Antenna steering method and apparatus for an 802.11 station
First Claim
1. A method for operating a directional antenna at a Station within a wireless network comprising:
- external from a Station Management Entity (SME) and Physical (PHY) layer in a station in a wireless network, selecting an antenna beam pattern for a directional antenna associated with the station based on at least one signal quality metric available from the PHY layer; and
causing the directional antenna to form the selected beam pattern for communicating with a network device external from the station in the wireless network.
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Abstract
A method or apparatus steers a directional antenna for a station to communicate with an Access Point (AP) in an 802.11 protocol system. The method or apparatus may include setting the directional antenna in an omni-directional pattern during a Beacon scan. After authentication with a selected AP, the method or apparatus conducts an antenna beam selection process to determine a “best” direction for communicating with the selected AP based on a metric, such as Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), of the Beacon frames received on each of the directional antenna scan angles. The method or apparatus may be integrated into or associated with a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and receive signal quality metrics from the Physical (PHY) layer.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for operating a directional antenna at a Station within a wireless network comprising:
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external from a Station Management Entity (SME) and Physical (PHY) layer in a station in a wireless network, selecting an antenna beam pattern for a directional antenna associated with the station based on at least one signal quality metric available from the PHY layer; and
causing the directional antenna to form the selected beam pattern for communicating with a network device external from the station in the wireless network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus for operating a directional antenna in a wireless network, comprising:
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a selector external from a Station Management Entity (SME) and Physical (PHY) layer in a station in a wireless network that selects an antenna beam pattern for a directional antenna associated with the station based on at least one signal quality metric available from the PHY layer; and
an antenna control unit that causes the directional antenna to form the selected beam pattern for communicating with a network device in the wireless network. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An apparatus for operating a directional antenna in a wireless network, comprising:
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external from a Station Management Entity (SME) and Physical (PHY) layer in a station in a wireless network, means for selecting an antenna beam pattern for a directional antenna associated with the station based on at least one signal quality metric available from the PHY layer; and
means for causing the directional antenna to form the selected beam pattern for communicating with a network device in the wireless network.
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Specification