Autonomic reassociation of clients in a wireless local area network
First Claim
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1. Apparatus comprising:
- a wired network interface;
a wireless network interface which transmits a series of beacons according to a first interval, wherein each beacon identifies access capability through said wired network interface, and which associates clients through the wireless network interface for access through said wired network interface, the wireless network interface having a register for storing a variable which affects the operation of the wireless network interface; and
a flow controller which is coupled to said wired network interface and said wireless network interface and which detects a degraded condition on said wired network interface that indicates a degradation on a wired network to which the wired network interface is connected and initiates the broadcast of a reassociation request across said wireless network interface in response to the detection on said wired network interface;
wherein said flow controller stores only a single bit sized first value in the register in response to the degradation detected on said wired network interface and wherein said wireless network interface increases the interval between the beacon transmissions according to a second interval which is longer than the first interval in response to the first value being stored in the register; and
wherein the degraded condition is selected from the group consisting of a reduced network throughput condition and a network outage condition.
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Abstract
A wireless network access point is described which provides the resources of a backbone network to wireless clients. The access point is able to detect a degraded condition on the backbone network. Upon detecting the degraded condition, the access point transmits or broadcasts a reassociation request to one or more clients associated with the access point. In addition, the rate at which new associations are made is halted or reduced during the degraded backbone condition. In one embodiment, the association rate is reduced by increasing the interval between beacons transmitted by the access point which identify the access to the backbone network.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. Apparatus comprising:
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a wired network interface; a wireless network interface which transmits a series of beacons according to a first interval, wherein each beacon identifies access capability through said wired network interface, and which associates clients through the wireless network interface for access through said wired network interface, the wireless network interface having a register for storing a variable which affects the operation of the wireless network interface; and a flow controller which is coupled to said wired network interface and said wireless network interface and which detects a degraded condition on said wired network interface that indicates a degradation on a wired network to which the wired network interface is connected and initiates the broadcast of a reassociation request across said wireless network interface in response to the detection on said wired network interface; wherein said flow controller stores only a single bit sized first value in the register in response to the degradation detected on said wired network interface and wherein said wireless network interface increases the interval between the beacon transmissions according to a second interval which is longer than the first interval in response to the first value being stored in the register; and wherein the degraded condition is selected from the group consisting of a reduced network throughput condition and a network outage condition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method comprising:
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monitoring traffic on a wired network; transmitting a series of beacons by a wireless network interface over a wireless network according to a first interval, wherein each beacon identifies access capability to the wired network; associating clients on the wireless network for access to the wired network;
detecting a degraded condition on the wired network based on said monitoring, the wired network being a backbone network, wherein the degraded condition is selected from the group consisting of a reduced network throughput condition and a network outage condition;storing only a single bit sized first value in a register in response to each degraded condition detected on said wired network interface; increasing the interval between said beacon transmissions according to a second interval which is longer than the first interval in response to said first value being stored in the register; and broadcasting a reassociation request to the associated clients on the wireless network in response to said detection on the wired network. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. A computer program product encoded on a computer readable storage medium comprising:
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computer readable program code stored therein, the computer readable program code in said computer program being effective to; monitor traffic on a wired network; transmit a series of beacons over a wireless network according to a first interval, wherein each beacon identifies access capability to the wired network; associate clients on the wireless network for access to the wired network; detect a degraded condition on the wired network based on said monitoring, the wired network being a backbone network, wherein the degraded condition is selected from the group consisting of a reduced network throughput condition and a network outage condition; store only a single bit sized first value in a register in response to each degraded condition detected on said wired network interface; broadcast a reassociation request to the associated clients on the wireless network in response to said detection on the wired network; and increase the interval between said beacon transmissions according to a second interval which is longer than the first interval in response to said first value being stored in the register. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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Specification