DUAL RADIO WIRELESS MESH NETWORK ACCESS POINT

• US 20080291846A1
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arrowspan Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Arrowspan Incorporated
• Inventors: Lu, Wenchen
• Granted Patent: US 7,773,542 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Abstract

A dual radio wireless mesh access point is described herein. According to one embodiment, a wireless mesh access point includes an uplink wireless interface, a downlink wireless interface, a local wireless interface, and a routing unit coupled to the uplink, downlink, and the local wireless interfaces. The routing unit is configured to route data packets to other wireless mesh access points (APs), including communicating with an uplink AP via the uplink wireless interface and communicating with a downlink AP via the downlink wireless interface. The uplink and downlink wireless interfaces utilize different communication channels having different communication frequencies. The routing unit communicates with one or more local clients via the local wireless interface. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. A wireless mesh access point (AP), comprising:

an uplink interface;

a downlink interface;

a local link interface; and

a routing unit coupled to the uplink, downlink, and local link interfaces, wherein the routing unit is configured to route data packets to other wireless mesh access points (APs), including communicating with an uplink AP via the uplink interface and communicating with a downlink AP via the downlink interface, wherein the uplink and downlink wireless interfaces utilize different communication channels having different communication frequencies, wherein the routing unit is configured to communicate with one or more local clients via the local link interface.

2. The wireless mesh AP of claim 1, wherein the uplink interface operates at a first communication frequency and the downlink interface operates at a second communication frequency different than the first communication frequency.

3. The wireless mesh AP of claim 2, wherein the first and second communication frequencies are ranging approximately from 4.9 to 5.8 GHz.

4. The wireless mesh AP of claim 1, wherein the local link interface operates at a communication frequency of approximately 2.4 GHz.

5. The wireless mesh AP of claim 1, wherein the different communication channels are configured by an administrator.

6. A wireless mesh network, comprising:

a plurality of wireless mesh access points (APs) communicatively coupled to each other via a plurality of mesh links, wherein each wireless mesh AP includes

an uplink interface,

a downlink interface,

a local link interface, and

a routing unit coupled to the uplink, downlink, and local link interfaces, wherein the routing unit is configured to route data packets to other wireless mesh access points (APs), including communicating with an uplink AP via the uplink interface and communicating with a downlink AP via the downlink interface, wherein the uplink and downlink wireless interfaces utilize different communication channels having different communication frequencies, wherein the routing unit is configured to communicate with one or more local clients via the local link interface.

7. The wireless mesh network of claim 6, wherein the uplink interface operates at a first communication frequency and the downlink interface operates at a second communication frequency different than the first communication frequency.

8. The wireless mesh network of claim 7, wherein the first and second communication frequencies are ranging approximately from 4.9 to 5.8 GHz.

9. The wireless mesh network of claim 6, wherein the local link interface operates at a communication frequency of approximately 2.4 GHz.

10. The wireless mesh network of claim 6, wherein the different communication channels are configured by an administrator.