Infrastructure-assisted client management using synthesized beacon reports

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9936441-B2
Application number	US-201113195720-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2011
Priority date	Aug 1, 2011
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

Infrastructure-based client management uses synthesized beacon reports to effect client association with APs in a wireless digital network. Beacon reports are synthesized by having a plurality of APs in the network collect client reports and send those reports to a report process on the network. The report process accumulates client reports from the plurality of APs and selects one or more candidate APs to support a client. Selection may be made on reported SNR, AP loading, channel loading, AP characteristics, or a combination. The report process may produce blacklists and optionally whitelists for use by APs to use in processing client probe and connection requests.

First claim

We claim:

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one hardware processor on one or more of a plurality of access points, causes performance of operations comprising collecting client data for a client device, the client data comprising characteristics of wireless signals, wherein the wireless signals are received from the client device by one or more of the plurality of access points;
using at least the client data, based on the wireless signals received from the client device by the plurality of access points, to select at least one access point from the plurality of access points to provide network access to the client device;
causing the at least one access point to provide the network access to the client device by preparing a blacklist report for each of the plurality of access points, the blacklist report for an access point including client devices for which the access point was not selected to provide network access to the client device and transmitting the blacklist report to the access point to cause the access point to ignore requests from client devices included in the blacklist report.

2. The medium of claim 1 , wherein selecting the at least one access point comprises selecting a particular radio interface on the at least one access point and wherein causing the at least one access point to provide the network access to the client device comprises causing the at least one access point to use the particular radio interface to provide network access to the client device.

3. The medium of claim 1 , wherein selecting the at least one access point comprises selecting a particular radio interface on the at least one access point different than a second radio interface currently being used by the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device; and wherein causing the at least one access point to provide the network access to the client device comprises causing the at least one access point to use the particular radio interface to provide network access to the client device instead of the second radio interface.

4. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signals were received from the client device by the plurality of access points while the client device was associated with one of the plurality of access points for obtaining the network access.

5. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signals were received from the client device by the plurality of access points before the client device associates with any of the plurality of access points for obtaining the network access.

6. The medium of claim 1 , wherein selecting the at least one access point comprises selecting the at least one access point that is different than an access point currently providing network access to the client device.

7. The medium of claim 1 , wherein selecting the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device comprises selecting a particular Basic Service Set (BSS) supported by the at least one access point, of a plurality of BSSs, for providing access to the client device.

8. The medium of claim 1 , wherein selecting the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device is based on a Signal-To-Noise Ratio of at least two wireless signals received by at least two access points, respectively, of the plurality of access points.

9. The medium of claim 1 , wherein selecting the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device is based on balancing a load across two or more of the plurality of access points.

10. The medium of claim 1 , wherein selecting the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device is based on bandwidth capabilities of the client device and bandwidth capabilities of the at least one access point.

11. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signals comprise a first wireless signal transmitted by the client device on a first channel and a second wireless signal transmitted by the client device on a second channel that is different than the first channel.

12. The medium of claim 1 , wherein causing the at least one access point to provide the network access to the client device comprises configuring access points other than the at least one access point to decline network access to the client device.

13. A system comprising a plurality of access points, wherein each of the access points in the plurality of access points comprises a hardware processor, wherein one or more of the hardware processors are configured to perform operations comprising:
collecting client data for a client device, the client data comprising characteristics of wireless signals, wherein the wireless signals are received from the client device by a corresponding access points in the plurality of access points;
using at least the client data, based on wireless signals received from the client device by the plurality of access points, to select at least one access point from the plurality of access points to provide network access to the client device;
causing the at least one access point to provide the network access to the client device by preparing a blacklist report for each of the plurality of access points, the blacklist report for an access point including client devices for which the access point was not selected to provide network access to the client device and transmitting the blacklist report to the access point to cause the access point to ignore requests from client devices included in the blacklist report.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein selecting the at least one access point comprises selecting a particular radio interface on the at least one access point different than a second radio interface currently being used by the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device; and wherein causing the at least one access point to provide the network access to the client device comprises causing the at least one access point to use the particular radio interface to provide network access to the client device instead of the second radio interface.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the wireless signals were received from the client device by the plurality of access points while the client device was associated with one of the plurality of access points for obtaining the network access.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the wireless signals were received from the client device by the plurality of access points before the client device associates with any of the plurality of access points for obtaining the network access.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein selecting the at least one access point comprises selecting the at least one access point that is different than an access point currently providing network access to the client device.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein selecting the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device comprises selecting a particular Basic Service Set (BSS) supported by the at least one access point, of a plurality of BSSs, for providing access to the client device.

19. The system of claim 13 , wherein selecting the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device is based on a Signal-To-Noise Ratio of at least two wireless signals received by at least two access points, respectively, of the plurality of access points.

20. The system of claim 13 , wherein selecting the at least one access point to provide network access to the client device is

Assignees

• Ganu Sachin
• Iyer Pradeep
• Narasimhan Partha
• Aruba Networks Inc

Inventors

• Ganu Sachin
• Iyer Pradeep
• Narasimhan Partha

Classifications

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• H04W48/02 Primary

  Access restriction performed under specific conditions · CPC title

• H04W48/20

  Selecting an access point · CPC title