Method and apparatus for Wi-Fi access optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9936520-B2
Application number	US-201514675664-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2015
Priority date	Mar 8, 2015
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

A method for controlling a plurality of Wi-Fi clients and a plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) is provided. The method receives M1 and M2 for the Wi-Fi clients and M3 for the Wi-Fi APs. For a respective Wi-Fi client configured to operate on a channel, M1 is a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) from a serving Wi-Fi AP and M2 is an aggregated level of interference from other than the serving Wi-Fi AP. For a respective Wi-Fi AP, M3 is a level of interference received from other of the Wi-Fi APs operating on the channel. The method generates distributions of M1, M2 and M3, sets a Clear Channel Assessment-Energy Detection (CCA-ED) threshold and a Clear Channel Assessment-Carrier Sense (CCA-CS) threshold based on the distributions of M1, M2 and M3, and transmits the thresholds to the Wi-Fi clients and Wi-Fi APs.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. In a communication system including a plurality of Wi-Fi clients operably connected to one or more Wi-Fi Access Points for connection to a core network, the Wi-Fi Access Points operably connected to a Wi-Fi controller, a method comprising the Wi-Fi controller:
receiving M1 and M2 associated with a plurality of Wi-Fi clients,
wherein, for a respective Wi-Fi client configured to operate on a channel:
M1 is a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) from a serving Wi-Fi Access Point, measured by the Wi-Fi client, and
M2 is an aggregated level of interference from other than the serving Wi-Fi Access Point, measured by the Wi-Fi client;

receiving M3 associated with a plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points,
wherein, for a respective Wi-Fi Access Point:
M3 is a level of interference measured by the Wi-Fi Access Point received from other of the plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points operating on the channel;

generating distributions of M1, M2 and M3 including progressive updates of M1, M2 and M3; and
setting and updating a Clear Channel Assessment-Energy Detection (CCA-ED) threshold and a Clear Channel Assessment-Carrier Sense (CCA-CS) threshold based on the distributions of M1, M2 and M3.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein M1, M2 and M3 are average measurements over a sampling interval.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein M2 includes at least one of the group consisting of an aggregated level of interference from one or more other Wi-Fi APs of the plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points which are causing interference, a level of interference from a strongest interferer, and other measurable interference from an interferer received on the channel by the respective Wi-Fi client.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein M3 includes other measurable interference from an interferer received on the channel by the respective Wi-Fi Access Point.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein setting the CCA-ED threshold and the CCA-CS threshold comprises:
based on the distribution of M1 and M2, determining if there exists a minimum CCA-ED threshold setting such that at most an ED outage target percentage of receiver locations receives a desired signal level that is under the minimum CCA-ED threshold setting;
if the minimum CCA-ED threshold setting is determined not to exist, generating an alarm;
if the minimum CCA-ED threshold setting is determined to exist, based on the distribution of M3, determining a CCA-CS threshold setting such that a CS outage target percentage of receiver locations receives an interference signal that is under the CCA-CS threshold setting.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein setting the CCA-ED threshold and the CCA-CS threshold comprises:
constructing Signal Interference to Noise Ratio (SINR) and data rate distributions using an available set of interferers;
making a first determination of whether an acceptable performance level is achieved based on the SINR and data rate distributions; and
performing one or more actions based on the first determination.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the acceptable performance level is based on a threshold percentage of users receiving Wi-FI service or operating above a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) level.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the one or more actions based on the first determination is at least one of the group consisting of determining a feasibility of adjusting at least one of the CCA-ED threshold or the CCA-CS threshold, adjusting at least one of the CCA-ED threshold or the CCA-CS threshold, generating an alarm, and transmitting the CCA-ED threshold and the CCA-CS threshold to one or more Wi-Fi Access Point of the plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points and one or more Wi-Fi client of the plurality of Wi-Fi clients.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
transmitting the CCA-ED threshold and the CCA-CS threshold to one or more Wi-Fi Access Point of the plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points and one or more Wi-Fi client of the plurality of Wi-Fi clients.

10. In a communication system including a plurality of Wi-Fi clients operably connected to one or more Wi-Fi Access Points for connection to a core network, a Wi-Fi controller including a processor and an associated memory, the processor configured to
receive M1 and M2 associated with a plurality of Wi-Fi clients,
wherein, for a respective Wi-Fi client configured to operate on a channel:
M1 is a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) from a serving Wi-Fi Access Point, measured by the Wi-Fi client, and
M2 is an aggregated level of interference from other than the serving Wi-Fi Access Point, measured by the Wi-Fi client;

receive M3 associated with a plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points,
wherein, for a respective Wi-Fi Access Point:
M3 is a level of interference measured by the Wi-Fi Access Point received from other of the plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points operating on the channel;

generate distributions of M1, M2 and M3 including progressive updates of M1, M2 and M3; and
set and update a Clear Channel Assessment-Energy Detection (CCA-ED) threshold and a Clear Channel Assessment-Carrier Sense (CCA-CS) threshold based on the distributions of M1, M2 and M3.

11. The Wi-Fi controller of claim 10 wherein M1, M2 and M3 are average measurements over a sampling interval.

12. The Wi-Fi controller of claim 10 wherein M2 includes at least one of the group consisting of an aggregated level of interference from one or more other Wi-Fi APs of the plurality of Wi-Fi Access Points which are causing interference, a level of interference from a strongest interferer, and other measurable interference from an interferer received on the channel by the respective Wi-Fi client.

13. The Wi-Fi controller of claim 10 wherein M3 includes other measurable interference from an interferer received on the channel by the respective Wi-Fi Access Point.

14. The Wi-Fi controller of claim 10 wherein to set CCA-ED threshold and the CCA-CS threshold, the processor is configured to:
based on the distribution of M1 and M2, determine if there exists a minimum CCA-ED threshold setting such that at most an ED outage target percentage of receiver locations receives a desired signal level that is under the minimum CCA-ED threshold setting;
when the minimum CCA-ED threshold setting is determined not to exist, generate an alarm;
when the minimum CCA-ED threshold setting is determined to exist, based on the distribution of M3, determine a CCA-CS threshold setting such that a CS outage target percentage of receiver locations receives an interference signal that is under the CCA-CS threshold setting.

15. The Wi-Fi controller of claim 14 wherein to set the CCA-ED threshold and the CCA-CS threshold, the processor is configured to:
construct Signal Interference to Noise Ratio (SINR) and data rate distributions using an available set of interferers;
make a first determination of whether an acceptable performance level is achieved based on the SINR and data rate distributions; and
perform one or more actions based on the first determination.

16. The Wi-Fi controller of claim 15 wherein the acceptable performance level is based on a threshold percentage of users receiving Wi-FI service or operating above a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) level.

17. The Wi-Fi controller of claim 15 wherein the one or more actions based on the first determination is at least one of the group consisting of determining a feasibility of adjusting at least one of the CCA-ED threshold or the CCA-CS threshold, adjusting at least one of the CCA-ED threshold or the CCA-CS threshold, generating an alarm, and transmitting t

Assignees

• Alcatel Lucent Usa Inc

Inventors

• Calin Doru
• Kaya Aliye Ozge

Classifications

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W74/002 Primary

  Transmission of channel access control information · CPC title