Monitoring a local area network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of monitoring a wireless local area network (WLAN), the method comprising:
- receiving transmissions exchanged between one or more stations and an access point (AP) in the WLAN using a detector located in the WLAN;
compiling a database including one or more individual node elements that are indexed by nodes in the WLAN, session elements, and channel elements that includes creating in the database a node element based on at least one of the received transmissions, wherein the node element in the database is identified as a node in the WLAN, wherein the node element includes a first set of statistics that tracks a number of the received transmissions that is sent into the node that is represented by the node element in the database and a second set of statistics that tracks the number of the received transmissions that is sent out of the node that is represented by the node element in the database;
analyzing the received transmissions to determine state of a station, wherein a first state of the station is associated with a first set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises;
determining if the received transmission is one of the first set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the first state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the first set of transmissions, wherein a second state of the station is associated with a second set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises;
determining if the received transmission is one of the second set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the second state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the second set of transmissions, wherein a third state of the station is associated with a third set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises determining if the received transmission is one of the third set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the third state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the third set of transmissions, wherein the first state indicates the station has not been authenticated or associated with the access point, the second state indicates that the station has authenticated but not associated with the access point, and the third state indicates that the station has authenticated and associated with the access point; and
diagnosing connectivity problems of the station using the compiled database and the determined state of the station.
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Abstract
A wireless local area network (WLAN) is monitored by receiving transmissions exchanged between one or more stations and an access point (AP) in the WLAN using a detector located in the WLAN. A database is compiled based on the received transmissions. The received transmissions are analyzed to determine the state of a station. The compiled database and the determined state of the station are used to diagnose connectivity problems of the station.
67 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring a wireless local area network (WLAN), the method comprising:
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receiving transmissions exchanged between one or more stations and an access point (AP) in the WLAN using a detector located in the WLAN; compiling a database including one or more individual node elements that are indexed by nodes in the WLAN, session elements, and channel elements that includes creating in the database a node element based on at least one of the received transmissions, wherein the node element in the database is identified as a node in the WLAN, wherein the node element includes a first set of statistics that tracks a number of the received transmissions that is sent into the node that is represented by the node element in the database and a second set of statistics that tracks the number of the received transmissions that is sent out of the node that is represented by the node element in the database; analyzing the received transmissions to determine state of a station, wherein a first state of the station is associated with a first set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises;
determining if the received transmission is one of the first set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the first state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the first set of transmissions, wherein a second state of the station is associated with a second set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises;
determining if the received transmission is one of the second set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the second state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the second set of transmissions, wherein a third state of the station is associated with a third set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises determining if the received transmission is one of the third set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the third state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the third set of transmissions, wherein the first state indicates the station has not been authenticated or associated with the access point, the second state indicates that the station has authenticated but not associated with the access point, and the third state indicates that the station has authenticated and associated with the access point; anddiagnosing connectivity problems of the station using the compiled database and the determined state of the station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of monitoring a wireless local area network (WLAN), the method comprising:
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receiving transmissions exchanged between one or more stations and an access point (AP) in the WLAN using a detector located in the WLAN; compiling a database based on the received transmissions that includes creating a node element in the database based on at least one of the received transmissions, wherein the node element in the database is identified as a node in the WLAN, wherein the node element includes first data identifying the node in the WLAN, second data associated with the received transmissions that are sent into the node that is represented by the node element in the database and third data associated with the received transmissions that are sent out of the node that is represented by the node element in the database; analyzing the received transmissions to determine state of a station, wherein a first state of the station is associated with a first set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises;
determining if the received transmission is one of the first set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the first state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the first set of transmissions, wherein a second state of the station is associated with a second set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises;
determining if the received transmission is one of the second set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the second state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the second set of transmissions, wherein a third state of the station is associated with a third set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises determining if the received transmission is one of the third set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the third state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the third set of transmissions, wherein the first state indicates the station has not been authenticated or associated with the access point, the second state indicates that the station has authenticated but not associated with the access point, and the third state indicates that the station has authenticated and associated with the access point; anddiagnosing connectivity problems of the station using the compiled database and the determined state of the station, wherein the diagnosing comprises detecting a mismatched SSID problem by matching a client station SSID against SSIDs in the compiled database;
detecting a wildcard SSID problem by matching a client station SSID against NULL SSID;
detecting a mismatched channel problem by tracking traffic sent by a station in each channel;
detecting a mismatched speed, privacy, network type, or preamble problem by matching a capability attribute of a station against that of the AP;
detecting an authentication failure problem by tracking authentication response packets;
detecting an association failure problem by tracking association response packets;
detecting an equipment failure problem when no packets are transmitted from a station;
detecting a weak AP signal problem by checking AP signal strength in the compiled database;
detecting a mismatched wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key problem when a station reaches an association state and has transmitted data packets but an associated AP does not send packets back to the station;
or a higher layer protocol problem by detecting successful data exchanges between a station and an AP.
