Augmenting a neighbor report with uplink received signal strength indicators (RSSI) from scanning radios

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10952156-B2
Application number	US-201916421175-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2019
Priority date	May 23, 2019
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

Augmenting a neighbor report with uplink Received Signal Strength Indicators (RSSIs) may be provided. First, a conducted transmit power value of a client device may be determined. A plurality of RSSI uplink values respectively corresponding to a plurality of Access Points (APs) may then be determined. Next, a plurality of RSSI downlink values respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs may be determined based on the respective plurality of RSSI uplink values, a respective plurality of conducted transmit power values corresponding to the plurality of APs, and the conducted transmit power value of the client device. A plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs may then be determined based on the determined plurality of RSSI uplink values and the determined plurality of RSSI downlink values. Then, a neighbor report may be optimized based on the plurality of quality metrics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a controller, a conducted transmit power value of a client device;
determining a plurality of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) uplink values respectively corresponding to a plurality of Access Points (APs);
determining a plurality of RSSI downlink values respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based on the respective plurality of RSSI uplink values, a respective plurality of conducted transmit power values corresponding to the plurality of APs, and the conducted transmit power value of the client device;
determining a plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based on the determined plurality of RSSI uplink values and the determined plurality of RSSI downlink values; and
optimizing a neighbor report based on the plurality of quality metrics.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the conducted transmit power value of the client device comprises determining the conducted transmit power value to be a predetermined value.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the conducted transmit power value of the client device comprises estimating the conducted transmit power value of the client device based on averaging data corresponding to the plurality of APs contained in a beacon report provided by the client device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the conducted transmit power value of the client device comprises determining the conducted transmit power value of the client device from a beacon report requested from the client device by a one of the plurality of APs that the client device is associated with.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs comprises determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based further upon at least one of the following: if beamforming is used, a number of antenna, and a number of spatial streams corresponding to at least one of the following: the client device and at least one of the plurality of APs.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs comprises determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based further upon a Signal-to-Noise ratio (SINR) derived from a measured noise level.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs comprises determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based further upon converting the SINR to a throughput and de-rating the throughput based upon a measured congestion.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the neighbor report comprises ordering neighboring APs in the neighbor report by decreasing AP quality metric.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the neighbor report comprises deleting a neighboring AP from the neighbor report when the neighboring AP's quality metric is below a predetermined threshold.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the neighbor report comprises deleting a neighboring AP from the neighbor report when the neighboring AP's quality metric is a predetermined value below a quality metric of an AP with a best quality metric of the plurality of quality metrics.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the neighbor report comprises deleting a neighboring AP from the neighbor report when the neighboring AP does not have one of the N best AP quality metrics of the plurality of quality metrics, where N is a predetermined integer.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein optimizing the neighbor report comprises deleting a neighboring AP from the neighbor report when the neighboring AP's quality metric is below a predetermined threshold and when the neighboring AP does not have one of the N best AP quality metrics of the plurality of quality metrics, where N is a predetermined integer.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the neighbor report to the client device.

14. A system comprising:
a memory storage; and
a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to:
determine a conducted transmit power value of a client device;
determine a plurality of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) uplink values respectively corresponding to a plurality of Access Points (APs);
determine a plurality of RSSI downlink values respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based on the respective plurality of RSSI uplink values, a respective plurality of conducted transmit power values corresponding to the plurality of APs, and the conducted transmit power value of the client device;
determine a plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based on the determined plurality of RSSI uplink values and the determined plurality of RSSI downlink values; and
optimize a neighbor report based on the plurality of quality metrics.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processing unit being operative to determine the conducted transmit power value of the client device comprises the processing unit being operative to estimate the conducted transmit power value of the client device based on averaging data corresponding to the plurality of APs contained in a beacon report provided by the client device.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processing unit being operative to determine the conducted transmit power value of the client device comprises the processing unit being operative to determine the conducted transmit power value of the client device from a beacon report requested from the client device by a one of the plurality of APs that the client device is associated with.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions which when executed perform a method comprising:
determining, by a controller, a conducted transmit power value of a client device;
determining a plurality of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) uplink values respectively corresponding to a plurality of Access Points (APs);
determining a plurality of RSSI downlink values respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based on the respective plurality of RSSI uplink values, a respective plurality of conducted transmit power values corresponding to the plurality of APs, and the conducted transmit power value of the client device;
determining a plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based on the determined plurality of RSSI uplink values and the determined plurality of RSSI downlink values; and
optimizing a neighbor report based on the plurality of quality metrics.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs comprises determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs based further upon at least one of the following: if beamforming is used, a number of antenna, and a number of spatial streams corresponding to at least one of the following: the client device and at least one of the plurality of APs.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein determining the plurality of quality metrics respectively corresponding to the plurality of APs comprises determining the plurality

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Hart Brian D
• Kloper David
• Monajemi Pooya
• Dasai Vishal S

Classifications

• H04B17/318

  Received signal strength · CPC title

• H04W52/343

  taking into account loading or congestion level · CPC title

• H04W52/245 Primary

  taking into account received signal strength · CPC title

• H04W52/241

  taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR or Eb/lo · CPC title

• H04W52/146

  Uplink power control · CPC title