Dynamic Channel-Width Allocation in Wireless Networks

• US 20090034457A1
• Filed: 08/01/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bahl, Paramvir, Moscibroda, Thomas, Wu, Yunnan, Chandra, Ranveer, Narlanka, Gopala Sri Hari, Yuan, Yuan
• Granted Patent: US 8,243,612 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/10 Dynamic resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]

Abstract

Techniques for enhancing throughput capacity and/or bandwidth distribution fairness among APs in a wireless network are described. Specifically, a channel frequency profile which includes a center frequency and channel-width (i.e., channel bandwidth) is dynamically assigned to each of one or more APs in a wireless network. The assigned channel frequency profile for each AP is based, at least in part, on the current composition of the wireless network including, its topology and traffic load distribution. In this regard, each AP'"'"'s channel frequency profile can be continuously or periodically changed such that the entire available frequency spectrum is effectively utilized and/or interference between APs is avoided or limited. This, in turn, enhances the throughput capacity and/or bandwidth distribution fairness of the wireless network.

Claims

1. A method comprising dynamically assigning, to each of one or more access points (APs) providing wireless access to a network, a channel frequency profile based at least in part on a current composition of the network, wherein the channel frequency profile comprises a channel-width setting.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the channel frequency profile further comprises a center-frequency setting.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein dynamically assigning comprises selecting, as a function of information associated with the current composition of the network, one or more assigned settings associated with the channel frequency profile.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein selecting includes evaluating the information at least in part by utilizing an integer linear program (ILP) algorithm.

5. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein dynamically assigning further comprises directing each of the one or more APs to adjust one or more of its settings to the one or more assigned settings.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein one or both of selecting and directing is performed at least in part by one or both of:

a server device communicatively linked to the wireless network; and

one or more APs associated with the wireless network.

7. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the information includes one or more of:

a current communication traffic load associated with each of the one or more APs; and

a channel frequency profile for each of the one or more APs; and

a transmission power for each of the one or more APs.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein information associated with the current composition of the network is received from one or more of:

at least one of the one or more APs; and

one or more client devices associated with the network.

9. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computer, implement the method of claim 1.

10. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform acts comprising:

collecting data about a wireless network; and

evaluating the data to allocate a center-frequency and a channel bandwidth for each of a plurality of access points (APs) associated with the wireless network.

11. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 10, further comprising instructing each of the plurality of APs to use the center-frequency and the channel bandwidth allocated to it.

12. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 11, wherein the acts are performed by one or more management modules located on one or more devices communicatively linked to the wireless network.

13. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 10, wherein at least one of:

the center-frequency allocated to at least two of the plurality of APs is different; and

the channel bandwidth allocated to at least two of the plurality of APs is different.

14. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 10, wherein the channel bandwidth allocated for an individual AP of the plurality of APs is proportional to a current traffic load for the individual AP.

15. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the current traffic load is determined by one or both of:

the quantity of client devices associated with the individual AP; and

the traffic demand of each of the client devices.

16. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 10, wherein the data is associated with one or more of:

a traffic load for each of one or more of the plurality of APs; and

a current center-frequency and a current channel bandwidth for each of one or more of the plurality of APs.

17. A system comprising:

one or more management modules associated with a network, the one or more management modules comprising;

at least one storage component to store information received from one or more devices associated with the network;

at least one selection component to evaluate the information and, based at least in part on the evaluated information, allocate a channel frequency profile to each of one or more nodes providing wireless access to the network, wherein the channel frequency profile comprises a channel-width setting; and

at least one communication component to direct each of the one or more nodes to use the channel frequency profile allocated to it.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the one or more management modules are distributed over multiple computing devices associated with the network.

19. A system as recited in claim 17, wherein at least a portion of the multiple nodes are access points (APs), one or more of the APs having programmatically configurable channel frequency profile settings.

20. A system as recited in claim 17, wherein the at least one selection component utilizes one or more optimization algorithms to evaluate the information and compute the channel frequency profiles to allocate to each of the one or more nodes.