Trigger-client based client steering in mesh networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11503537-B2
Application number	US-202017109755-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2020
Priority date	Dec 2, 2020
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for steering in mesh networks by a serving device are described. The method may include determining that a client device within a range of the serving device is eligible for steering, where the client device is outside a set of one or more trigger client devices, requesting, based on the determination, a radio resource management report from at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices, receiving the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices, and performing a steering operation of the client device from the serving device to a target device based on the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for steering in mesh networks by a serving device, the method comprising:
determining that a client device within a range of the serving device is eligible for steering, wherein the client device is outside a set of one or more trigger client devices;
requesting, based at least in part on the determination, a radio resource management report from at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices;
receiving the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices; and
performing a steering operation of the client device from the serving device to a target device based at least in part on the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device, wherein a received channel power indicator of the target device indicated in the radio resource management report exceeds a received channel power indicator of the serving device.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining that the client device complies with a wireless protocol; and
requesting, from the client device, a second radio resource management report based at least in part on determining that the client device complies with the wireless protocol.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
receiving the second radio resource management report from the client device; and
steering the client device from a network of the serving device to a network of the target device based at least in part on the radio resource management report from the client device.

4. The method of claim 3 , comprising:
designating, based at least in part on receiving the second radio resource management report from the client device, a higher steering priority on the client device than on one or more other client devices in the network of the serving device.

5. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
determining the requested second radio resource management report is not received from the client device; and
estimating a received channel power indicator for the client device based at least in part on the received channel power indicator of the serving device or the received channel power indicator of the target device, or both, indicated in the radio resource management report of the at least one trigger client device.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the wireless protocol comprises an 802.11k wireless protocol.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein at least one aspect of the radio resource management report, at least one aspect of the second radio resource management report, or both, is based at least in part on the 802.11k wireless protocol.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the client device is eligible for steering comprises:
determining a received signal strength indicator of the client device satisfies a signal strength threshold.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a second client device is not eligible for steering;
monitoring the second client device for steering eligibility; and
identifying a trigger client device based at least in part on the monitoring and a user request or historical steering success rates, or both.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
passing one or more parameters of a network of the serving device or one or more parameters of a network of the target device, or both, through a decision tree model; and
identifying, based at least in part on an output of the decision tree model, a trigger client device of the network of the serving device or the network of the target device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the serving device is a serving access point and the target device is a target access point.

12. An apparatus for steering in mesh networks by a serving device, the apparatus comprising:
a processor,
memory coupled with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
determine that a client device within a range of the serving device is eligible for steering, wherein the client device is outside a set of one or more trigger client devices;
request, based at least in part on the determination, a radio resource management report from at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices;
receive the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices; and
perform a steering operation of the client device from the serving device to a target device based at least in part on the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device, wherein a received channel power indicator of the target device indicated in the radio resource management report exceeds a received channel power indicator of the serving device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
determine that the client device complies with a wireless protocol; and
request, from the client device, a second radio resource management report based at least in part on determining that the client device complies with the wireless protocol.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive the second radio resource management report from the client device; and
steer the client device from a network of the serving device to a network of the target device based at least in part on the radio resource management report from the client device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
designate, based at least in part on receiving the second radio resource management report from the client device, a higher steering priority on the client device than on one or more other client devices in the network of the serving device.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
determine the requested second radio resource management report is not received from the client device; and
estimate a received channel power indicator for the client device based at least in part on the received channel power indicator of the serving device or the received channel power indicator of the target device, or both, indicated in the radio resource management report of the at least one trigger client device.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the wireless protocol comprises an 802.11k wireless protocol.

18. An apparatus for steering in mesh networks by a serving device, the apparatus comprising:
means for determining that a client device within a range of the serving device is eligible for steering, wherein the client device is outside a set of one or more trigger client devices;
means for requesting, based at least in part on the determination, a radio resource management report from at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices;
means for receiving the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device of the set of one or more trigger client devices; and
means for performing a steering operation of the client device from the serving device to a target device based at least in part on the radio resource management report from the at least one trigger client device, wherein a received channel power indicator of the target device exceeds a received channel power indicator of

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Nagendran Thanigaivel
• Elumalai Vignesh
• Anantharaman Subramanian

Classifications

• H04W36/22

  for handling the traffic · CPC title

• H04W36/0058

  Transmission of hand-off measurement information, e.g. measurement reports · CPC title

• H04W36/0085 Primary

  Hand-off measurements · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W84/02

  Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop] · CPC title