Dynamically adjusting wireless station connections in a co-located access point system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9572065-B2
Application number	US-201414489189-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2014
Priority date	Sep 30, 2013
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A method for equalizing an average throughput of a plurality of wireless communication network access points is provided. Each access point having a respective average throughput value and at least one control parameter, the at least one control parameter controlling wireless connectivity at the access point. An average throughput value received from each of the plurality of access points is determined. A first wireless communication network access point for configuration is determined based on the average throughput values received from each of the plurality of access points. The at least one control parameter of the determined first wireless communication network access point is set to at least one threshold value to effect equalization of the average throughput values among the wireless communication network access points.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A controller for equalizing an average throughput of a plurality of wireless communication network access points, the plurality of wireless communication network access points being positioned with respect to each other in order to provided increased wireless capacity to a plurality of wireless communication stations operating in an area, each wireless communication network access point having a respective average throughput value and at least one control parameter, the at least one control parameter controlling wireless connectivity at the wireless communication network access point, the controller including a memory and processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to:
determine an average throughput value received from each of the plurality of wireless communication network access points;
determine a first wireless communication network access point for configuration based on the average throughput values received from each of the plurality of wireless communication network access points;
set the at least one control parameter of the determined first wireless communication network access point to at least one threshold value to effect equalization of the average throughput values among the plurality of wireless communication network access points; and
cause transmission of the set at least one control parameter to the determined first wireless communication network access point.

2. The controller of claim 1 , wherein determining the first wireless communication network access point for configuration includes determining the first wireless communication network access point has a highest average throughput value from among the received average throughput values.

3. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the at least one control parameter of the first wireless communication network access point includes:
an admit connectivity parameter configured to regulate admission of unconnected wireless stations to the first wireless communication network access point; and
a discard connectivity parameter configured to regulate the number of connected wireless stations at the first wireless communication network access point.

4. The controller of claim 3 , wherein the setting of the at least one control parameter of the first wireless communication network access point to at least one threshold value includes:
setting the admit connectivity parameter to a minimum value; and
setting the discard connectivity parameter to a value lower than the minimum value by a predefined amount.

5. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a second wireless communication network access point from the plurality of wireless communication network access points for configuration based on the received average throughput values; and
set at least one control parameter of the second wireless communication network access point to at least one threshold value based on the average throughput value of first wireless communication network access point and the average throughput value of the second wireless communication network access point to effect equalization of the average throughput values.

6. The controller of claim 5 , wherein:
the at least one control parameter of the second wireless communication network access point includes:
an admit connectivity parameter configured to regulate admission of unconnected wireless stations to the second wireless communication network access point;
a discard connectivity parameter configured to regulate the number of connected wireless stations at the second wireless communication network access point; and

if the average throughput value of the second wireless communication network access point is not within a predefined percentage from the average throughput value of the first wireless communication network access point, the setting of the at least one control parameter of the second wireless communication network access point includes:
increasing the threshold value of the admit connectivity parameter by a predefined amount; and
setting the threshold value of the discard connectivity parameter by to a predefined amount below the value of the increased admit connectivity parameter.

7. The controller of claim 5 , wherein:
the at least one control parameter of the second wireless communication network access point includes:
an admit connectivity parameter configured to regulate admission of unconnected wireless stations to the second wireless communication network access point;
a discard connectivity parameter configured to regulate the number of connected wireless stations at the second wireless communication network access point; and

if the average throughput value of the second wireless communication network access point is within a predefined percentage from the average throughput value of the first wireless communication network access point, the setting of the at least one control parameter of the second wireless communication network access point includes:
decreasing the threshold value of the admit connectivity parameter by a predefined amount; and
decreasing the threshold value of the discard connectivity parameter by a predefined amount below the value of the decreased admit connectivity parameter.

8. The controller of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to sort the received average throughput values based on value; and
the determined second wireless communication network access point from the plurality of wireless communication network access points being the second highest value of the received average throughput values.

9. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the admit connectivity parameter is an Admit Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) parameter.

10. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the discard connectivity parameter includes a Discard Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) parameter.

11. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the average throughput, ATU, value received from a wireless communication network access point is based on the equation ATU=NB/(TNB*NWS), where NB is equal to the number of bytes successfully transmitted in a time interval, TNB is equal to the time taken in transmitting the successfully transmitted bytes in the time interval and NWS is equal to the number of wireless stations for which the wireless communication network access point had outstanding packets for transmission in the time interval.

12. A method for equalizing an average throughput of a plurality of wireless communication network access points, the plurality of wireless communication network access points being positioned with respect to each other in order to provided increased wireless capacity to a plurality of wireless stations operating in an area, each wireless communication network access point having a respective average throughput value and at least one control parameter, the at least one control parameter controlling wireless connectivity at the wireless communication network access point, the method comprising:
determining an average throughput value received from each of the plurality of wireless communication network access points;
determining a first wireless communication network access point for configuration based on the average throughput values received from each of the plurality of wireless communication network access points;
setting the at least one control parameter of the determined first wireless communication network access point to at least one threshold value to effect equalization of the average throughput values among the plurality of wireless communication network access points; and
causing transmission

Assignees

• ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M (publ)

Inventors

• Tam Gary
• Gupta Ajay Kumar

Classifications

• H04W28/0236 Primary

  radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay · CPC title

• H04W28/18

  Negotiating wireless communication parameters · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W88/08 Primary

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04W28/08

  Load balancing or load distribution (transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title