliary access point, a communication mechanism can be negotiated between the main access point and the auxiliary access point, then the main access point receives the load information and/or the state information reported by the auxiliary access point according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, and controls the state of the auxiliary access point according to the received load information and/or the state information according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, thereby realizing flexible management of the access point working group.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart of a method of managing access point workgroups in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for managing an access point workgroup according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for managing an access point workgroup according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4a is a schematic structural diagram of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4b is a schematic structural diagram of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5a is a schematic structural diagram of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5b is a schematic structural diagram of an access point according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

To better illustrate the solution provided by the embodiments of the present invention. Related techniques will be briefly described below.

According to the existing 802.11 specification, a user terminal, such as a WiFi application terminal (STA, Station), may discover an access point through scanning, and after the access point is discovered, the user terminal may authenticate and associate with the access point to establish a connection, thereby joining a WiFi Network, i.e., joining a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). Wherein a WLAN uses only one radio channel, which is determined by the access point and whose use is also controlled by the access point, all user terminals in the network can occupy and use the channel by means of contention or polling at the access point. The method for scanning and discovering the access point by the user terminal is mainly divided into passive scanning and active scanning, and comprises the following steps:

passive scanning: the access point periodically broadcasts a Beacon (Beacon) frame, where the Beacon frame includes information of the access point, such as a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), and various capability information supported by the access point. The user terminal may listen to the beacon frame to discover the presence of the access point.

Active scanning: the ue actively sends a Probe Request (Probe Request) message to discover the existence of the ap, for example, the Probe Request message may be sent by broadcast or unicast. If the probe request message is broadcast, the access point receiving the probe request message may return a probe response message to the corresponding user terminal. If the probe request message is unicast, the user terminal explicitly specifies the BSSID of the access point in the probe request message, and only the specified access point returns the probe response message after receiving the probe request message. The probe response message includes the BSSID of the access point, various capability information supported by the access point, and the like. In addition, the access point may also carry other information required by the user terminal in the probe response message according to the indication of the user terminal in the probe request message.

For example, the ue may define a sleep cycle, a wake-up time, etc. with the access point so that the access point transmits data to the ue at the defined time. The user terminal may transmit data at any time during the contention period scheduled by the access point, provided that it contends for the channel. In the polling period, the user terminal cannot actively transmit data, and the user terminal can transmit data only when the access point inquires the user terminal.

On the basis of the above, the embodiments of the present invention provide a method for managing an access point workgroup and an access point.

In the embodiment of the invention, one access point working group comprises a main access point and at least one auxiliary access point, wherein which access point is the main access point and which access point is the auxiliary access point can be determined by presetting the access points or negotiating among the access points through a network or locally. The primary access point is always in a normal service State (Serving State), and the secondary access point can be in a service State and a Standby State (Standby State). The service state refers to that the user terminal can discover the access point, can connect to the access point, and communicate using the access point. The standby state means that the ue cannot find the ap and there is no connected ue on the ap, i.e. from the ue's perspective, the ap is powered off. The secondary access point may also be in a transitional State (transition State) indicating that it is out of service and no longer accepting new user terminals, but user terminals already connected to the access point may continue to be used.

The main access point and the auxiliary access point need to communicate with each other, and when the main access point and the auxiliary access point communicate with each other, the auxiliary access point is used as a user terminal role of the main access point and uses a wireless channel of the main access point to communicate; without communication between the secondary access point and the secondary access point. The secondary access point may send load information and/or status information to the primary access point and enter a standby state or a service state under the control of the primary access point. The details will be described below separately.

The first embodiment,

The present embodiment will be described from the perspective of the master access point.

A method of managing an access point workgroup, comprising: and the main access point receives load information and/or state information reported by the auxiliary access points in the current access point working group, and controls the state of the auxiliary access points according to the load information and/or the state information, wherein the main access point and the auxiliary access points are preset by a network or are negotiated between the access points.

In addition, before the main access point receives the load information and/or the state information reported by the secondary access point in the current access point working group, a connection needs to be established between the main access point and the secondary access point, that is, the method for managing the access point working group may further include:

and the main access point associates with the auxiliary access point in the current access point working group and negotiates a communication mechanism.

If a communication mechanism is negotiated between the primary access point and the secondary access point, the communication between the primary access point and the secondary access point needs to follow the negotiated communication mechanism, that is, at this time, the load information and/or the state information reported by the secondary access point in the current access point working group received by the primary access point may specifically be:

and the main access point receives the load information and/or the state information reported by the auxiliary access point in the current access point working group according to the negotiated communication mechanism.

The controlling the state of the secondary access point according to the received load information and/or state information may specifically be:

and controlling the state of the secondary access point according to the load information and/or the state information according to the negotiated communication mechanism.

As shown in fig. 1, the specific process may be as follows:

101. a main access point in an access point working group negotiates a communication mechanism with at least one auxiliary access point in the access point working group;

the master access point and the slave access point may be preset in advance by a network, that is, which access point is designated as the master access point and which access point is the slave access point in advance, for example, the master access point may be set as a "master access point" and an identifier of the slave access point is deployed, and the slave access point may be set as a "slave access point" and an identifier of the master access point is set.

Alternatively, the primary access point and the secondary access point may be negotiated by themselves between the access points. For example, the following may be specifically mentioned:

the access point sends a detection request message to search for a main access point, and if the main access point can be found, the access point is determined to be a secondary access point;

if the main access point is not found and other access points in the same access point working group are not found, determining that the access point is the main access point;

if the main access point is not found, but other access points in the same access point working group are found, the main access point is determined by negotiation with other access points in the same access point working group. The negotiation may be based on a preset policy, for example, an access point which is started at the earliest time may be appointed as a main access point, or an access point with the minimum MAC address may also be appointed as a main access point, and the preset policy may be determined according to actual application needs, and will not be described herein again.

