Wireless spectrum usage and control of access point probe responses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9538457-B2
Application number	US-201414330470-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2014
Priority date	Jul 14, 2014
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A mobile communication device generates a respective discovery request (probe request) in a wireless network. The mobile communication device generates the probe request to learn of available access points providing access to a network such as the Internet. Any access points within range of the mobile communication device receive the discovery request generated by the mobile communication device. In lieu of each of the access points immediately generating a respective probe response to the mobile communication device, each of the access points receiving the discovery request provides notification of the receipt of the discovery request to a wireless network controller controlling communications in the wireless network. The wireless network controller controls which of the multiple access points in the network responds to the discovery request, reducing a number of probe responses collectively generated by the wireless access points to the mobile communication device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
at a controller that controls multiple access points in a network:
receiving notification indicating generation of a discovery request by a mobile communication device to learn of access points available to the mobile communication device in the network, the notification indicating that a group of access points received the discovery request;
selecting a set of fewer-than-all access points from the group to respond to the discovery request, a number of how many access points included in the set being based on current usage of the access points in the network; and
forwarding feedback to the fewer-than-all access points in the group, the feedback notifying the selected fewer-than-all access points in the set to respond to the discovery request with a discovery response; and
wherein a magnitude of the number of access points selected for inclusion in the set depends on the usage information indicating an amount of usage by other mobile communication devices wirelessly communicating with the access points to access a remote network.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the discovery request generated by the mobile communication device is a wireless signal transmitted in a vicinity of the group of access points; and
wherein receiving the notification includes: receiving a respective communication from each corresponding access point in the group, the respective communication indicating receipt of the discovery request by the corresponding access point.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein selecting the set of fewer-than-all access points from the group includes:
ranking the access points in the group, the ranking indicating which access points in the group are best suited and least suited to provide the mobile communication device wireless access to the network; and producing the fewer-than-all access points to include the best suited access points in the ranking;
wherein forwarding the feedback to the fewer-than-all access points in the group includes: notifying each of the best suited access points in the group to respond to the discovery request with a discovery response; and notifying each of the least suited access points in the group not to respond to the discovery request with a discovery response.

4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the group of access points includes a first access point and a second access point; and
wherein receiving the notification of the discovery request includes:
receiving a first communication, the first communication received from the first access point in the network, the first communication indicating that the first access point received the discovery request generated by the mobile communication device; and
receiving a second communication, the second communication received from the second access point in the network, the second communication indicating that the second access point received the discovery request generated by the mobile communication device.

5. The method as in claim 4 , wherein selecting the set of fewer-than-all access points from the group to respond to the discovery request includes: i) selecting the first access point to respond with a discovery response to the discovery request generated by the mobile communication device, the discovery response generated by the first access point indicating to the mobile communication device of the availability of the first access point to access the network, and ii) foregoing inclusion of the second access point in the set of fewer than all access points; and
wherein forwarding the feedback to the fewer-than-all access points in the group includes: i) notifying the first access point to respond to discovery request received from the mobile communication device with a discovery response, and ii) notifying the second access point not to respond to the discovery request received from the mobile communication device.

6. The method as in claim 5 further comprising:
receiving first metric information indicating attributes of the discovery request received by the first access point;
receiving second metric information indicating attributes of the discovery request received by the second access point; and
based on comparing the first metric information to the second metric information, selecting the first access point for inclusion in the fewer-than-all access points, and foregoing inclusion of the second access point in the fewer-than-all access points.

7. The method as in claim 6 , wherein each of the first metric information and second metric information includes one or more parameters selected from the group consisting of:
a received signal strength indicator indicating a signal strength of a respective access point receiving the discovery request,
a signal-to-noise ratio associated with receiving the discovery request by a respective access point,
number of clients currently served by the respective access point,
a traffic load associated with the respective access point, and
an angle of arrival of a wireless signal conveying the discovery request to the respective access point.

8. The method as in claim 1 , wherein selecting the fewer-than-all access points from the group includes:
identifying a nearness in proximity of each access point in the group to the mobile communication device; and
selecting access points to be included in the fewer-than-all access points based on the nearness in proximity.

9. The method as in claim 8 further comprising:
in response to detecting that the mobile communication device is closest in proximity to a given access point of the access points, including the given access point in the set of fewer-than-all access points.

10. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:
from the first access point, transmitting metrics to the controller, the metrics indicating attributes of the discovery request received by the first access point; and
wherein the controller uses the metrics received from the first access point to produce the feedback.

11. The method as in claim 10 , wherein the attributes of the discovery request indicate a relative location of the mobile communication device in the network with respect to the first access point.

12. The method as in claim 11 , wherein the controller applies the attributes of the discovery request to a matrix of location information indicating locations of the access points to identify a precise location of the mobile communication device in the network.

13. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:
tracking locations of the access points in the network environment;
receiving a communication from a first access point of the access points, the communication indicating an angle with respect to the first access point from which the discovery request is received by the first access point from the mobile communication device; and
utilizing the angle as a basis in which to identify a location of the mobile communication device with respect to the access points in the network environment.

14. The method as in claim 13 further comprising:
determining the locations of the access points based on communications amongst the different access points indicating relative locations of the access points with respect to each other.

15. The method as in claim 14 , wherein forwarding the feedback to the set of fewer-than-all access points in the group includes notifying each best suited access point in the group to respond to the discovery request with a discovery response, the method further comprising:
notifying each least suited access point in the group not to respond to the discovery request with

Assignees

• Syed Hussain Zaheer
• Oduwaiye Muhib Taiye
• Bhumkar Sunmeel Meelind
• Time Warner Cable Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Syed Hussain Zaheer
• Oduwaiye Muhib Taiye
• Bhumkar Sunmeel Meelind

Classifications

• H04W48/20

  Selecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W48/16 Primary

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title