Improving transmission efficiency of data frames by using shorter addresses in the frame header

1. A data communications method for establishing a wireless fidelity (WiFi) connection, the method comprising:

sending, by a station, an association request message to an access point, wherein the association request message comprises a first source address and a first destination address;

receiving, by the station, an association response message comprising an association identifier (AID) from the access point, wherein the AID is a unique identifier allocated by the access point to the station, and wherein a bit length of the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address;

generating, by the station, a data frame, wherein a format of the data frame is a simplified frame format that is different from a format of the association request message, wherein a frame header of the data frame comprises a second source address, a second destination address, and a frame control (FC) domain, wherein the FC domain comprises a frame transmission direction subdomain, and wherein the frame transmission direction subdomain has a length of one bit and wherein the frame transmission direction subdomain is used to indicate a transmission direction of the data frame, wherein the AID is used as the second source address of the frame header, and wherein a bit length of the second source address as the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address; and

sending, by the station, the data frame to the access point.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the FC domain further comprises a protocol version subdomain, and wherein the protocol version subdomain is used to indicate a non-simplified frame format or the simplified frame format.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the association request message further comprises first information used to request to use the simplified frame format, and wherein the association response message further comprises second information used to instruct the simplified frame format to be used.

4. A data communications method for establishing a wireless fidelity (WiFi) connection, the method comprising:

receiving, by an access point, an association request message from a terminal, wherein the association request message comprises a first source address and a first destination address;

sending, by the access point, an association response message comprising an association identifier (AID) to the terminal, wherein the AID is a unique identifier allocated by the access point to the terminal, and wherein a bit length of the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address;

receiving, by the access point, a data frame from the terminal, wherein a format of the data frame is a simplified frame format that is different from a format of the association request message, wherein a frame header of the data frame comprises a second source address and a second destination address, wherein the AID is used as the second source address of the frame header, and wherein a bit length of the second source address as the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address; and

performing, by the access point, decoding processing according to the data frame comprising obtaining a frame control (FC) domain comprised in the frame header, wherein the FC domain comprises a protocol version subdomain, and wherein the protocol version subdomain is used to indicate a non-simplified frame format or the simplified frame format.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the FC domain further comprises a protocol version subdomain, and wherein the protocol version subdomain is used to indicate a non-simplified frame format or the simplified frame format.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the association request message further comprises first information used to request to use the simplified frame format, and wherein the association response message further comprises second information used to instruct the simplified frame format to be used.

7. A data communications apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver; and

at least one processor coupled to the transceiver,

wherein the transceiver is configured to:

send an association request message to an access point; and

receive an association response message from the access point,

wherein the association request message comprises a first source address and a first destination address,

wherein the association response message comprises an association identifier (AID) that is a unique identifier allocated by the access point to the data communications apparatus, wherein a bit length of the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address,

wherein the processor is configured to generate a data frame,

wherein a format of the data frame is a simplified frame format that is different from a format of the association request message, and a frame header of the data frame comprises a second source address, a second destination address, and a frame control (FC) domain, wherein the FC domain comprises a frame transmission direction subdomain, and wherein the frame transmission direction subdomain has a length of one bit and wherein the frame transmission direction subdomain is used to indicate a transmission direction of the data frame,

wherein the AID is used as the second source address of the frame header and wherein a length of the second source address as the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address, and

wherein the transceiver is further configured to send the data frame to the access point.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the FC domain further comprises a protocol version subdomain, and wherein the protocol version subdomain is used to indicate a non-simplified frame format or the simplified frame format.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the association request message further comprises first information used to request to use the simplified frame format, and wherein the association response message further comprises second information used to instruct the simplified frame format to be used.

10. A data communications apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver; and

at least one processor coupled to the transceiver,

wherein the transceiver is configured to:

receive an association request message from a terminal, wherein the association request message comprises a first source address and a first destination address;

send an association response message to the terminal, wherein the association response message comprises an association identifier (AID) that is a unique identifier allocated by the data communications apparatus to the terminal and a bit length of the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address; and

receive a data frame from the terminal,

wherein a format of the data frame is a simplified frame format that is different from a format of the association request message,

wherein a frame header of the data frame comprises a second source address and a second destination address,

wherein the AID is used as the second source address, and

wherein a bit length of the second source address as the AID is shorter than a bit length of the first source address, and

wherein the processor is configured to:

obtain a frame control (FC) domain comprised in the frame header, wherein the FC domain comprises a frame transmission direction subdomain, wherein the frame transmission direction subdomain has a length of one bit and wherein the frame transmission direction subdomain is used to indicate a transmission direction of the data frame, and

perform decoding processing according to the data frame.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to obtain a frame control (FC) domain comprised in the frame header, wherein the FC domain comprises a protocol version subdomain, and wherein the protocol version subdomain is used to indicate a non-simplified frame format or the simplified frame format.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the association request message further comprises first information used to request to use the simplified frame format, and wherein the association response message further comprises second information used to instruct the simplified frame format to be used.

13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

sending a first message to the access point, wherein the first message comprises first information used to request to use the simplified frame format; and

receiving a second message from the access point, wherein the second message comprises second information used to instruct the simplified frame format to be used.

14. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the first information is further used to instruct the frame header not to carry a portion that is of a transmission parameter and remains unchanged during data transmission, and the portion that is of the transmission parameter and remains unchanged during data transmission comprises at least one of the following: a data frame length subdomain and a quality of service (QoS) parameter subdomain.

15. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

receiving a first message from the terminal, wherein the first message comprises first information used to request to use the simplified frame format; and

sending a second message to the terminal, wherein the second message comprises second information used to instruct the simplified frame format to be used.

16. The apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising:

wherein the first information is further used to instruct the frame header not to carry a portion that is of a transmission parameter and remains unchanged during data transmission, and the portion that is of the transmission parameter and remains unchanged during data transmission comprises at least one of the following: a data frame length subdomain and a quality of service (QoS) parameter subdomain.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising:

wherein the first information is further used to instruct the frame header not to carry a portion that is of a transmission parameter and remains unchanged during data transmission, and the portion that is of the transmission parameter and remains unchanged during data transmission comprises at least one of the following: a data frame length subdomain and a quality of service (QoS) parameter subdomain.