Cooperative diagnosis in a wireless lan

• US 20070239876A1
• Filed: 04/07/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chandra, Ranveer, Zhang, Ming, Padmanabhan, Venkata
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Communication software to aid portable computers monitor, and correct problems accessing a network through a wireless access point. The software controls the exchange of information with other portable computers in the vicinity of the wireless access point. The information exchanged may be used to diagnose problems at the wireless layer, the network layer, the transport layer or the application layer. The information exchanged may provide information about the configuration of computers that successfully or unsuccessfully communicate through the wireless access point. A portable computer receiving this configuration information may compare it to similar information about its own configuration to diagnose problems. Such software may be of particular benefit for portable computers experiencing difficulty connecting to a network at a wireless hot spot.

Claims

1. A computer for use as a host on a wireless LAN, the wireless LAN having at least one access point, and the computer comprising:

a) at least one interface for wireless communication;

b) a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising;

i) using the at least one interface to communicate over the wireless LAN through the access point; and

ii) using the at least one interface to receive diagnostic information from at least one other computer acting as a host on the wireless LAN.

2. The computer of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium has stored thereon a module comprising computer-executable instructions for implementing a network stack and the computer-executable instructions for performing the steps b(i) and b(ii) are within the module.

3. The computer of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions are for performing additional steps comprising:

c) using the diagnostic information to diagnose a connectivity problem.

4. The computer of claim 3, additionally comprising a network interface card and wherein using the diagnostic information to diagnose a connectivity problem comprises indicating a problem with the network interface card when the computer cannot detect the access point and cannot exchange diagnostic information with any other computer acting as a host.

5. The computer of claim 3, wherein using the diagnostic information to diagnose a connectivity problem comprises indicating that the computer is out of range of the access point when the computer cannot detect the access point and can receive diagnostic information with any other computer acting as a host.

6. The computer of claim 3, wherein using the diagnostic information to diagnose a connectivity problem comprises indicating that the computer has a software problem when the computer cannot detect the access point but can receive diagnostic information from at least one other computer acting as a host and the information received indicates that each of the at least one other computers has a different software version.

7. The computer of claim 1, wherein:

i) the at least one interface for wireless communication comprises a first interface for wireless communication and a second interface for wireless communication; and

ii) the computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising using the at least one interface to communicate over the wireless LAN through the access point comprise computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising using the first wireless communication interface to communicate over the wireless LAN through the access point; and

iii) the computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising using the at least one interface to receive diagnostic information from at least one other computer acting as a host on the wireless LAN comprise computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising using the second wireless communication interface to receive diagnostic information from at least one other computer acting as a host on the wireless LAN.

8. A method of operating a computer adapted to be a host on wireless LAN, the wireless LAN having at least one access point, the method comprising:

a) attempting to communicate over the wireless LAN through the access point;

b) when unable to communicate over the wireless LAN, analyzing information from at least a second computer adapted to be a host on the wireless LAN to identify a condition preventing the computer from communicating over the wireless LAN.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting a beacon signal to establish communication with the second computer.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising selecting as the second computer a computer that is also unable to communicate over the wireless LAN through the access point.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information comprises information obtained by the second computer from a third computer adapted to be a host on the wireless LAN.

12. The method of claim 8, additionally comprising receiving over a wireless link the information from the second computer.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiving information over a wireless link comprises receiving information defining a communication status of the second computer in a single packet.

14. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions adapted for use on a computer that may be a host on a wireless LAN, the wireless LAN having at least one access point, the computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

a) obtaining status information about communication over the wireless LAN through the wireless access point; and

b) transmitting the status information over a wireless connection to at least one other computer adapted to be a host on the wireless LAN.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the status information comprises an access code and the computer-executable instructions are for performing additional steps comprising:

c) obfuscating the access code before transmission to the other computer.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions are for performing additional steps comprising:

c) using a first interface to communicate over the wireless LAN through the access point.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing the step of obtaining status information comprise computer-executable instructions for:

i) obtaining information about the wireless layer of the wireless LAN, the information comprising at least one of the type of network interface card installed in the computer, BSSID'"'"'s of access points from which the computer has received a beacon, a representation of the loss rate of packets exchanged between the computer and the at least one access point, a security protocol used to communicate with the wireless network through the at least one access point and the length of an interface queue on the computer.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing the step of obtaining status information comprise computer-executable instructions for:

i) obtaining information about the IP layer of the wireless LAN, the information comprising at least one of an IP Address of an interface to the access point, an IP address of a DHCP server from which the computer obtained an IP address on the wireless LAN and an IP address of a local DNS server on the wireless LAN.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing the step of obtaining status information comprise computer-executable instructions for:

i) obtaining information about the transport layer of the wireless LAN, the information comprising at least one of information indicative of the number of connections through the wireless LAN attempted by the computer, the number of connections through the wireless LAN attempted by the computer that failed, or server ports used by the computer for successful connections through the wireless LAN.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing the step of obtaining status information comprise computer-executable instructions for:

i) obtaining information about the application layer of the wireless LAN, the information comprising at least one web proxy setting.