Data communication method and related apparatus

A data communication method, comprising:

• obtaining, by a terminal, a data unit from an access device, the data unit including a legacy preamble and bearer data, the bearer data including a beacon frame, the beacon frame including a high efficiency (HE) capability element, the HE capability element including a field indicating whether each of multiple guard interval lengths is supported by the access device, and the field including multiple indicator bits, one indicator bit in the multiple indicator bits indicating whether the access device supports one guard interval length in the multiple guard interval lengths;
• a first bit in the multiple indicator bits corresponds to a 3.2 us guard interval length and indicates whether the access device supports the 3.2 us guard interval length or not;
• a second bit in the multiple indicator bits corresponds to a 0.8 us guard interval length and indicates whether the access device supports the 0.8 us guard interval length or not;
• selecting, by the terminal, an available guard interval length supported by the terminal and supported by the access device from the multiple guard interval lengths;
• and
• performing, by the terminal, data communication with the access device by using the available guard interval length.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor and storing programming instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
• construct a beacon frame, wherein the beacon frame includes a high efficiency (HE) capability element, the HE capability element includes a field indicating whether each of multiple guard interval lengths is supported by the apparatus;
• and the field includes multiple indicator bits, one indicator bit in the multiple indicator bits indicating whether the apparatus supports one guard interval length in the multiple guard interval lengths;
• a first bit in the multiple indicator bits corresponds to a 3.2 us guard interval length and indicates whether the apparatus supports the 3.2 us guard interval length or not;
• a second bit in the multiple indicator bits corresponds to a 0.8 us guard interval length and indicates whether the apparatus supports the 0.8 us guard interval length or not;
• encapsulate the beacon frame into a data unit, wherein the data unit includes a legacy preamble and bearer data, and the bearer data includes the beacon frame;
• and
• send the data unit and perform data communication with a terminal by using an available guard interval length which is selected from the multiple guard interval lengths and is supported by the apparatus and the terminal.

A terminal, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor and storing programming instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to:
• select an available guard interval length supported by the terminal and supported by an access device from multiple guard interval lengths;
• obtain a data unit from the access device, wherein the data unit includes a legacy preamble and bearer data, the bearer data includes a beacon frame, wherein the beacon frame includes a high efficiency (HE) capability element, the HE capability element includes a field indicating whether each of the multiple guard interval lengths is supported by the access device;
• the field includes multiple indicator bits, one indicator bit in the multiple indicator bits indicating whether the access device supports one guard interval length in the multiple guard interval lengths;
• a first bit in the multiple indicator bits corresponds to a 3.2 us guard interval length and indicates whether the access device supports the 3.2 us guard interval length or not;
• a second bit in the multiple indicator bits corresponds to a 0.8 us guard interval length and indicates whether the access device supports the 0.8 us guard interval length or not;
• and
• perform data communication with the access device by using the available guard interval length.