After the division of the primary and secondary access points, when each access point is powered on, the secondary access point may discover the primary access point in a passive scanning manner, for example, listen to a beacon frame of the primary access point, and if it can hear, indicate that the primary access point in the access point working group has confirmed. In addition, the secondary access point can also discover the primary access point in an active scanning mode, which is similar to the mode of the user terminal actively scanning the access point, that is, at this time, the secondary access point can be used as a user terminal to search the primary access point by sending a probe request message, and if the primary access point exists in the access point working group to which the secondary access point belongs, the primary access point returns a probe response message to the corresponding secondary access point, so that the secondary access point discovers the primary access point. That is, before the primary access point negotiates a communication mechanism with the secondary access point in the current access point working group, the method for managing the access point working group may further include:

and receiving a detection request message sent by the secondary access point in the current access point working group, and returning a detection response message to the secondary access point.

Wherein, the probe request message may indicate that the access point is an auxiliary access point, and may carry an identifier of a main access point to be searched, such as a BSSID of the main access point; and after receiving the detection request message, the main access point corresponding to the identifier of the main access point returns a detection response message to the auxiliary access point.

Or, the probe request message may indicate that the access point is a secondary access point, but does not carry an identifier of a primary access point that needs to be searched, but carries an identifier of the access point, such as a BSSID of the access point, because the primary access point is configured with an identifier of a secondary access point in the working group of the access point, it may be determined whether the secondary access point is a secondary access point of the working group of the access point according to the identifier of the secondary access point carried in the received probe request message, if so, a probe response message is returned to the secondary access point, otherwise, no response or a response to reject is returned.

Of course, the probe request message and the probe response message may also carry other information, which is not described herein again.

The content of the communication mechanism negotiated between the primary access point and the secondary access point may specifically depend on the requirements of the actual application, and for example, the content may include a communication time period, a communication interval period, and the like, and specifically may further include a communication time period communication and interval period in which the secondary access point sends load information and/or state information to the primary access point, a time period, interval period, or a trigger mechanism in which the primary access point sends state control information (that is, first state control information or second state control information) to the secondary access point, and the like; for example, the trigger mechanism may be: the method comprises the steps that an auxiliary access point sends an arbitrary message M to a main access point, the main access point sends state control information to the auxiliary access point after receiving the arbitrary message M, and if the main access point does not receive the message of the auxiliary access point, the state control information cannot be sent to the auxiliary access point. Of course, the other trigger may be the other, for example, the secondary access point may load the information to the primary access point only after receiving the message from the primary access point, and so on. And will not be described in detail herein.

102. And the main access point receives the load information and/or the state information sent by the auxiliary access points in the access point working group according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation.

It should be noted that, because the load of the secondary access point is always 0 when the secondary access point is in the standby state, the load information may not be reported to the primary access point at this time.

103. And the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one auxiliary access point in the access point working group according to the received load information and/or the state information and the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so that the auxiliary access point receiving the message or the instruction switches the state.

For example, the following may be specifically mentioned:

the main access point determines the total load rate of the current access point working group according to the received load information or state information;

the main access point determines the state of the auxiliary access point in the access point working group according to the received load information or state information;

and if the total load rate exceeds a first preset threshold value, the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one auxiliary access point in the standby state according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so that the auxiliary access point receiving the message or the instruction is switched to the service state from the standby state.

Or,

and if the total load rate is lower than a second preset threshold, the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one auxiliary access point in a service state according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation so as to switch the auxiliary access point receiving the message or the instruction from the service state to a standby state.

The first preset threshold and the second preset threshold may be determined according to requirements of actual applications, and the first preset threshold is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold.

If the total load rate does not exceed the first preset threshold but is higher than the second preset threshold, the current state can be maintained, that is, the primary access point does not instruct the secondary access point to perform state switching.

The total load rate refers to a percentage of occupied bandwidth resources (that is, bandwidth resources allocated to the user terminal) that can be provided by the access point in the current service state, for example, a main access point can provide a bandwidth of 300Mbps, another secondary access point can provide a bandwidth of 200Mbps, then the access points in the two services together can provide a bandwidth resource of 500Mbps, while the current main AP has already allocated a bandwidth resource of 150Mbps, and the secondary AP has already allocated a bandwidth resource of 150Mbps, then the total load rate of the system is: (150+150)/(300+200) 60%.

If the primary access point considers that the 60% total load rate exceeds a first preset threshold, another secondary access point may be notified to enter a service state. If the bandwidth resource that this second secondary access point can provide is 300Mbps, the current total load rate after it enters the service state becomes: (150+150)/(300+200+300) ═ 37.5%.

If the primary access point considers that the 37.5% total load rate still exceeds the first preset threshold, another secondary access point may be further notified to enter the service state, and so on, until the total load rate is below the first preset threshold.

It should be noted that the load information sent by the secondary access point to the primary access point may be directly the allocated bandwidth resource, or may be the load rate of the secondary access point itself, and the primary access point may calculate the allocated bandwidth resource according to the available bandwidth resource and the load rate of the secondary access point.

Before the secondary access point enters the standby state, if a user terminal is accessed to the secondary access point, the secondary access point can migrate the user to the primary access point or other secondary access points in the current access point working group in the service state, and enter the standby state when no user (i.e. no load) exists on the secondary access point. That is, at this time, for the primary access point, after notifying the secondary access point in the service state of entering the standby state according to the state information, the method of managing the access point active group may further include:

the primary access point accepts users migrating from the secondary access point that are about to enter the standby state.

As can be seen from the above, in this embodiment, the access points in the access point working group are divided into the main access point and the auxiliary access point, a communication mechanism may be negotiated between the main access point and the auxiliary access point, then the main access point receives load information and/or state information reported by the auxiliary access point according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, and controls the state of the auxiliary access point according to the received load information and/or state information according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so as to implement flexible management of the access point working group, for example, when the total load of the access point working group is heavy (for example, the total load rate is large), the main access point controls the auxiliary access point to enter a service state to meet the requirement of the user terminal, and when the total load of the access point working group is light (for example, the total load rate is small), the main access point controls the auxiliary access point to enter a standby state, to save electrical energy.

