Method and apparatus of a location server for hierarchical WLAN systems

• US 7,590,418 B1
• Filed: 01/20/2006
• Issued: 09/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thomson, Allan
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu; Michael T
• Application Number:
  US11/336,050
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/331, 370/328, 455/433, 455/456, 455/456.6, 455/115.3, 455/550.1, 455/445, 709/229, 342/464
• US Class Current: 455/433
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and systems directed to processing location and network data in a wireless network. According to one implementation of the present invention, a location server functions both as a middleware data collection engine and a calculation engine in a hierarchical WLAN system. In one implementation, the location server collects network data associated with mobile nodes. As described in further detail below, mobile nodes may include one or more of wireless mobile stations (e.g., wireless laptops, dual-mode phones, personal digital assistants, etc.), radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, rogue wireless access points and rogue wireless clients. In one implementation, the location server may process at least some of the network data to determine information associated with the mobile nodes. For example, the location server may compute the location of a given mobile node, which is accessible to other applications using one or more defined application programming interfaces (APIs). In one implementation, the location server may track the node history of a given mobile node. In one implementation, the location server may correlate processed network information to one or more locations or regions in the wireless network environment. For example, in one implementation, the location server may compute the load (i.e., amount of traffic) in a given region. The load may be used to further compute traffic patterns in the region. Such computations may be based on types of mobile nodes (e.g., wireless clients) and/or based on time periods (e.g., 12 pm-5 pm). As described in more detail below, such information may facilitate management of a wireless network. For example, the processed information may indicate locations that may require deployment of more resources (e.g., additional wireless access points).

Claims

1. A wireless location server operative to communicate with one or more elements of a wireless network infrastructure, the wireless location server comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory;

a network interface; and

a location application, physically stored in the memory, comprising instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to;

collect network data generated throughout the wireless network infrastructure;

identify one or more mobile nodes from the network data;

store the network data in association with the one or more mobile nodes in a database;

track a present location of each of the one or more mobile nodes by periodically;

identifying a location of a wireless access point with which the mobile node is presently associated;

computing the present location of the mobile node based on a received signal strength value and the location of the wireless access point with which the mobile node is presently associated; and

storing the present location in the database in association with the mobile node;

determine an analysis area;

determine the one or more mobile nodes in the analysis area during a time period; and

compute a load in the analysis area for the time period based on network traffic generated by the one or more mobile nodes in the analysis area during the time period.

2. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the location application further comprises instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to archive the network data in association with corresponding mobile nodes.

3. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the location application further comprises instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to present one or more application programming interfaces allowing access to the network data stored in the database.

4. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein, to store network data, the location application further comprises instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to store the network data arranged the mobile node type in a database.

5. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the one or more mobile nodes is of a class type comprising one of wireless mobile stations, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, rogue wireless access points and rogue wireless clients.

6. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the network data comprises one or more of security parameters, user names, mobile node identification (ID), media access control (MAC) addresses, statistical information about data transmitted and received by each mobile node in the wide local area network (WLAN), errors, received signal strength data, and radio frequency (RF) measurement data.

7. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein, to collect network data, the location application further comprises instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to:

store the network data in one or more mobile node records; and

transmit mobile node identifications (IDs) associated with the one or more mobile nodes to a queue.

8. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the wireless network driver application further comprises instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to:

apply a tracking rule to the network data;

determine if an event policy has been triggered; and

execute a function based on the event policy.

9. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the wireless network driver application further comprises instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to apply one or more notifications with respect to the load.

10. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the wireless network driver application further comprises instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to correlate at least one of the location data and history data to one or more locations.

11. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the wireless network infrastructure is a hierarchical wide area local area network (WLAN).

12. The wireless location server of claim 1, wherein the wireless network infrastructure comprises a master location server and one or more slave location servers.