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22. A system to monitor a wireless local area network (WLAN), the system comprising:
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one or more stations; an access point (AP) that communicates with the one or more stations in the WLAN; a detector that receives transmissions exchanged between the one or more stations and the AP in the WLAN; and a database that includes one or more individual node elements that are indexed by nodes in the WLAN, session elements, and channel elements, wherein the database is compiled by creating a node element in the database based on at least one of the received transmissions, wherein the node element is identified as a node in the WLAN, wherein the node element includes a first set of statistics that tracks a number of the received transmissions that is sent into the node represented by the node element in the database and a second set of statistics that tracks the number of the received transmissions that is sent out of the node represented by the node element in the database;
wherein connectivity problems of a station in the WLAN is diagnosed using the compiled database and a determined state of the station, by analyzing the received transmissions to determine state of a station wherein the state of the station is determined by examining a received transmission; and
determining an indicative state of the station associated with the received transmission;
wherein a first state of the station is associated with a first set of transmissions a second state of the station is associated with a second set of transmissions and a third state of the station is associated with a third set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises determining if the received transmission is one of the first set of transmissions;identifying the state of the station as being the first state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the first set of transmissions;
determining if the received transmission is one of the second set of transmissions;
identifying the state of the station as being the second state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the second set of transmissions determining if the received transmission is one of the third set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the third state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the third set of transmissions, wherein the first state indicates the station has not been authenticated or associated with the access point, the second state indicates that the station has authenticated but not associated with the access point, and the third state indicates that the station has authenticated and associated with the access point. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system to monitor a wireless local area network (WLAN), the system comprising:
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one or more stations; an access point (AP) that communicates with the one or more stations in the WLAN; a detector that receives transmissions exchanged between the one or more stations and the AP in the WLAN; analyzing the received transmissions to determine state of a station wherein the state of the station is determined by examining a received transmission; and
determining an indicative state of the station associated with the received transmission;
wherein a first state of the station is associated with a first set of transmissions a second state of the station is associated with a second set of transmissions and a third state of the station is associated with a third set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises determining if the received transmission is one of the first set of transmissions;
identifying the state of the station as being the first state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the first set of transmissions;
determining if the received transmission is one of the second set of transmissions;
identifying the state of the station as being the second state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the second set of transmissions determining if the received transmission is one of the third set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the third state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the third set of transmissions, wherein the first state indicates the station has not been authenticated or associated with the access point, the second state indicates that the station has authenticated but not associated with the access point, and the third state indicates that the station has authenticated and associated with the access point; anda database compiled based on the received transmissions by creating a node element in the database based on at least one of the received transmissions, wherein the node element in the database is identified as a node in the WLAN, wherein the node element includes first data identifying the node in the WLAN, second data associated with the received transmissions that are sent into the node represented by the node element in the database and third data associated with the received transmissions that are sent out of the node represented by the node element in the database;
wherein connectivity problems of a station in the WLAN is diagnosed using the compiled database and a determined state of the station, wherein the connectivity problems of a station in the WLAN is diagnosed using the compiled database and a determined state of the station by;
detecting a mismatched SSID problem by matching a client station SSID against SSIDs in the compiled database;
detecting a wildcard SSID problem by matching a client station SSID against NULL SSID;
detecting a mismatched channel problem by tracking traffic sent by a station in each channel;
detecting a mismatched speed, privacy, network type, or preamble problem by matching a capability attribute of a station against that of the AP;
detecting an authentication failure problem by tracking authentication response packets;
detecting an association failure problem by tracking association response packets;
detecting an equipment failure problem when no packets are transmitted from a station;
detecting a weak AP signal problem by checking AP signal strength in the compiled database;
detecting a mismatched wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key problem when a station reaches an association state and has transmitted data packets but an associated AP does not send packets back to the station;
or a higher layer protocol problem by detecting successful data exchanges between a station and an AP.