Example II,

The present embodiment will be described from the perspective of the secondary access point.

A method of managing an access point workgroup, comprising: and the auxiliary access point reports the load information and/or the state information to the main access point in the current access point working group and receives the state control made by the main access point according to the load information and/or the state information. Wherein the main access point and the auxiliary access point are preset by a network or are determined by negotiation between the access points.

In addition, before the secondary access point reports the load information and/or the state information to the primary access point in the current access point working group, a connection needs to be established between the secondary access point and the primary access point, that is, the method for managing the access point working group may further include:

the auxiliary access point is associated with the main access point in the current access point working group, and a communication mechanism is negotiated; the content of the negotiated communication mechanism may be specifically determined according to the requirements of the actual application, for example, the content may include a communication time period, a communication interval period, and the like, which are described in the first embodiment and are not described herein again.

If a communication mechanism is negotiated between the secondary access point and the primary access point, the communication between the secondary access point and the primary access point needs to follow the negotiated communication mechanism, that is, at this time, the reporting of the load information and/or the status information by the secondary access point to the primary access point in the current access point working group may specifically be:

and the auxiliary access point reports the load information and/or the state information to the main access point in the current access point working group according to the negotiated communication mechanism.

The accepting of the state control made by the master access point according to the load information and/or the state information may specifically be:

and receiving state control made by the master access point according to the negotiated communication mechanism and according to the load information and/or the state information.

As shown in fig. 2, the specific process may be as follows:

201. a secondary access point in an access point working group negotiates a communication mechanism with a main access point in the access point working group;

After the primary and secondary access points are divided, when each access point is powered on, the secondary access point may discover the primary access point in a passive scanning manner, for example, listen to a beacon frame of the primary access point, and if the beacon frame can be heard, indicate that the primary access point in the access point working group has confirmed. In addition, the main access point can be discovered through an active scanning mode, which is similar to the mode of the user terminal actively scanning the access point, that is, the secondary access point can be used as a user terminal to find the main access point by sending a probe request message, if the main access point exists in the access point working group to which the secondary access point belongs, the main access point returns a probe response message to the corresponding secondary access point, so that the secondary access point discovers the existence of the main access point. That is, before the secondary access point associates with the primary access point in the current access point working group and negotiates a communication mechanism, the method for managing the access point working group may further include:

and sending a detection request message, and receiving a detection response message returned by the main access point in the current access point working group.

202. The auxiliary access point sends load information and/or state information to the main access point according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation;

it should be noted that, since the load is 0 when the secondary access point is in the standby state, the load information may not be reported to the primary access point at this time.

203. And the auxiliary access point receives a message or an instruction sent by the main access point at least according to the received load information and/or the state information.

204. The secondary access point switches states according to the received message or instruction. For example, the secondary access point switches the current standby state to the service state according to the received message or instruction; or the secondary access point switches the current service state to the standby state according to the received message or instruction.

For example, the following may be specifically mentioned:

when first state control information sent by a main access point is received, switching the current standby state to a service state;

and when receiving second state control information sent by the main access point, switching the current service state to a standby state.

The first state control information and the second state control information are made by the master access point according to the load information and/or the state information, which may be referred to in embodiment one.

Before the secondary access point enters the standby state, if a user terminal is accessed to the secondary access point, the secondary access point can migrate the user to the primary access point or other secondary access points in the current access point working group in the service state, and enter the standby state when no user (i.e. no load) exists on the secondary access point. That is, before switching the current service state to the standby state, the method of managing an access point active set may further include:

and the secondary access point determines whether the user is accessed, and if so, the accessed user is migrated to the primary access point or other secondary access points in the service state in the access point working group.

At this time, switching the current service state to the standby state specifically includes: and when the auxiliary access point has no load, switching the current service state to the standby state.

As can be seen from the above, in this embodiment, the access points in the access point working group are divided into the main access point and the auxiliary access point, a communication mechanism may be negotiated between the auxiliary access point and the main access point, then the auxiliary access point reports load information and/or status information to the main access point according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, and the main access point performs status control according to the received load information and/or status information, so as to implement flexible management of the access point working group.

Example III,

The method according to the preceding embodiment is illustrated in further detail below by way of example.

In the present embodiment, the description will be given taking an example in which the main access point and the sub access point are set in a preset manner.

Since it has been preset which access point covers the same area is used as the main access point and the secondary access point, the main access point can directly enter into a service state after being powered on, and after being powered on, the secondary access point needs to be firstly used as a user terminal role to discover the main access point, then associate with the main access point, negotiate a communication mechanism (i.e. if communication is performed after negotiation), and then enter into a standby state. When the main access point determines that the total load of the area is overweight, the auxiliary access point is informed to enter a service state; when the primary access point finds that the total load of the area is light, the secondary access point can be informed to enter the standby state again, and so on. The secondary access point needs to periodically report load information and/or status information to the primary access point, so that the primary access point can determine the total load condition of the area according to the load information and/or status information and determine the current status (i.e., service status or standby status) of the secondary access point.

This scheme will be described in detail below, with reference to fig. 3, and may specifically be as follows:

301. determining a primary access point and a secondary access point in an access point working group through configuration, where one access point working group includes one primary access point and at least one secondary node, for example, the following may be specifically used:

in the primary access point, its attribute is determined to be "primary access point", and the identity of the secondary access point in the access point working group, such as the BSSID of the secondary access point, is set in the primary access point.

In each secondary access point, its attribute is determined as "secondary access point", and an identification of the primary access point, such as the BSSID of the primary access point, is set on the secondary access point.

In specific implementation, the setting may be performed through a network manager, or may be performed manually, which is not described herein again.

302. Each access point (including the primary and secondary access points) is powered on. And the main access point directly enters a service state after being started up to serve the user terminal. The secondary access point does not enter a service state but enters a standby state after being powered on, and is used as a user terminal to search for the primary access point, for example, the following may be specifically used:

the process of finding the primary access point by the secondary access point is basically the same as the process of scanning the access point by a general user terminal, except that the secondary access point can carry the identifier (i.e. source address) of itself (i.e. secondary access point) when sending the probe request message, and can also indicate that the access point is a secondary access point in the probe request message, and can directly indicate the identifier (i.e. destination address) of the primary access point to be discovered.

