Virtual wireless network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11211998-B2
Application number	US-201916373935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2019
Priority date	Apr 3, 2019
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed virtual wireless networks include a network controller interconnected with wireless access points by a broadband backbone. The controller may include or interface with a gateway coupling the virtual network to the Internet via one or more interim networks. The broadband backbone includes network switches and broadband interconnects interconnecting the wireless access points and the network controller. The broadband backbone may be implemented as an optical backbone and the broadband interconnects may include one or more optical fiber interconnects. The network controller may control the manner in which mobile devices connect to wireless access points. The network controller may configure the wireless access points to present, to mobile devices within the isolated environment, the plurality of physical wireless cells provided by the plurality of individual wireless access points as a single virtual wireless network. The network controller may also assign wireless connections between mobile devices and wireless access points.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
configuring a plurality of wireless access points, positioned within a defined environment wherein each of the plurality of wireless access points is within range of at least one of the remaining wireless access points, to perform probe request handling operations comprising:
responsive to receiving a probe request broadcasted by a mobile device located within the defined environment, relaying the probe request to a network controller; and
responsive to receiving a probe response from the network controller, relaying the probe response to the mobile device;

configuring the network controller to provide a virtual wireless network by performing virtual wireless network operations responsive to receiving one or more probe requests relayed by one or more of the plurality of wireless access points, wherein the virtual wireless network operations include:
determining a selected wireless access point from the plurality of wireless access points and a selected frequency channel from a plurality of frequency channels; and
forwarding the probe response indicative of the selected wireless access point and the selected frequency channel to the selected wireless access point.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the wireless access points includes configuring each of the wireless access points to broadcast the same network identifier and security level.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further includes:
configuring each of the plurality of wireless access points with the same media access channel address.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a frequency channel of the probe request and the selected frequency channel both lie within the same frequency band.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of frequency channels comprises a standard set of frequency channels associated with the frequency band and wherein the one or more probe requests received by the network controller include a set of coordinated probe requests, wherein the set of coordinated probe requests includes a probe request corresponding to each of the standard set of frequency channels.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected wireless access point and the selected frequency channel are determined by the network controller in accordance with an objective comprising:
achieving a desirable distribution of selected frequency channels.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defined environment comprises an interior of an aircraft.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power of the probe request received by selected wireless access point is less than a power of the probe request received by at least one other wireless access point.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected wireless access point is determined based, at least in part, on usage information provided by one or more of the plurality of wireless access points.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein relaying the probe request to the network controller comprises relaying the probe request via an optical fiber backbone.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the selected wireless access point comprises identifying two or more selected wireless access points and a common frequency channel for a particular mobile device, and wherein the method further includes:
simultaneously transmitting, by the two or more wireless access points, to the particular mobile device.

12. A network controller comprising:
a processor;
a broadband interface coupled to the processor and configured to couple to a broadband interconnect;
a gateway interface coupled to the processor and configured to couple the processor to a gateway resource; and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including processor executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform operations comprising:
configuring a plurality of wireless access points, positioned within a defined environment wherein each of the plurality of wireless access points is within range of at least one of the remaining wireless access points, to perform probe request handling operations comprising:
responsive to receiving a probe request broadcasted by a mobile device located within the defined environment, relaying the probe request to a network controller; and
responsive to receiving a probe response from the network controller, relaying the probe response to the mobile device; and

responsive to receiving one or more probe requests relayed by one or more of the plurality of wireless access points, providing a virtual wireless network by:
determining a selected wireless access point from the plurality of wireless access points and a selected frequency channel from a plurality of frequency channels; and
forwarding the probe response indicative of the selected wireless access point and the selected frequency channel to the selected wireless access point.

13. The network controller of claim 12 , wherein configuring the wireless access points includes configuring each of the wireless access points to broadcast the same network identifier and security level and the same media access channel address.

14. The network controller of claim 12 , wherein the determining, by the network controller, of the selected wireless access point and the selected frequency channel occurs responsive to receiving probe requests relayed by two or more of the plurality of wireless access points.

15. The network controller of claim 12 , wherein the selected frequency channel comprises one of a plurality of standard frequency channels within a standard frequency band associated with the wireless network, wherein a frequency channel of the probe request and the selected frequency channel both lie within the same standard frequency band.

16. The network controller of claim 15 , wherein the one or more probe requests received by the network controller include a set of coordinated probe requests, wherein the set of coordinated probe requests includes a probe request corresponding to each of the plurality of standard frequency channels.

17. The network controller of claim 12 , wherein the selected wireless access point and the selected frequency channel are determined by the network controller in accordance with an objective comprising:
achieving a desirable distribution of selected frequency channels.

18. The network controller of claim 12 , wherein the power of the probe request received by the selected wireless access point is less than a power of the probe request received by at least one other wireless access point.

19. The network controller of claim 12 , wherein the selected wireless access point is determined based, at least in part, on usage information provided by one or more of the plurality of wireless access points.

20. The network controller of claim 12 , wherein the wireless access points and the network controller are interconnected via an optical fiber backbone.

21. The network controller of claim 20 , wherein determining the selected wireless access point comprises identifying two or more selected wireless access points and a common frequency channel for a particular mobile device, and wherein the method further includes:
simultaneously transmitting, by the two or more wireless access points, to the particular mobile device.

22. An assembly, comprising:
a network controller coupled to a broadband backbone within a communicatively isolated environment; and
a plurality of wireless access points within the communicati

Assignees

• Univ Baylor

Inventors

• Dong Liang
• Hu Jonathan
• Li Yang

Classifications

• H04W48/20 Primary

  Selecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W48/10

  using broadcasted information · CPC title

• H04L12/4641

  Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] (LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272) · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title