Access point initiated forced roaming based upon bandwidth
First Claim
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1. A method to load balance traffic in a communications network including the acts of:
- dynamically generating and maintaining, in an Access Point, a table which lists, among other things, average bandwidth used by each client device associated with said Access Point, identification for each client device, IP address assigned to each client device, signal strength for each client device, a sub-field in which aggregate bandwidth usage is recorded, and a flag which is activated if aggregate bandwidth usage at said Access Point exceeds a predetermined threshold;
monitoring in said table bandwidth usage of each of the client devices; and
forcing at least one client to disconnect from said Access Point if aggregate bandwidth usage at said Access Point exceeds the predetermined threshold.
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Abstract
Apparatus and method provides dynamic load balancing of network bandwidth between access points in an 802.11 wireless LAN. The access point generates and monitors average bandwidth utilization of client devices connected to said access point. The average bandwidth utilization for each client device is aggregated and selected clients are forced to roam to other access points if the aggregate bandwidth is equal or exceeds a threshold.
49 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method to load balance traffic in a communications network including the acts of:
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dynamically generating and maintaining, in an Access Point, a table which lists, among other things, average bandwidth used by each client device associated with said Access Point, identification for each client device, IP address assigned to each client device, signal strength for each client device, a sub-field in which aggregate bandwidth usage is recorded, and a flag which is activated if aggregate bandwidth usage at said Access Point exceeds a predetermined threshold; monitoring in said table bandwidth usage of each of the client devices; and forcing at least one client to disconnect from said Access Point if aggregate bandwidth usage at said Access Point exceeds the predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A device including:
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a controller comprising a programmable processor, a memory operatively coupled to said processor, a program storage containing firmware with instructions allowing the processor to execute programs to support wired and wireless LANs, and an interface flow controller coupling said processor to first bus and a second bus;
said memory comprising a table partitioned into a first sub-field in which identities of client devices communicating with said device are recorded, a second sub-field to record IP addresses of said client devices, a third sub-field to record signal strength information for said client devices, a fourth sub-field to record average bandwidth utilization for each of the client devices, and fifth sub-field to record aggregate bandwidth utilization;a first adapter providing an interface to a wireless LAN; and a second adapter providing an interface to a wired LAN; wherein the first bus interconnects the first adapter to the controller; and wherein the second bus interconnects the controller to the second adapter, wherein said controller executes at least one program that forces a client device to roam if the bandwidth utilization in said device exceeds a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification