CONFIGURABLE QUALITY-OF-SERVICE SUPPORT PER VIRTUAL ACCESS POINT (VAP) IN A WIRELESS LAN (WLAN) ACCESS DEVICE

• US 20060165103A1
• Filed: 01/26/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Colubris Networks, Inc. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Trudeau, Pierre, Laroche, Stephane
• Granted Patent: US 8,885,539 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2854 Wide area networks, e.g. public data networks

Abstract

A wireless network access device includes a radio and support for virtual access points. According to the invention, each virtual access point has an independently configurable quality-of-service profile. The per-VAP QoS support enables multiple services to be delivered from a single physical access point. A plurality of transmit/receive queues are associated with each virtual access point (VAP) configured on the access device. Each queue in the plurality of queues is associated with a given quality-of-service level, such as (in decreasing order of priority): voice, video, best effort data, and background data. The access device further includes a data transfer mechanism in the form of a data packet forwarding engine that, for each VAP, transfers data from the plurality of queues to enforce the per-VAP QoS policy.

Claims

1. An apparatus for coupling a wireless network to a wired network and that includes a radio configurable to support virtual access points, comprising:

a plurality of queues associated with each virtual access point (VAP) configured, wherein each queue in the plurality of queues is associated with a given quality-of-service level; and

a data transfer mechanism for each VAP that transfers data from the plurality of queues to enforce a per VAP quality-of-service policy.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein a first queue in the plurality of queues provides a quality of service at a first level.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein the data stored in the first queue is voice data.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein a second queue in the plurality of queues provides a quality of service at a second level that is lower than the quality of service at the first level.

5. The apparatus as described in claim 4 wherein the data stored in the second queue is video data.

6. The apparatus as described in claim 4 wherein a third queue in the plurality of queues provides a quality of service at a third level that is lower than the quality of service at the second level.

7. The apparatus as described in claim 6 wherein the data stored in the third queue is data other than voice and video data.

8. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the data transfer mechanism transmits all of the data in a queue at a first quality-of-service level before initiating transmission of data in a queue at a second quality-of-service level.

9. The apparatus as described in claim 1 further including an interface through which a given client security policy is specified, wherein each VAP includes a given client security policy.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 1 further including a mechanism for mapping a given QoS policy from a first, downstream interface to a second, upstream interface, wherein the downstream interface is a wireless network.

11. The apparatus as described in claim 10 wherein the QoS policy mapping is between 802.11e and a protocol selected from one of the following:

802.1p, DiffServ and MPLS.

12. The apparatus as described in claim 1 further including a mechanism to guarantee a given minimum service level to a device requesting to be added to a given VAP QoS level.

13. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein a given queue has one or more sub-queues associated therewith, wherein each sub-queue provides a quality-of-service sub-level.

14. The apparatus as described in claim 13 further including a mechanism to balance data transfer from the one or more sub-queues according to a given queuing algorithm.

15. The apparatus as described in claim 1 further including a mechanism to enforce a given QoS priority rule within a given VAP with respect to a TCP or UDP destination port.

16. An apparatus for coupling a first network to a second network and that includes a radio configurable to support virtual access points, the apparatus having a first, downstream interface to the first network, and a second, upstream interface to the second network, comprising:

a set of queues associated with each virtual access point (VAP) configured, wherein each queue in the set of queues may be associated with a given quality-of-service level; and

a data transfer mechanism for each VAP to transfer data from the set of queues to enforce a per VAP quality-of-service policy.

17. The apparatus as described in claim 16 wherein a given VAP is configured to provide a given quality-of-service level for all traffic on an associated BSSID.

18. The apparatus as described in claim 16 wherein the given VAP is configured without active collaboration with a given access device.

19. The apparatus as described in claim 16 further including a mechanism to enforce a given QoS priority rule within a given VAP with respect to a TCP or UDP destination port.

20. A method of connecting a set of client devices to a given network using an apparatus that includes a radio configurable to support virtual access points, comprising:

associating each client device to a given virtual access point (VAP);

for each VAP, assigning given traffic to one or more quality-of-service levels; and

as the client device communicates over the given network, enforcing a given per VAP quality-of-service policy.

21. The method as described in claim 20 wherein a given client device is a legacy client, and wherein the per VAP quality-of-service policy is established without active collaboration of the legacy client.

22. The method as described in claim 20 wherein a given client device is a QoS-enabled client, and wherein the per VAP quality-of-service policy is established in cooperation with the QoS-enabled client.

23. The method as described in claim 20 wherein the step of enforcing a given per VAP quality-of-service policy includes mapping a given wireless QoS policy onto a given upstream interface.