Access point steering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016249267-A1
Application number	US-201514855735-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 16, 2015
Priority date	Feb 20, 2015
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A first access point (AP) detects a communication between a client device and a second AP. The first AP determines at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied. AP steering is then used by the first AP to cause the client device to associate with the first AP, or a particular network of the first AP. For example, the first AP may transmit a disassociation message to the client device. The disassociation message may identify the second AP associated with the client device and cause the client device to disassociate from the second AP. After the client device disassociates from the second AP, the client device may select and associate with the first AP. The first AP may manage which network the client device associates with using a blacklist at the first AP.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method performed by a first access point (AP), the method comprising:
detecting a communication between a client device and a second AP, the communication indicative that the client device is associated with the second AP; determining at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied; and transmitting a disassociation message from the first AP to the client device in response to said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied, wherein the disassociation message identifies the second AP.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the disassociation message to mimic the communication.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein
said transmitting the disassociation message from the first AP to the client device causes the client device to disassociate from the second AP.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising, after said transmitting the disassociation message to the client device, receiving, by the first AP, an association request from the client device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the first AP is a primary AP for the client device.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein said determining that the first AP is the primary AP for the client device comprises determining that the client device has previously associated with a first network administered by the first AP.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first network is a private network comprising credentials to limit access to the private network.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied comprises:
determining that a quality of service attribute associated with the first AP is greater than a threshold; and determining that the client device is not currently associated with the first AP.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the quality of service attribute comprises at least one member selected from a group consisting of: a signal strength between the first AP and the client device, a wireless transmission delay, and a throughput associated with a modulation and coding scheme used for communications between the first AP and the client device.

10 . A first access point (AP), comprising:
a processor; a wireless network interface coupled with the processor; and a memory having instructions stored therein which, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to:
detect a communication between a client device and a second AP, the communication indicative that the client device is associated with the second AP;
determine at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied; and
transmit a disassociation message from the first AP to the client device in response to said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied, wherein the disassociation message identifies the second AP.

11 . The first AP of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to:
determine that the first AP is a primary AP for the client device.

12 . The first AP of claim 11 , wherein the instructions to determine that the first AP is the primary AP for the client device comprise instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to determine that the client device has previously associated with a first network administered by the first AP.

13 . The first AP of claim 10 , wherein the instructions to cause the first AP to determine that the at least one criteria is satisfied comprise instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to:
determine that a quality of service attribute associated with the first AP is greater than a threshold; and determine that the client device is not currently associated with the first AP.

14 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor of a first AP, cause the first AP to:
detect a communication between a client device and a second AP, the communication indicative that the client device is associated with the second AP; determine at least one criteria for AP steering is satisfied; and transmit a disassociation message from the first AP to the client device in response to said determining that the at least one criteria is satisfied, wherein the disassociation message identifies the second AP.

15 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the first AP to determine that the first AP is a primary AP for the client device.

16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions to determine that the first AP is the primary AP for the client device comprise instructions to determine that the client device has previously associated with a first network administered by the first AP.

17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the first network is a private network comprising credentials to limit access to the private network.

18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions to determine that the at least one criteria is satisfied comprises:
instructions to determine that a quality of service attribute associated with the first AP is greater than a threshold; and instructions to determine that the client device is not currently associated with the first AP.

19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the quality of service attribute comprises at least one member selected from a group consisting of a signal strength between the first AP and the client device, a wireless transmission delay, and a throughput associated with a modulation and coding scheme used for communications between the first AP and the client device.

20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to, after transmission of the disassociation message to the client device, receive an association request from the client device.

21 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:
determine a first network identifier associated with a first network administered by the first AP; detect a first message from the second AP; determine a second network identifier associated with a second network administered by the second AP based, at least in part, on the first message; and transmit a second message to the client device, the second message including the first network identifier and the second network identifier, wherein the second message comprises a beacon message or probe response message.

22 . A method performed by an AP to manage network association, the method comprising:
detecting a first association request from a client device, wherein the first association request identifies a first network administered by the AP; determining whether a blacklist includes an indication of the client device; denying the first association request based, at least in part, on a determination that the blacklist includes the indication of the client device; detecting a second association request from the client device, wherein the second association request identifies a second network administered by the AP; and granting the second association request.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:
removing the indication of the client device from the blacklist in

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Ho Sai Yiu Duncan
• Chakravarty Bharat Bhushan
• Buesker Brian Michael
• Venkateshwaran Ramaswamy

Classifications

• H04W88/08

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04W36/08

  Reselecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W36/30 Primary

  by measured or perceived connection quality data · CPC title

• H04W76/06

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title