Because the identifier of the secondary access point is already configured on the primary access point, after receiving the probe request message, the primary access point can judge whether the secondary access point is the secondary access point of the working group of the access point according to the identifier (namely the source address) of the secondary access point carried in the probe request message, if so, the primary access point returns a probe response message to the secondary node, otherwise, if not, the primary access point does not act or returns a rejected response message to the secondary node, wherein the primary access point can indicate that the primary access point is the primary access point in the probe response message, can carry the identifier of the primary access point, and can also carry other information required by the secondary access point.

And when the secondary access point receives the probe response message returned by the main node, the secondary access point indicates that the main access point is found.

303. After discovering the master access point, the secondary access point associates with the master access point in the current access point working group, and negotiates a communication mechanism with the master access point, such as an appointed communication time point, a communication interval period, and the like.

The association process is the same as the association process between the existing user terminal and the access point, and optionally, the secondary access point may further perform mutual authentication with the primary access point. In addition, the communication mechanism negotiated between the secondary access point and the primary access point may adopt a similar mechanism of reserved automatic power-saving transmission mechanism (S-APSD) defined in the existing specification, and will not be described herein again.

304. After the operation in step 303 is performed, the secondary access point enters a standby state, where it does not transmit a Beacon frame (Beacon) and does not respond to a Probe Request message (Probe Request) from the user terminal.

The secondary access point periodically sends the status information and/or the load information to the primary access point according to a communication mechanism negotiated with the primary access point in the standby state, for example, the status information and/or the load information may be sent to the primary access point according to a communication time point and a communication time interval agreed with the primary access point.

Of course, since the secondary access point is not loaded when in the standby state, it is also possible to transmit only the state information to the primary access point without transmitting the load information to the primary access point, and the state information may indicate that the secondary access point is in the standby state.

It should be noted that no matter what state the secondary access point is, as long as the secondary access point is powered on and associated with the primary access point, the secondary access point needs to periodically interact with the primary access point according to the negotiated communication mechanism to show that the secondary access point is on the network. Wherein the interaction can also be implemented by using a null data frame in the existing specification without defining a new signaling frame. In addition, in order to save more power, the period of sending the state information to the main access point by the access point in the standby state can be set longer, but the access point still waits for receiving the control message possibly sent by the main access point in a shorter period, so that the number of times of sending the message by the auxiliary access point in the standby state can be reduced as much as possible, the power is saved, and the standby state can be changed into the service state in time when needed, so as to meet the requirement of the network. These mechanisms can negotiate at the stage of the secondary access point and the primary access point negotiating the communication mechanism, and certainly, can renegotiate at the time of the state change of the secondary access point, which is not described herein again.

The communication between the secondary access point and the primary access point can adopt an independent control channel or adopt a channel of the primary access point. Generally, the channel of the primary access point is used, because if so, the channel control of the primary access point is simpler, and the secondary access point can be treated as an application terminal in terms of channel control.

305. And the main access point receives the load information and/or the state information reported by the auxiliary access point, determines the total load of the current access point working group according to the load information, calculates the total load rate, executes the step 306 if the total load rate exceeds a first preset threshold value, and otherwise does not act. If the total load rate is lower than the second preset threshold, step 309 is executed, otherwise, no action is taken.

For a method for calculating the total load rate, reference may be made to embodiment one, and details are not described herein.

306. And the main access point sends first state control information according to the state information according to the negotiated communication mechanism so as to inform the auxiliary access point in the standby state of entering a service state.

For example, the primary access point may send the first state control information to the secondary access point via its own channel according to a negotiated communication mechanism, such as a communication time point, to inform the secondary access point to switch from the standby state to the service state. The master access point may determine which secondary access points are currently in a standby state according to the state information reported by the secondary access points.

307. The secondary access point enters a service state after receiving the first state control information, periodically transmits a Beacon frame (Beacon), also responds to a probe request message of the user terminal, receives an association request of the user terminal, and the like, which can be referred to in the prior art.

It should be noted that, during the channel control process, the secondary access point must reserve the time for communicating with the primary access point, that is, the communication time period agreed with the primary access point cannot serve the user terminal, so as to avoid generating a collision. This may be accomplished by scheduling the time period for communication with the primary access point during a non-contention period of channel control. During the non-contention period, who can use the channel, at what point in time, for how long the use is governed by the access point, as long as the secondary access point does not poll or schedule a service period for the user terminal during the time period in which it communicates with the primary access point, the user terminal will naturally not use the channel during this time period, and thus no collisions will occur. In addition, the secondary access point may additionally schedule an access point sleep period, including the time period for communicating with the primary access point in the access point sleep period, and indicate and notify the user terminal in some signaling messages, such as a broadcast beacon frame and a unicast probe request message, so that the user terminal knows that it is not able to communicate with the access point during this time period.

308. The secondary access point needs to periodically send load information to the primary access point according to a negotiated communication mechanism, such as a communication time interval, in a service state, and meanwhile, may also send status information to the primary access point to indicate that it is in the service state.

The master access point receives the load information and/or the state information reported by the secondary access point, determines the total load of the current access point working group according to the load information, and calculates the total load rate, i.e. step 305 is executed.

309. And the main access point sends second state control information according to the state information according to the negotiated communication mechanism so as to inform the auxiliary access point in the service state of entering the standby state.

For example, the primary access point may send the second state control information to the secondary access point via its own channel according to the negotiated communication mechanism, such as the communication time point, to inform the secondary access point to switch from the service state to the standby state. Wherein the second state control information may indicate an identity of the destination secondary access point. The master access point may determine which secondary access points are currently in a standby state according to the state information reported by the secondary access points.