13. In a wireless location server operative to communicate with one or more elements of a wireless network infrastructure, a method comprising:

collecting network data generated throughout the wireless network infrastructure;

identifying one or more mobile nodes from the network data;

storing the network data in association with the one or more mobile nodes in a database;

tracking a present location of each of the one or more mobile nodes by periodically;

identifying a location of a wireless access point with which the mobile node is presently associated;

computing the present location of the mobile node based on a received signal strength value and the location of the wireless access point with which the mobile node is presently associated; and

storing the present location in the database in association with the mobile node;

determining an analysis area;

determining the one or more mobile nodes in the analysis area during a time period; and

computing a load in the analysis area for the time period based on network traffic generated by the one or more mobile nodes in the analysis area during the time period.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising archiving the network data in association with corresponding mobile nodes.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising presenting one or more application programming interfaces allowing access to the network data stored in the database.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the network data storing comprises storing the network data arranged the mobile node type in a database.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the one or more mobile nodes is of a class type comprising one of wireless mobile stations, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, rogue wireless access points and rogue wireless clients.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the network data comprises one or more of security parameters, user names, mobile node identification (ID), media access control (MAC) addresses, statistical information about data transmitted and received by each mobile node in the wide local area network (WLAN), errors, received signal strength data, and radio frequency (RF) measurement data.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the network data collecting comprises:

storing the network data in one or more mobile node records; and

transmitting mobile node identifications (IDs) associated with the one or more mobile nodes to a queue.

20. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

applying a tracking rule to the network data;

determining if an event policy has been triggered; and

executing a function based on the event policy.

21. The method server of claim 13, further comprising applying one or more notifications with respect to the load.

22. The method of claim 13 further comprising correlate at least one of the location data and history data to one or more locations.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the wireless network infrastructure is a hierarchical wide area local area network (WLAN).

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the wireless network infrastructure comprises a master location server and one or more slave location servers.

25. A wireless location server operative to communicate with one or more elements of a wireless network infrastructure, the wireless location server comprising:

means for collecting network data generated throughout the wireless network infrastructure;

means for identifying one or more mobile nodes from the network data;

means for storing the network data in association with the one or more mobile nodes in a database;

means for tracking a present location of each of the one or more mobile nodes by periodical;

means for identifying a location of a wireless access point with which the mobile node is presently associated;

means for computing the present location of the mobile node based on a received signal strength value and the location of the wireless access point with which the mobile node is presently associated; and

means for storing the present location in the database in association with the mobile node;

means for determining an analysis area;

means for determining the one or more mobile nodes in the analysis area during a time period; and

means for computing a load in the analysis area for the time period based on network traffic generated by the one or more mobile nodes in the analysis area during the time period.

26. A wireless location server comprised in a wireless network, wherein the wireless location server comprises:

at least one processor;

a memory;

at least one network interface; and

at least one software application stored in the memory, wherein selected ones of the at least one software application comprise computer instructions operable to cause the at least one process to;

collect network data generated throughout the wireless network;

identify at least one mobile nodes comprised in the wireless network based on the network data;

for each of the at least one mobile node, compute a present location of the mobile node and store the present location of the mobile node in a database;

for each of the at least one mobile node, track historical locations for the mobile node and store the historical locations of the mobile node in the database;

periodically update the locations of the at least one mobile node stored in the database; and

compute a load for an analysis area within the wireless network for a time period based on network traffic generated by selected ones of the at least one mobile nodes located in the analysis area during the time period.

27. The wireless location server as recited in claim 26, wherein computing a present location of a mobile node comprises:

identify a location of a wireless access point with which the mobile node is associated; and

compute the present location of the mobile node based on the location of the wireless access point with which the mobile node is associated and a signal strength from the mobile node received by the wireless access point.

28. The wireless location server as recited in claim 26, wherein computing a load for an analysis area comprises:

identify the selected ones of the at least one mobile nodes located in the analysis area;

monitor the network traffic generated by the selected ones of the at least one mobile nodes located in the analysis area; and

compute the load for the analysis area based on the network traffic by the selected ones of the at least one mobile nodes located in the analysis area.

29. The wireless location server as recited in claim 26, wherein selected ones of the at least one software application further comprise computer instructions operable to cause the at least one process to notify a party when selected ones of the at least one mobile node are located within a monitored area based on a set of notification rules.

30. The wireless location server as recited in claim 26, wherein selected ones of the at least one software application further comprise computer instructions operable to cause the at least one process to calculate network traffic trends for the wireless network based on the network data.