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29. A computer-readable storage medium containing computer executable code to monitor a wireless local area network (WLAN) by instructing a computer to operate as follows:
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receiving transmissions exchanged between one or more stations and an access point (AP) in the WLAN using a detector located in the WLAN; compiling a database including one or more of individual node elements that are indexed by nodes in the WLAN, session elements, and channel elements that includes creating a node element in the database based on at least one of the received transmissions, wherein the node element in the database is identified as a node in the WLAN, wherein the node element includes a first set of statistics that tracks a number of the received transmissions that is sent into the node represented by the node element in the database and a second set of statistics that tracks the number of the received transmissions that is sent out of the node represented by the node element in the database; analyzing the received transmissions to determine the state of a station, wherein analyzing comprises examining a received transmission; and
determining an indicative state of the station associated with the received transmission, wherein a first state of the station is associated with a first set of transmissions, a second state of the station is associated with a second set of transmissions and a third state of the station is associated with a third set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises determining if the received transmission is one of the first set of transmissions;
identifying the state of the station as being the first state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the first set of transmissions;
determining if the received transmission is one of the second set of transmissions;
identifying the state of the station as being the second state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the second set of transmissions determining if the received transmission is one of the third set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the third state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the third set of transmissions, wherein the first state indicates the station has not been authenticated or associated with the access point, the second state indicates that the station has authenticated but not associated with the access point, and the third state indicates that the station has authenticated and associated with the access point; anddiagnosing connectivity problems of the station using the compiled database and the determined state of the station. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A computer-readable storage medium containing computer executable code to monitor a wireless local area network (WLAN) by instructing a computer to operate as follows:
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receiving transmissions exchanged between one or more stations and an access point (AP) in the WLAN using a detector located in the WLAN; compiling a database based on the received transmissions that includes creating a node element in the database based on at least one of the received transmissions, wherein the node element in the database is identified as a node in the WLAN, wherein the node element includes first data identifying the node in the WLAN, second data associated with the received transmissions that are sent into the node represented by the node element in the database and third data associated with the received transmissions that are sent out of the node represented by the node element in the database, wherein the database includes node elements, session elements, and channel elements; analyzing the received transmissions to determine state of a station, wherein the state of the station is determined by examining a received transmission; and
determining an indicative state of the station associated with the received transmission;
wherein a first state of the station is associated with a first set of transmissions a second state of the station is associated with a second set of transmissions and a third state of the station is associated with a third set of transmissions, and wherein determining comprises determining if the received transmission is one of the first set of transmissions;
identifying the state of the station as being the first state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the first set of transmissions;
determining if the received transmission is one of the second set of transmissions;
identifying the state of the station as being the second state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the second set of transmissions determining if the received transmission is one of the third set of transmissions; and
identifying the state of the station as being the third state when the received transmission is determined to be one of the third set of transmissions, wherein the first state indicates the station has not been authenticated or associated with the access point, the second state indicates that the station has authenticated but not associated with the access point, and the third state indicates that the station has authenticated and associated with the access point; anddiagnosing connectivity problems of the station using the compiled database and the determined state of the station, wherein diagnosing comprises;
detecting a mismatched SSID problem by matching a client station SSID against SSIDs in the compiled database;
detecting a wildcard SSID problem by matching a client station SSID against NULL SSID;
detecting a mismatched channel problem by tracking traffic sent by a station in each channel;
detecting a mismatched speed, privacy, network type, or preamble problem by matching a capability attribute of a station against that of the AP;
detecting an authentication failure problem by tracking authentication response packets;
detecting an association failure problem by tracking association response packets;
detecting an equipment failure problem when no packets are transmitted from a station;
detecting a weak AP signal problem by checking AP signal strength in the compiled database;
detecting a mismatched wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key problem when a station reaches an association state and has transmitted data packets but an associated AP does not send packets back to the station;
or a higher layer protocol problem by detecting successful data exchanges between a station and an AP.
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Specification