310. The secondary access point which is going to enter the standby state can transfer the user terminal which is connected to the secondary access point to other secondary access points in service state, and can transfer the existing load to the main access point. The standby state can only be entered when there is no load on the secondary access point. Wherein the other secondary access point may be designated by the primary access point.

For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present invention, the transition time of the secondary access point from the service state to the standby state is referred to as a transition state. That is, after receiving the second state control information, the secondary access point first enters the transition state, and may enter the standby state only when there is no load on the secondary access point.

It should be noted that the process of migrating the user terminal may be performed according to the process defined in the 802.11v specification, and if the user terminal does not support the migration operation of 802.11v, the secondary access point should wait for the user terminal to leave the network. In addition, in the transitional state, the secondary access point may continue to transmit beacon frames and may indicate in the beacon frames that no new users are to be received. And the secondary access point does not respond to the probe request message of the user terminal, if the user terminal specially sends the probe request message to the access point in a unicast mode, the secondary access point may not respond, or indicate that no new user terminal is currently accepted in the probe response message. In the transition state, the secondary access point also needs to send load information to the primary access point and may indicate that it is in the transition state.

When the secondary access point in the transition state is not loaded, the secondary access point enters the standby state, and the secondary access point entering the standby state stops sending the beacon frame and does not respond to the detection request message of the user terminal. The auxiliary access point is in an Active State (Active State) defined by 802.11 only when communicating with the main access point in a standby State, and is in a dormant State (Idle State) at other times, so that the aim of saving electric energy can be achieved. In addition, optionally, under a load condition, for example, in a transition state, the secondary access point may also sleep in a time period in which communication with the user terminal is not required, so as to achieve the purpose of saving power.

As can be seen from the above, in this embodiment, the access points in the access point working group are divided into the main access point and the auxiliary access point in a preset manner, where the auxiliary access point may report load information and/or status information to the main access point, and then the main access point controls the status of the auxiliary node according to the load condition of the network, so that when the total load is heavy, the auxiliary access point may enter a service state to meet the requirement of the user terminal, and when the total load is light, the auxiliary access point may be switched to a standby state to achieve the purpose of saving electric energy, thereby implementing flexible management of the access point working group.

Example four,

The present embodiment is similar to the solution provided by the third embodiment, except that in the third embodiment, the main access point and the auxiliary access point are mainly set in a preset manner, and in the present embodiment, the main access point and the auxiliary access point are set through negotiation between the access points as an example for explanation.

First, it is necessary to determine the access points in the same access point working group (referred to as the same group) through configuration, for example, the access points in the same access point working group may be configured into the same group number in one group. However, unlike the third embodiment, this embodiment does not determine which access point is the primary access point and which access point is the secondary access point by configuration, and it is not necessary to configure the identifiers of other access points in the same group on the access point, and certainly, the identifiers of other access points in the same group may also be configured on the access point, so that when the access points in the same group find each other, the subsequent access points can perform simple authentication through the configured identifiers of the access points. The configuration process may be performed through a network manager or manually, and is not described herein again.

After the configuration is finished, all the access points in the access point working group are started and consulted to confirm the main access point. For example, the following method may be specifically adopted to determine the master access point:

after the access point is started, the access point is firstly used as a user terminal role to search a main access point. The specific manner is similar to the manner in which the user terminal scans the access point in the prior art, for example, the access point may listen to the beacon frame of the master access point or send a broadcast probe request message to discover the master access point in the same group, and if the beacon frame of the master access point in the same group can be heard or a probe response message of the master access point is received, it is indicated that the master access point in the group is determined, and it may be determined that the access point is the slave access point. And the probe response message of the master access point indicates that the access point sending the probe response message is the master access point.

If the beacon frame of the main access point cannot be sensed or the probe response message of the main access point is received, the access point operates as the access point and can respond to the probe request message of other access points but does not send the beacon frame. After receiving the probe response messages of other access points in the group, the access points negotiate with whom to serve as the master, for example, the decision may be based on the boot time or the MAC address, such as the earliest boot time to serve as the master, or the minimum MAC address to serve as the master, etc.

In order to implement the negotiation process of the master access point, the access point needs to carry an identifier, such as an AP group number, that can confirm the working group of the access point in the probe request message, so that each access point can find out other access points in the same group. In addition, if the power-on time is used as the basis for confirming the main access point, the elapsed time since the access point was powered on may be carried in the probe request message, and the time may specifically be in units of microseconds or number of ticks. If the MAC address is used as the basis for confirming the master access point, the MAC address does not need to be carried additionally, because the MAC address of the access point is originally included in the probe request message as the source address of the transmitted probe request message.

If the main access point can not be found, and other access points in the same group can not be found, the access point starts to work as the main access point.

After determining the master access point, the master access point may indicate that it is the master access point in its transmitted beacon frame or in its probe response message returned to other access points.

It should be noted that, the process of determining the master access point may also refer to a process of determining a network initiator in an Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) in the 802.11 specification, which is not described herein again.

After the main access point is determined, the subsequent process is the same as that in the third embodiment, and reference may be made to the third embodiment, which is not described herein again.

In addition, it should be further noted that, in the solution provided in this embodiment, if the main access point fails, the secondary access point will find that the secondary access point cannot communicate with the main access point no matter in the service state or in the standby state, at this time, each secondary access point needs to negotiate with each other to generate a new main access point, and a specific negotiation method may refer to the process of negotiating the main access point.

As can be seen from the above, this embodiment may provide another main access point and auxiliary access point dividing manner, that is, a negotiation manner between access points, besides the same beneficial effects as in the third embodiment, because this embodiment may divide the access points in the access point working group into the main access point and the auxiliary access points by using the negotiation manner between the access points, the previous configuration is simpler, and the implementation is more flexible, for example, if the main access point fails, renegotiation may be performed to confirm a new main access point, and so on.

Example V,

In order to better implement the above method, the embodiment of the present invention further provides an access point, which may be a master access point, as shown in fig. 4a, and may include a receiving unit 401 and a transmitting unit 402.

