Wireless roaming using a distributed store

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016198501-A1
Application number	US-201514591737-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 7, 2015
Priority date	Jan 7, 2015
Publication date	Jul 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for wireless roaming are disclosed. An access point receives a communication request from a wireless device and determines a home broadcast domain associated with the wireless device. The access point determines that the home broadcast domain is different than the broadcast domain associated with the access point and proceeds to identify a second access point that is associated with the home broadcast domain of the wireless device. The access point establishes a tunnel between the access point and the second access point for routing traffic associated with the wireless device.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, via a first access point, a communication request from a wireless device; determining, via the first access point, a broadcast domain associated with the first access point; in response to the communication request, identifying a home broadcast domain of the wireless device; determining that the broadcast domain associated with the first access point is different than the home broadcast domain associated with the wireless device; identifying a second access point associated with the home broadcast domain of the wireless device; and establishing a tunnel between the first access point and the second access point.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising routing, via the first access point, traffic associated with the wireless device through the tunnel and to the second access point.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunnel comprises one of a layer 2 protocol tunnel or a virtual private network tunnel.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first access point and the second access point reside on a wireless network having a plurality of access points, and wherein identifying the home broadcast domain of the wireless device comprises retrieving broadcast domain information about the wireless device from a distributed store.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the distributed store comprises a distributed hash table based on at least a portion of the plurality of access points, and wherein the broadcast domain information is stored at a subset of the plurality of access points.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first access point and the second access point reside on a wireless network having a plurality of access points, the method further comprising flooding an update to the wireless network indicating an association between the wireless device and at least one of the home broadcast domain of the wireless device or the broadcast domain associated with the first access point.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the broadcast domain associated with the first access point comprises a native Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) associated with the first access point.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising sending, via the first access point, at least one broadcast message to other access points on the broadcast domain, the at least one message having an identification of the broadcast domain.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying that the wireless device is roaming based on a determination that the broadcast domain associated with the first access point is different than the home broadcast domain associated with the wireless device.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a failure associated with the tunnel; sending a request to third access point on the home broadcast domain of the wireless device; receiving a reply from the third access point on the home broadcast domain of the wireless device; and establishing a second tunnel between the third access point and the first access point.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising routing, via the first access point, traffic associated with the wireless device through the second tunnel and to the third access point.

12 . An access point on a wireless network, the access point comprising:
a processor; and a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a communication request from a wireless device;
determining a first virtual local area network (VLAN) associated with the access point;
in response to the communication request, identifying a second VLAN associated with the wireless device;
determining that the first VLAN associated with the access point is different than the second VLAN associated with the wireless device;
identifying a second access point associated with the second VLAN associated with the wireless device; and
establishing a tunnel between the access point and the second access point.

13 . The access point of claim 12 , the computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising routing traffic associated with the wireless device through the tunnel and to the second access point.

14 . The access point of claim 12 , wherein the tunnel comprises one of a layer 2 protocol tunnel or a virtual private network tunnel.

15 . The access point of claim 12 , wherein identifying the second VLAN associated with the wireless device comprises retrieving a VLAN ID or a VLAN tag associated with the wireless device from a distributed store.

16 . The access point of claim 15 , wherein the distributed store comprises a distributed hash table stored at a plurality of access points on the wireless network.

17 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving, via a first access point, a communication request from a wireless device; determining, via the first access point, a broadcast domain associated with the first access point; in response to the communication request, identifying a home broadcast domain of the wireless device; determining that the broadcast domain associated with the first access point is different than the home broadcast domain associated with the wireless device; identifying a second access point associated with the home broadcast domain of the wireless device; and establishing a tunnel between the first access point and the second access point.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , storing additional instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in an operation comprising routing traffic associated with the wireless device through the tunnel and to the second access point.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the broadcast domain associated with the first access point comprises a native Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) associated with the first access point.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , storing additional instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in an operation comprising sending, via the first access point, at least one broadcast message to other access points on the broadcast domain, the at least one message having an identification of the broadcast domain.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Verkaik Patrick Douglas
• Zernik Asa Douglas
• Patel Jignesh Devji
• Milosavljevic Nebojsa
• Frey Clifford A

Classifications

• H04W4/06 Primary

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W76/12 Primary

  Setup of transport tunnels · CPC title

• H04W8/082

  for traffic bypassing of mobility servers, e.g. location registers, home PLMNs or home agents · CPC title

• H04L12/189

  in combination with wireless systems (selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06) · CPC title

• H04W8/04

  Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server] · CPC title