SCANNING METHOD AND APPARATUS IN WIRELESS LAN

• US 20150208330A1
• Filed: 08/08/2013
• Published: 07/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Giwon, Ryu, Kiseon, Cho, Hangyu, Kwak, Jinsam
• Granted Patent: US 9,661,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A scanning method and apparatus in wireless LAN is disclosed. The method comprises determining, by an access point (AP), whether to accommodate a station (STA) conducting an initial link setup and transmitting, by the AP, a frame to the STA, the frame including scanning redirection information for the STA to switch other channel, other band, or a neighbor AP when the AP determines not to accommodate the STA. The scanning redirection information includes a band field and a channel field. The band field indicating a band in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA conducts the initial link setup from current band to the other band. The channel field indicating a channel in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA conducts the initial link setup from current channel to the other channel.

Claims

1. A method for communication in a wireless local area network, the method comprising:

determining, by an access point (AP), whether to accommodate a station (STA) conducting an initial link setup; and

transmitting, by the AP, a frame to the STA, the frame including scanning redirection information for the STA to switch other channel, other band, or a neighbor AP when the AP determines not to accommodate the STA,

wherein the scanning redirection information includes a band field and a channel field, the band field indicating a band in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA conducts the initial link setup from current band to the other band, the channel field indicating a channel in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA conducts the initial link setup from current channel to the other channel.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the scanning redirection information selectively includes a ID field indicating a basic service set identifier (BSSID) of a target AP for redirection,

wherein the AP redirects the STA to the BSS indicated by the BSSID if the ID field is included in the scanning redirection information when the STA conducts the initial link setup from the AP to the neighbor AP, and the AP redirects the STA to the channel indicated by the channel field when the STA conducts the initial link setup from the current channel to the other channel and the band indicated by the band field when the STA conducts the initial link setup from the current band to the other band if the ID field is not included in the scanning redirection information.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein the scanning redirection information further includes a length field indicating whether the ID field is included in the scanning redirection information.

4. The method of claim 2,

wherein the scanning redirection information further includes a time field indicating a beacon transmission time interval of the target AP.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the frame is a beacon frame, a fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frame or a probe response frame.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the frame further includes a type field indicating whether the scanning redirection information is included in the frame or not,

wherein the type field is set to 1 when the scanning redirection information is included in the frame and the type field is set to 0 when the scanning redirection information is not included in the frame.

7. An access point (AP) for a wireless local area network, the AP comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) unit configured to receive and transmit radio signals; and

a processor operatively coupled with the RF unit and configured to;

determine whether to accommodate a station (STA) conducting an initial link setup; and

instruct the RF unit to transmit a frame to the STA, the frame including scanning redirection information for the STA to switch other channel, other band, or a neighbor AP when it is determined not to accommodate the STA,

wherein the scanning redirection information includes a band field and a channel field, the band field indicating a band in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA is conducting the initial link setup from current band to the other band, the channel field indicating a channel in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA is conducting the initial link setup from current channel to the other channel.

8. The AP of claim 7,

wherein the scanning redirection information selectively includes a ID field indicating a basic service set identifier (BSSID) of a target AP for redirection,

wherein the AP redirects the STA to the BSS indicated by the BSSID if the ID field is included in the scanning redirection information when the STA conducts the initial link setup from the AP to the neighbor AP, and the AP redirects the STA to the channel indicated by the channel field when the STA conducts the initial link setup from the current channel to the other channel and the band indicated by the band field when the STA conducts the initial link setup from the current band to the other band if the ID field is not included in the scanning redirection information.

9. The AP of claim 8,

wherein the scanning redirection information further includes a length field indicating whether the ID field is included in the scanning redirection information.

10. The AP of claim 8,

wherein the scanning redirection information further includes a time field indicating a beacon transmission time interval of the target AP.

11. The AP of claim 7,

wherein the frame is a beacon frame, a fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frame or a probe response frame.

12. The AP of claim 7,

wherein the frame further includes a type field indicating whether the scanning redirection information is included in the frame or not,

wherein the type field is set to 1 when the scanning redirection information is included in the frame and the type field is set to 0 when the scanning redirection information is not included in the frame.

13. A method of communication in wireless local area network, the method comprising:

receiving, by a station (STA), a frame from a access point (AP), the frame including scanning redirection information to switch other channel, other band, or a neighbor AP when the AP determines not to accommodate the STA; and

performing, by the STA, an initial link setup based on the scanning redirection information,

wherein the scanning redirection information includes a band field and a channel field, the band field indicating a band in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA conducts the initial link setup from current band to the other band, the channel field indicating a channel in which the STA conducts the initial link setup when the STA conducts the initial link setup from current channel to the other channel.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting, by the STA, a probe request frame to the AP,

wherein the frame is a probe response frame as a response to the probe request frame.

15. The method of claim 13,

wherein the frame is a beacon frame.