A receiving unit 401, configured to receive load information and/or state information reported by a secondary access point in a current access point working group;

A sending unit 402, configured to control a state of the secondary access point according to the load information and/or the state information received by the receiving unit 401.

In addition, before the receiving unit 401 receives the load information and/or the state information reported by the secondary access point in the current access point working group, a connection needs to be established between the access point serving as the primary access point and the secondary access point, that is, referring to fig. 4a, the access point serving as the primary access point may further include a negotiation unit 403;

a negotiation unit 403, configured to negotiate a communication mechanism with at least one secondary access point in the current access point working group; the content of the negotiated communication mechanism may be specifically determined according to the requirements of the actual application, for example, the content may include a communication time period, a communication interval period, and the like, which may be specifically referred to in embodiment one, and is not described herein again.

At this time, the receiving unit 401 is specifically configured to receive, according to the negotiation unit 403, load information and/or state information reported by the secondary access point in the access point working group according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation;

a sending unit 402, configured to send a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in the access point working group according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation by the negotiation unit 403 at least according to the received load information and/or the state information, so as to switch the state of the secondary access point that receives the message or the instruction.

Wherein, referring to fig. 4b, the transmitting unit 402 may include a determining subunit, a first transmitting subunit, and a second transmitting subunit;

the determining subunit is used for determining the total load rate of the current access point working group according to the load information or the state information received by the receiving unit, and determining the state of an auxiliary access point in the access point working group according to the load information or the state information received by the receiving unit; for the calculation of the total load rate, reference may be made to embodiment one, and details are not described herein.

A first sending subunit, configured to, when it is determined that the total load rate determined by the subunit exceeds a first preset threshold, send a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in a standby state according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation by the negotiation unit 403, so that the secondary access point receiving the message or instruction is switched from the standby state to a service state;

a second sending subunit, configured to send a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in the service state according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation by the negotiation unit 403 when the total load rate determined by the determination subunit is lower than a second preset threshold, so that the secondary access point receiving the message or the instruction switches from the service state to the standby state.

Before the secondary access point enters the standby state, if there is a user terminal currently accessing the secondary access point, the secondary access point may migrate the user to the access point serving as the primary access point or other secondary access points in the current access point working group in the service state, and enter the standby state until there is no user (i.e., no load) on the secondary access point. Thus, as shown in fig. 4b, the access point as the master access point may further comprise a processing unit 404;

a processing unit 404, configured to accept a user migrating from a secondary access point that is about to enter a standby state. Specifically, the second sending subunit is configured to, after notifying the secondary access point in the service state of entering the standby state, accept the user migrated from the secondary access point that is about to enter the standby state.

Wherein, the secondary access point may discover the primary access point by passive scanning, for example, listen to the beacon frame of the primary access point, and if it can hear, indicate that the primary access point in the access point working group has confirmed. In addition, the secondary access point can also discover the primary access point in an active scanning mode, which is similar to the mode of the user terminal actively scanning the access point, that is, at this time, the secondary access point can be used as a user terminal to search the primary access point by sending a probe request message, and if the primary access point exists in the access point working group to which the secondary access point belongs, the primary access point returns a probe response message to the corresponding secondary access point, so that the secondary access point discovers the primary access point. That is, the access point as the master access point may further include a response unit 405;

a receiving unit 401, configured to receive a probe request message sent by a secondary access point in a current access point working group;

a responding unit 405, configured to return a probe response message to the secondary access point after the receiving unit 401 receives the probe request message.

The specific implementation of each unit can refer to the foregoing method embodiments, and is not described herein again.

In specific implementation, the units may be implemented as independent entities, or may be implemented as a same entity or several entities in any combination.

As can be seen from the above, the access point negotiation unit 403 provided in this embodiment may negotiate a communication mechanism with the secondary access point, then the receiving unit 401 receives load information and/or status information reported by the secondary access point according to the communication mechanism determined by negotiation, and then the sending unit 402 sends a message or an instruction to control the status of the secondary access point according to the received load information and/or status information, so as to implement flexible management of the access point working group.

Example six,

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present invention further provides another access point, which may be used as a secondary access point, as shown in fig. 5a, where the access point includes a sending unit 501, a receiving unit 502, and a switching unit 503; it should be noted that, for better illustration, the main access point is also shown in fig. 5 a.

A sending unit 501, configured to send load information and/or status information to a master access point in a current access point working group;

A receiving unit 502, configured to receive a message or an instruction sent by the master access point at least according to the received load information and/or status information;

a switching unit 503, configured to switch the state according to the message or the instruction received by the receiving unit 502.

In addition, before the sending unit 501 reports the load information and/or the status information to the master access point in the current access point working group, a connection needs to be established between the access point serving as the secondary access point and the master access point, that is, as shown in fig. 5a, the access point serving as the secondary access point may further include a negotiation unit 504.

A negotiation unit 504, configured to negotiate a communication mechanism with a master access point in an access point working group; the content of the negotiated communication mechanism may be specifically determined according to the requirements of the actual application, and for example, the content may include a communication time period, a communication interval period, and the like, which are not described herein again.

At this time, the sending unit 501 is specifically configured to send load information and/or status information to the master access point according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation by the negotiation unit 503.

As shown in fig. 5b, the switching unit 503 at least includes at least one of a first switching sub-unit 5031 and a second switching sub-unit 5032;

a first switching sub-unit 5031, configured to switch the current standby state to the service state according to the message or instruction received by the receiving unit; for example, the method may be specifically configured to switch a current standby state to a service state when receiving first state control information sent by a master access point;

a second switching sub-unit 5032, configured to switch the current service state to a standby state according to the message or instruction received by the receiving unit; for example, the method may be specifically configured to switch the current service state to the standby state when receiving the second state control information sent by the master access point.

The first state control information and the second state control information are made by the main access point according to the load information and/or the state information, which may specifically refer to the foregoing embodiments and are not described herein again.

