SELECTING A FREQUENCY BAND FROM A SET OF CANDIDATE FREQUENCY BANDS ASSOCIATED WITH A WIRELESS ACCESS POINT

• US 20150063290A1
• Filed: 11/17/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Feng, Wolter, David R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,615,373 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/00 Monitoring; Testing of line transmission systems H04B3/46; arrangements for monitoring or testing transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio waves H04B10/07
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/327 Received signal code power [RSCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/30 Special cell shapes, e.g. doughnuts or ring cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method includes determining, at a wireless access point, a signal quality indicator associated with a user device in communication with the wireless access point. The method also includes determining, based on the signal quality indicator, a particular frequency band of a set of candidate frequency bands to use in a channel change operation, where each candidate frequency band of the set of candidate frequency bands supports a threshold power level that enables communication between the wireless access point and the user device. The method further includes selecting a particular channel from the particular frequency band to use in the channel change operation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, at a wireless access point, a signal quality indicator associated with a user device in communication with the wireless access point;

determining, based on the signal quality indicator, a particular frequency band of a set of candidate frequency bands to use in a channel change operation, wherein each candidate frequency band of the set of candidate frequency bands supports a threshold power level that enables communication between the wireless access point and the user device; and

selecting a particular channel from the particular frequency band to use in the channel change operation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting, at the wireless access point, the set of candidate frequency bands, wherein each frequency band in the set of candidate frequency bands is an available frequency band for use in the channel change operation.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting, prior to selecting the set of candidate frequency bands, a first channel associated with a highest available power to establish communication with a plurality of user devices, wherein the plurality of user devices includes the user device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, at the wireless access point based on the signal quality indicator, the threshold power level that enables communication between the wireless access point and the user device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing, at a memory of the wireless access point, candidate data indicating the set of candidate frequency bands.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the user device is associated with a lowest signal quality compared to corresponding signal qualities of other user devices of a plurality of user devices associated with the wireless access point.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising identifying, at the wireless access point, the user device based on the signal quality indicator.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user device is identified in response to determining that the user device is associated with the lowest signal quality.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold power level is a minimum power level that enables communication between the wireless access point and the user device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless access point and the user device are each compliant with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 standard.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user device comprises a laptop computer, a set-top box device, a personal computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a customer premise equipment device, a multimedia device, a game console, a mobile phone, or any combination thereof.

12. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to perform operations including;

determining a signal quality indicator associated with a user device;

determining, based on the signal quality indicator, a particular frequency band of a set of candidate frequency bands to use in a channel change operation, wherein each candidate frequency band of the set of candidate frequency bands supports a threshold power level that enables communication between the wireless access point and the user device; and

selecting a particular channel from the particular frequency band to use in the channel change operation.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further include:

receiving a data stream via a network;

processing the data stream to extract voice data, video data, network data, or any combination thereof; and

sending, to the user device, extracted voice data, extracted video data, extracted network data, or any combination thereof.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further include performing the channel change operation by ceasing communication with the user device via a first channel and establishing communication with the user device via the particular channel.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further include storing, at the memory, candidate data indicating the set of candidate frequency bands, wherein the candidate data is stored prior to the channel change operation.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor and the memory are components of a wireless access point, wherein the user device is in communication with the wireless access point.

17. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:

determining a signal quality indicator associated with a user device;

determining, based on the signal quality indicator, a particular frequency band of a set of candidate frequency bands to use in a channel change operation, wherein each candidate frequency band of the set of candidate frequency bands supports a threshold power level that enables communication between the wireless access point and the user device; and

selecting a particular channel from the particular frequency band to use in the channel change operation.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further include performing the channel change operation by ceasing communication with the user device via a first channel and establishing communication with the user device via the particular channel.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further include selecting a first channel associated with a highest available power to establish communication with a plurality of user devices, wherein the plurality of user devices includes the user device.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further include receiving the signal quality indicator from the user device.