ACCESS POINT STEERING

• US 20160249267A1
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Chakravarty, Bharat Bhushan, Ho, Sai Yiu Duncan, Buesker, Brian Michael, Venkateshwaran, Ramaswamy
• Granted Patent: US 9,913,193 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/02 Access restriction performed under specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A first access point (AP) detects a communication between a client device and a second AP. The first AP determines at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied. AP steering is then used by the first AP to cause the client device to associate with the first AP, or a particular network of the first AP. For example, the first AP may transmit a disassociation message to the client device. The disassociation message may identify the second AP associated with the client device and cause the client device to disassociate from the second AP. After the client device disassociates from the second AP, the client device may select and associate with the first AP. The first AP may manage which network the client device associates with using a blacklist at the first AP.

Claims

1. A method performed by a first access point (AP), the method comprising:

detecting a communication between a client device and a second AP, the communication indicative that the client device is associated with the second AP;

determining at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied; and

transmitting a disassociation message from the first AP to the client device in response to said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied, wherein the disassociation message identifies the second AP.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the disassociation message to mimic the communication.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein

said transmitting the disassociation message from the first AP to the client device causes the client device to disassociate from the second AP.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, after said transmitting the disassociation message to the client device, receiving, by the first AP, an association request from the client device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first AP is a primary AP for the client device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said determining that the first AP is the primary AP for the client device comprises determining that the client device has previously associated with a first network administered by the first AP.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first network is a private network comprising credentials to limit access to the private network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied comprises:

determining that a quality of service attribute associated with the first AP is greater than a threshold; and

determining that the client device is not currently associated with the first AP.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the quality of service attribute comprises at least one member selected from a group consisting of:

a signal strength between the first AP and the client device, a wireless transmission delay, and a throughput associated with a modulation and coding scheme used for communications between the first AP and the client device.

10. A first access point (AP), comprising:

a processor;

a wireless network interface coupled with the processor; and

a memory having instructions stored therein which, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to;

detect a communication between a client device and a second AP, the communication indicative that the client device is associated with the second AP;

determine at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied; and

transmit a disassociation message from the first AP to the client device in response to said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied, wherein the disassociation message identifies the second AP.

11. The first AP of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to:

determine that the first AP is a primary AP for the client device.

12. The first AP of claim 11, wherein the instructions to determine that the first AP is the primary AP for the client device comprise instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to determine that the client device has previously associated with a first network administered by the first AP.

13. The first AP of claim 10, wherein the instructions to cause the first AP to determine that the at least one criteria is satisfied comprise instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to:

determine that a quality of service attribute associated with the first AP is greater than a threshold; and

determine that the client device is not currently associated with the first AP.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor of a first AP, cause the first AP to:

detect a communication between a client device and a second AP, the communication indicative that the client device is associated with the second AP;

determine at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied; and

transmit a disassociation message from the first AP to the client device in response to said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied, wherein the disassociation message identifies the second AP.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to determine that the first AP is a primary AP for the client device.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions to determine that the first AP is the primary AP for the client device comprise instructions to determine that the client device has previously associated with a first network administered by the first AP.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first network is a private network comprising credentials to limit access to the private network.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions to determine that the at least one criteria is satisfied comprises:

instructions to determine that a quality of service attribute associated with the first AP is greater than a threshold; and

instructions to determine that the client device is not currently associated with the first AP.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the quality of service attribute comprises at least one member selected from a group consisting of a signal strength between the first AP and the client device, a wireless transmission delay, and a throughput associated with a modulation and coding scheme used for communications between the first AP and the client device.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to, after transmission of the disassociation message to the client device, receive an association request from the client device.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

determine a first network identifier associated with a first network administered by the first AP;

detect a first message from the second AP;

determine a second network identifier associated with a second network administered by the second AP based, at least in part, on the first message; and

transmit a second message to the client device, the second message including the first network identifier and the second network identifier, wherein the second message comprises a beacon message or probe response message.

22. A method performed by an AP to manage network association, the method comprising:

detecting a first association request from a client device, wherein the first association request identifies a first network administered by the AP;

determining whether a blacklist includes an indication of the client device;

denying the first association request based, at least in part, on a determination that the blacklist includes the indication of the client device;

detecting a second association request from the client device, wherein the second association request identifies a second network administered by the AP; and

granting the second association request.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

removing the indication of the client device from the blacklist in response to granting the second association request.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining a previous association of the client device with the second network; and

adding the indication of the client device to the blacklist in response to a determination of the previous association, wherein the blacklist is associated with denying association requests for the first network.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

incrementing a rejection count associated with the client device in response to denying the first association request.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

determining that the rejection count is greater than a threshold; and

removing the indication of the client device from the blacklist in response to determining that the rejection count is greater than the threshold.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

resetting the rejection count in response to granting the second association request.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein denying the first association request comprises:

transmitting an authentication rejection message to the client device instructing the client device to associate with the second network.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein determining whether the blacklist includes the indication of the client device comprises searching the blacklist for an address associated with the client device.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining whether to perform AP steering,

wherein said denying the first association request is further based, at least in part, on a determination that AP steering should be performed.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein the second network is a private network comprising credentials to limit access to the private network.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein the first network comprises a public network or a semi-public network.

33. The method of claim 23, wherein the first network has a first priority and the second network has a second priority.