Before the second handover subunit 5032 switches the current service state to the standby state, if there is currently a user terminal accessing to the secondary access point, the access point serving as the secondary access point may migrate the user to the primary access point or other secondary access points in the current access point working group in the service state, and enter the standby state when there is no user (i.e. no load) on the access point. That is, before switching the current service state to the standby state, the access point as the secondary access point may further include a migration unit 505;

a migration unit 505, configured to determine whether there is a user access, and if so, migrate the accessed user to another access point in a service state in the main access point in the access point working group. For example, the second switching sub-unit 5032 is specifically configured to determine whether there is a user access before switching the current service state to the standby state, and if so, migrate the accessed user to another access point in the service state in the main access point in the access point working group.

The second switching sub-unit 5032 is specifically configured to switch the current service state to the standby state when the secondary access point is not loaded.

The secondary access point may discover the primary access point by passive scanning, for example, listen to a beacon frame of the primary access point, and if it can hear the beacon frame, indicate that the primary access point in the access point working group has confirmed. In addition, the main access point can be discovered through an active scanning mode, which is similar to the mode of the user terminal actively scanning the access point, that is, the secondary access point can be used as a user terminal to find the main access point by sending a probe request message, if the main access point exists in the access point working group to which the secondary access point belongs, the main access point returns a probe response message to the corresponding secondary access point, so that the secondary access point discovers the existence of the main access point. That is, before the negotiation unit 503 associates with the primary access point in the current access point working group and negotiates the communication mechanism, the access point as the secondary access point may further include a detection unit 506;

a probing unit 506, configured to send a probe request message;

the receiving unit 502 is further configured to receive a probe response message returned by a master access point in the current access point working group.

As can be seen from the above, the negotiation unit 504 of the access point provided in this embodiment may negotiate a communication mechanism with the main access point, and the sending unit 501 reports load information and/or status information to the main access point according to the communication mechanism, and then when the receiving unit 502 receives a message or an instruction sent by the main access point according to the received load information and/or status information, the switching unit 503 switches the status according to the received message or instruction, thereby implementing flexible management of the access point working group, for example, when the total load of the access point working group is heavy, the main access point controls the secondary access point to enter a service state to meet the requirement of the user terminal, and when the total load of the access point working group is light, the main access point controls the secondary access point to enter a standby state to save power.

It should be noted that, in specific implementation, the access point provided in the fifth embodiment and the access point provided in the sixth embodiment may be implemented by the same entity, and functions of each unit may also be combined, for example, the negotiation unit 403 in the main access point and the negotiation unit 504 in the secondary access point may be combined into one negotiation unit, and so on, which is not described herein again.

Example seven,

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the invention also provides a communication system, which comprises a main access point and at least one auxiliary access point; the primary access point may be any one of the access points provided in embodiment five, and the secondary access point may be any one of the access points provided in embodiment six.

A main access point used for receiving the load information and/or state information reported by the auxiliary access point in the current access point working group and controlling the state of the auxiliary access point according to the load information and/or state information

The auxiliary access point is used for reporting the load information and/or the state information to the main access point in the current access point working group and receiving the state control made by the main access point according to the load information and/or the state information;

the division of the main access point and the auxiliary access point can adopt any one of the following modes:

(1) depending on network presets;

it is specified in advance which access point is the main access point and which access point is the secondary access point, for example, it can be set as the "main access point" in the main access point and deploy the identifier of the secondary access point, and it is set as the "secondary access point" in the secondary access point and set the identifier of the main access point.

(2) Depending on the negotiation between the access points;

After the primary and secondary access points are divided, when each access point is powered on, the secondary access point may discover the primary access point in a passive scanning manner or may discover the primary access point in an active scanning manner, that is:

the main access point is also used for receiving a detection request message sent by the auxiliary access point in the current access point working group and returning a detection response message to the auxiliary access point;

and the secondary access point is also used for sending a detection request message and receiving a detection response message returned by the main access point in the current access point working group.

In addition, before the main access point receives the load information and/or the state information reported by the secondary access point in the current access point working group, a connection needs to be established between the main access point and the secondary access point, that is:

the main access point is also used for associating with the auxiliary access point in the current access point working group and negotiating a communication mechanism;

and the secondary access point is also used for associating with the main access point in the current access point working group and negotiating a communication mechanism.

The content of the negotiated communication mechanism may specifically depend on the requirements of the actual application, and may include, for example, a communication time period, a communication interval period, and the like.

If the communication mechanism is negotiated between the primary access point and the secondary access point, the communication between the primary access point and the secondary access point needs to follow the negotiated communication mechanism, that is:

the main access point is specifically used for receiving load information and/or state information reported by the auxiliary access point in the current access point working group according to a negotiated communication mechanism;

and the auxiliary access point is specifically used for reporting the load information and/or the state information to the main access point in the current access point working group according to the negotiated communication mechanism.

The master access point is specifically further configured to control a state of the secondary access point according to the negotiated communication mechanism and according to the load information and/or the state information. For example, the following may be specifically mentioned:

determining the total load rate of the current access point working group according to the load information or the state information; and if the total load rate exceeds a first preset threshold value, according to a negotiated communication mechanism, sending first state control information according to the load information or the state information to inform the auxiliary access point in the standby state of entering a service state. And if the total load rate is lower than a second preset threshold, sending second state control information according to the state information according to the negotiated communication mechanism to inform the secondary access point in the service state to enter a standby state. The first preset threshold and the second preset threshold may be determined according to the requirement of practical application, and the first preset threshold is greater than or equal to the second preset threshold, which is referred to the foregoing method embodiment and is not described herein again.

Before the secondary access point enters the standby state, if a user terminal is accessed to the secondary access point, the secondary access point can migrate the user to the primary access point or other secondary access points in the current access point working group in the service state, and enter the standby state when no user (i.e. no load) exists on the secondary access point. Namely:

the secondary access point is further configured to migrate the user to the primary access point or other secondary access points in the current access point working group in the service state before switching the service state to the standby state, which may specifically refer to the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described herein again.

And the primary access point is also used for receiving user migration of the secondary access point.

