Coverage enhancement using dynamic antennas
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An access point for enhanced coverage of a wireless local area network, the access point comprising:
- an antenna apparatus that provides a plurality of directional antenna patterns for communication over the wireless local area network; and
a processor that executes software stored in memory, wherein execution of the software by the processor;
determines a first of the plurality of directional antenna patterns,effectuates transmission of a first broadcast communication over the wireless local area network on the first of the plurality of directional antenna patterns in accordance with a communications protocol, the communications protocol having a periodic broadcast interval used to enable association of a station with the access point,determines a second of the plurality of directional antenna patterns, andeffectuates transmission of a second broadcast communication over the wireless local area network on the second of the plurality of directional antenna patterns in accordance with the communications protocol, and the transmission of the second broadcast communication is offset from the transmission of the first broadcast communication by a time interval less than the periodic broadcast interval.
15 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Mechanisms for wireless local area network coverage enhancement using dynamic antennas are provided. The dynamic antennas may be used, for example, in an antenna apparatus of an access point. The access point maps a plurality of virtual access points (VAPs), each VAP corresponding to at least one of a plurality of directional antenna patterns of the antenna apparatus. The processor transmits broadcast communication on each of the VAPs a further distance from the access point as compared to transmitting on an omnidirectional antenna pattern of the antenna apparatus.
235 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. An access point for enhanced coverage of a wireless local area network, the access point comprising:
-
an antenna apparatus that provides a plurality of directional antenna patterns for communication over the wireless local area network; and a processor that executes software stored in memory, wherein execution of the software by the processor; determines a first of the plurality of directional antenna patterns, effectuates transmission of a first broadcast communication over the wireless local area network on the first of the plurality of directional antenna patterns in accordance with a communications protocol, the communications protocol having a periodic broadcast interval used to enable association of a station with the access point, determines a second of the plurality of directional antenna patterns, and effectuates transmission of a second broadcast communication over the wireless local area network on the second of the plurality of directional antenna patterns in accordance with the communications protocol, and the transmission of the second broadcast communication is offset from the transmission of the first broadcast communication by a time interval less than the periodic broadcast interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13)
-
-
6. A method for enhanced coverage of a wireless local area network, the method comprising:
-
determining a first of a plurality of directional antenna patterns provided by an antenna apparatus of an access point; transmitting a first broadcast communication over the wireless local area network on the first of the plurality of directional antenna patterns in accordance with a communications protocol, the communications protocol having a periodic broadcast interval that enables association of a station with the access point; determining a second of the plurality of directional antenna patterns provided by the antenna apparatus; and transmitting a second broadcast communication over the wireless local area network on the second of the plurality of directional antenna patterns in accordance with the communications protocol, and the transmission of the second broadcast communication is offset from the transmission of the first broadcast communication by a time interval less than the periodic broadcast interval. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
Specification