Closed-Loop Automatic Channel Selection

• US 20080070509A1
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ruckus IP Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Ruckus Wireless, Inc. (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kish, William
• Granted Patent: US 8,670,725 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0475 with means for limiting noise, interference or distortion H04B1/0483 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/0085 using test signal generators
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters

Abstract

A system and method for improving radio performance through automatic channel selection utilizing a closed-channel model is disclosed. A measurement engine records maximum user throughput on a per station basis during normal traffic operation. The measurement engine further records throughput metrics based on test traffic sent to all associated stations during idle operation. A policy logic engine utilizes the measurements to determine an optimal transmission channel for transmission and receipt of data.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing radio performance in a network, the method comprising:

measuring actual maximum user throughput between a measuring station and an other station in the network, the measurement associated with channel quality of a present transmission channel;

measuring test traffic data sent from the measuring station to the other station, the measurement associated with channel quality of an available transmission channel;

storing measurement data associated with the actual maximum user throughput and the test traffic data;

determining channel quality between the measuring station and the other station in the network, wherein the measuring station maintains the present transmission channel if the channel quality is the same as or greater than the channel quality of the available channel between the measuring station and the other station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring actual maximum user throughput occurs during normal network traffic patterns.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring the test traffic data occurs during idle periods.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein measurement of the test traffic data includes the use of a throughput estimation technique.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein measurement of the test traffic data includes the user of a model.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein measurement of the actual maximum user throughput or the test traffic data occurs according to a schedule.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein measurement of the actual maximum user throughput or the test traffic data occurs when wireless link utilization between the measuring station and the other station falls below a particular threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein measurement of the actual maximum user throughput or the test traffic data occurs when there is no data of a particular classification being exchanged between the measuring station and the other station.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein there is no data of the particular classification being exchanged at the time the measurement is to take place.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein there is no data of the particular classification being exchanged for a predetermined period of time.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising weighting the stored measurement data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the stored measurement data is replaced by the weighted measurement data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the stored measurement data is stored in conjunction with the weighted measurement data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining channel quality is based on the stored measurement data.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein determining channel quality is based on the stored weighted measurement data.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein determining channel quality is based on the stored measurement data and the stored weighted measurement data.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the measuring station changes the present transmission channel to the available transmission channel if the channel quality of the present transmission channel is less than the channel quality of the available channel.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmission channel is changed utilizing a dynamic frequency selection mechanism.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for optimizing radio performance in a network, the method comprising

measuring actual maximum user throughput between a measuring station and an other station in the network, the measurement associated with channel quality of a present transmission channel, wherein measuring actual maximum user throughput occurs during normal network traffic patterns;

measuring test traffic data sent from the measuring station to the other station, the measurement associated with channel quality of an available transmission channel, wherein measuring the test traffic data occurs during idle periods;

storing measurement data associated with the actual maximum user throughput and the test traffic data;

determining channel quality between the measuring station and the other station in the network, wherein the measuring station maintains the present transmission channel if the channel quality is the same as or greater than the channel quality of the available channel between the measuring station and the other station and the measuring station changes the present transmission channel to the available transmission channel if the channel quality of the present transmission channel is less than the channel quality of the available channel, wherein the transmission channel is changed utilizing a dynamic frequency selection mechanism.

20. A system for optimizing radio performance, the system comprising:

a measurement engine configured to record maximum user throughput on a per station basis during normal traffic operation, the measurement engine further configured to record throughput metrics based on test traffic sent to all associated stations during idle operation;

a performance database configured to record and preserve per-channel throughput data across channel changes and chip resets; and

a policy and decision engine configured to determine when to measure throughput, the logic engine further configured to determine which channel on which throughput is measured.