The communication system may specifically be implemented as an access point workgroup.

The above embodiments can be referred to for the implementation of each device, and are not described herein again.

As can be seen from the above, the communication system provided in this embodiment divides the access points in the access point working group into the main access point and the auxiliary access point, where the main access point may receive the load information and/or the status information reported by the auxiliary access point, and then controls the status of the auxiliary access point according to the received load information and/or status information, so as to implement flexible management of the access point working group, for example, when the total load of the access point working group is heavy, the main access point controls the auxiliary access point to enter a service state to meet the requirement of the user terminal, and when the total load of the access point working group is light, the main access point controls the auxiliary access point to enter a standby state to save electric energy.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the steps in the methods of the above embodiments may be implemented by associated hardware instructed by a program, which may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the storage medium may include: read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), magnetic or optical disks, and the like.

The method for managing an access point working group and the access point provided by the embodiment of the present invention are described in detail above, and a specific example is applied in the present disclosure to explain the principle and the embodiment of the present invention, and the description of the above embodiment is only used to help understanding the method of the present invention and the core idea thereof; meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, there may be variations in the specific embodiments and the application scope, and in summary, the content of the present specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of managing an active set of access points, comprising:

a main access point in an access point working group negotiates a communication mechanism with at least one auxiliary access point in the access point working group, the main access point is in a service state, and the main access point and the auxiliary access point in the access point working group are preset or determined by negotiation between the access points in the access point working group;

the main access point receives load information and/or state information sent by a secondary access point in the access point working group according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation, wherein the state information comprises a service state and a standby state;

the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one auxiliary access point in the access point working group according to the received load information and/or the state information and a communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so that the auxiliary access point receiving the message or the instruction switches the state;

and when the main access point and the auxiliary access point communicate, the wireless channel of the main access point is used for communication.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the master access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in the access point working group according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation at least according to the received load information and/or status information, so that the secondary access point receiving the message or instruction switches the status, comprising:

the main access point determines the total load rate of the access point working group according to the received load information or state information;

the main access point determines the state of an auxiliary access point in the access point working group according to the received load information or state information;

when the total load rate exceeds a first preset threshold value, the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one auxiliary access point in a standby state according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so that the auxiliary access point receiving the message or the instruction is switched to a service state from the standby state;

or,

and when the total load rate is lower than a second preset threshold value, the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in a service state according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so that the secondary access point receiving the message or the instruction is switched from the service state to a standby state.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein when the total load rate is lower than a second preset threshold, the main access point sends a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in a service state according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation, so that the secondary access point receiving the message or instruction switches from the service state to the standby state, further comprising:

the primary access point accepts users migrating from secondary access points that are about to enter a standby state.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the communication mechanism comprises: a communication time period and a communication interval period.

5. A method of managing an active set of access points, comprising:

an auxiliary access point in an access point working group negotiates a communication mechanism with a main access point in the access point working group, the main access point is in a service state, and the main access point and the auxiliary access point in the access point working group are preset or determined by negotiation between the access points in the access point working group;

the auxiliary access point sends load information and/or state information to the main access point according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation, wherein the state information comprises a service state and a standby state;

the secondary access point switches the state according to the received message or instruction;

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the secondary access point adjusting the status according to the received message or instruction comprises:

the secondary access point switches the current standby state to a service state according to the received message or instruction;

or,

and the secondary access point switches the current service state to the standby state according to the received message or instruction.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein before switching the current service state to the standby state, further comprising:

and the secondary access point determines whether the user access exists, and if so, the accessed user is migrated to the main access point or other secondary access points in the service state in the access point working group.

8. An access point that is a master access point and that performs communication using a wireless channel of the master access point when the master access point and a slave access point perform communication, comprising:

a negotiation unit, configured to negotiate a communication mechanism with at least one secondary access point in an access point working group, where the primary access point is in a service state, and the primary access point and the secondary access point in the access point working group are preset or determined through negotiation between the access points in the access point working group;

a receiving unit, configured to receive load information and/or state information reported by a secondary access point in the access point working group according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation, where the state information includes a service state and a standby state;

9. The access point of claim 8, wherein the sending unit comprises:

a determining subunit, configured to determine a total load rate of the access point working group according to the load information or the state information received by the receiving unit, and determine a state of a secondary access point in the access point working group according to the load information or the state information received by the receiving unit;

a first sending subunit, configured to send a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in a standby state according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation when the total load rate determined by the determining subunit exceeds a first preset threshold, so that the secondary access point receiving the message or the instruction is switched from the standby state to a service state;

and the second sending subunit is configured to send a message or an instruction to at least one secondary access point in the service state according to the communication mechanism determined after negotiation when the total load rate determined by the determining subunit is lower than a second preset threshold, so that the secondary access point receiving the message or the instruction switches from the service state to the standby state.

10. The access point of claim 9, further comprising:

and the processing unit is used for receiving the user migrated from the secondary access point which is about to enter the standby state.

11. An access point that is a secondary access point and that performs communication using a wireless channel of a primary access point when performing communication with the primary access point, comprising:

a negotiation unit, configured to negotiate a communication mechanism with the master access point in an access point working group, where the master access point is in a service state, and the master access point and an auxiliary access point in the access point working group are preset or determined through negotiation between the access points in the access point working group;

a sending unit, configured to send load information and/or state information to the master access point according to a communication mechanism determined after negotiation, where the state information includes a service state and a standby state;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a message or an instruction sent by the master access point at least according to the received load information and/or status information;

and the switching unit is used for switching the state according to the received message or instruction.

12. The access point of claim 11, wherein the switching unit comprises at least one of:

the first switching unit is used for switching the current standby state to the service state according to the message or the instruction received by the receiving unit;

and the second switching unit is used for switching the current service state to the standby state according to the message or the instruction received by the receiving unit.

13. The access point of claim 12, further comprising:

and the migration unit is used for determining whether the user access exists, and if so, migrating the accessed user to the main access point or other auxiliary access points in the service state in the access point working group.