Cloud-based control of a Wi-Fi network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11310106-B2
Application number	US-202016905065-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2020
Priority date	Mar 18, 2016
Publication date	Apr 19, 2022
Grant date	Apr 19, 2022

Abstract

Systems and methods include obtaining measurements from a Wi-Fi network that includes one or more access points; determining a configuration of the Wi-Fi network based on the measurements, wherein the configuration includes one or more of i) steering a client device to associate with a specific access point of the one or more access points and ii) steering the client device to connect to a specific frequency band of the one or more access points; and providing the configuration to the Wi-Fi network for implementation thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer readable code stored thereon for programming a device to perform steps of:
obtaining measurements from a Wi-Fi network that includes one or more access points, wherein the device is located in a network remote from the Wi-Fi network and implements a cloud-based service;
determining a configuration of the Wi-Fi network to implement based on the measurements, wherein the configuration includes one or more of i) steering a client device to associate with a specific access point of the one or more access points and ii) steering the client device to connect to a specific frequency band of the one or more access points, and wherein the configuration further includes a steering technique of a plurality of configured steering techniques of the cloud-based service for how the one or more access points implement the steering for the client device dynamically selected based on observing behaviors of devices on the Wi-Fi network, wherein the configured steering technique includes any of a plurality of software defined networking (SDN), channel switch announcement (CSA), fast roaming, assisted roaming, directed multicast, forced disassociation, and access control list (ACL) blocking; and
providing the configuration to the Wi-Fi network for implementation thereof.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a plurality of access points, and the configuration includes which access point a client device associates with.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a single access point, and the configuration includes whether a client device connects to a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the determining is based on an optimization performed for the Wi-Fi network.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the determining is based on load balancing for the Wi-Fi network.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the determining is based on one or more of maintenance in the Wi-Fi network and performance of scanning on an access point or in a frequency band.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the providing is via messages that include details of which client devices need to be steered and a type of steering technique for each.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the steering is performed based on points of congestion in the Wi-Fi network.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a plurality of access points, and wherein one or more client devices are steered to associated with specific access points that are farther than other access points.

10. A cloud-based controller configured to control a Wi-Fi network with one or more access points, the cloud-based controller comprising:
a network interface communicatively coupled to the Wi-Fi network, wherein the cloud-based controller is located in a network remote from the Wi-Fi network and implements a cloud-based service;
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the network interface; and, memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain measurements from a Wi-Fi network that includes one or more access points;
determine a configuration of the Wi-Fi network to implement based on the measurements, wherein the configuration includes one or more of i) steering a client device to associate with a specific access point of the one or more access points and ii) steering the client device to connect to a specific frequency band of the one or more access points, and wherein the configuration further includes a steering technique of a plurality of configured steering techniques of the cloud-based service for how the one or more access points implement the steering for the client device dynamically selected based on observing behaviors of devices on the Wi-Fi network, wherein the configured steering technique includes any of a plurality of software defined networking (SDN), channel switch announcement (CSA), fast roaming, assisted roaming, directed multicast, forced disassociation, and access control list (ACL) blocking; and
provide the configuration to the Wi-Fi network for implementation thereof.

11. The cloud-based controller of claim 10 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a plurality of access points, and the configuration includes which access point a client device associates with.

12. The cloud-based controller of claim 10 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a single access point, and the configuration includes whether a client device connects to a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band.

13. The cloud-based controller of claim 10 , wherein the determining is based on any of an optimization performed for the Wi-Fi network, load balancing for the Wi-Fi network, maintenance in the Wi-Fi network, and performance of scanning on an access point or in a frequency band.

14. The cloud-based controller of claim 10 , wherein the steering is performed based on points of congestion in the Wi-Fi network.

15. The cloud-based controller of claim 10 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a plurality of access points, and wherein one or more client devices are steered to associated with specific access points that are farther than other access points.

16. A method comprising:
obtaining measurements from a Wi-Fi network that includes one or more access points, wherein the method is implemented by a controller located in a network remote from the Wi-Fi network and the controller implements a cloud-based service;
determining a configuration of the Wi-Fi network to implement based on the measurements, wherein the configuration includes one or more of i) steering a client device to associate with a specific access point of the one or more access points and ii) steering the client device to connect to a specific frequency band of the one or more access points, and wherein the configuration further includes a steering technique of a plurality of configured steering techniques of the cloud-based service for how the one or more access points implement the steering for the client device dynamically selected based on observing behaviors of devices on the Wi-Fi network, wherein the configured steering technique includes any of a plurality of software defined networking (SDN), channel switch announcement (CSA), fast roaming, assisted roaming, directed multicast, forced disassociation, and access control list (ACL) blocking; and
providing the configuration to the Wi-Fi network for implementation thereof.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a plurality of access points, and the configuration includes which access point a client device associates with.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the Wi-Fi network includes a single access point, and the configuration includes whether a client device connects to a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determining is based on any of an optimization performed for the Wi-Fi network, load balancing for the Wi-Fi network, maintenance in the Wi-Fi network, and performance of scanning on an access point or in a frequency band.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the steering is performed based on points of congestion

Assignees

• Plume Design Inc

Inventors

• Singla Aman
• White Paul
• HOTCHKISS Adam
• Rengarajan Balaji
• Mcfarland William
• Vaidya Sameer
• Jeng Evan
• Guruswamy Murugesan

Classifications

• H04L41/0803

  Configuration setting · CPC title

• H04L41/16

  using machine learning or artificial intelligence · CPC title

• H04L41/34

  Signalling channels for network management communication · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title