Program for Distributed Channel Selection, Power Adjustment and Load Balancing Decisions in a Wireless Network
First Claim
1. A program product for use by a device in a wireless local area network communications environment including a plurality of access points and a plurality of mobile stations, the program product comprising a computer readable medium having embodied therein a computer program for storing data, the computer program comprising:
- logic for generating protocol messages, the protocol generating logic including logic for causing a first access point to transmit, on a first wireless channel, and before utilizing the channel for transmission of non-management data to a mobile station, a claim message indicative of an intent to utilize the selected channel for transmission of non-management data to a mobile station;
logic, operative in response to receipt of a claim message from a second access point indicative of an intent to utilize the selected channel, for causing the first access point to communicate with the second access point to determine which of the first and second access points will utilize the selected channel;
logic for causing a first mobile station that is associated with a third access point to calculate whether a greater data rate is available from a fourth access point than the third access point, and for transmitting a bid message requesting association with the fourth access point if it is calculated that the fourth access point would provide a greater data rate than the third access point; and
logic, operative in response to receipt of a plurality of bid messages submitted by a plurality of mobile stations, for causing the fourth access point to select one of the received bid messages, and to transmit an accept message indicating that the mobile station which submitted the selected bid message is permitted to become associated with the fourth access point.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The performance and ease of management of wireless communications environments is improved by a mechanism that enables access points (APs) to perform automatic channel selection. A wireless network can therefore include multiple APs, each of which will automatically choose a channel such that channel usage is optimized. Furthermore, APs can perform automatic power adjustment so that multiple APs can operate on the same channel while minimizing interference with each other. Wireless stations are load balanced across APs so that user bandwidth is optimized. A movement detection scheme provides seamless roaming of stations between APs.
-
Citations
8 Claims
-
1. A program product for use by a device in a wireless local area network communications environment including a plurality of access points and a plurality of mobile stations, the program product comprising a computer readable medium having embodied therein a computer program for storing data, the computer program comprising:
-
logic for generating protocol messages, the protocol generating logic including logic for causing a first access point to transmit, on a first wireless channel, and before utilizing the channel for transmission of non-management data to a mobile station, a claim message indicative of an intent to utilize the selected channel for transmission of non-management data to a mobile station;
logic, operative in response to receipt of a claim message from a second access point indicative of an intent to utilize the selected channel, for causing the first access point to communicate with the second access point to determine which of the first and second access points will utilize the selected channel;
logic for causing a first mobile station that is associated with a third access point to calculate whether a greater data rate is available from a fourth access point than the third access point, and for transmitting a bid message requesting association with the fourth access point if it is calculated that the fourth access point would provide a greater data rate than the third access point; and
logic, operative in response to receipt of a plurality of bid messages submitted by a plurality of mobile stations, for causing the fourth access point to select one of the received bid messages, and to transmit an accept message indicating that the mobile station which submitted the selected bid message is permitted to become associated with the fourth access point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
Specification