Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W48/00—Access restriction; Network selection; Access point selection
  • H04W48/20—Selecting an access point
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B17/00—Monitoring; Testing
  • H04B17/20—Monitoring; Testing of receivers
  • H04B17/26—Monitoring; Testing of receivers using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B17/00—Monitoring; Testing
  • H04B17/30—Monitoring; Testing of propagation channels
  • H04B17/309—Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
  • H04B17/318—Received signal strength
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
  • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
  • H04W36/0083—Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
  • H04W36/0085—Hand-off measurements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W48/00—Access restriction; Network selection; Access point selection
  • H04W48/16—Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
  • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
  • H04W36/0083—Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
  • H04W36/00837—Determination of triggering parameters for hand-off
  • H04W36/008375—Determination of triggering parameters for hand-off based on historical data
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
  • Y02D30/00—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
  • Y02D30/70—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks

Definitions

• the present embodiments relate generally to wireless networks, and specifically to reducing power consumption associated with scanning for nearby wireless networks.
• a wireless local area network may be formed by one or more access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by a number of client devices or stations (STAs).
• APs access points
• STAs client devices or stations
• Each AP which may correspond to a Basic Service Set (BSS)
• BSS Basic Service Set
• beacon frames to enable any STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish and/or maintain a communication link with the WLAN.
• BSS Basic Service Set
• only one STA may use the wireless medium at any given time, and each STA may be associated with only one AP at a time.
• the STA may have a choice between multiple wireless networks and/or between multiple APs (e.g., that form an extended BSS).
• the STA may periodically scan its surroundings to find and/or determine the most suitable AP with which to associate. For example, while the STA is associated with (e.g., connected to) one AP, the STA may scan for other nearby APs that may provide better signal quality or throughput; while the STA is not associated with any AP, the STA may scan for nearby APs with which to associate. Because scanning operations may consume a significant amount of power, it is desirable to reduce power consumption associated with scanning operations.
• FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example WLAN system within which the present embodiments may be implemented.
• FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a wireless station (STA) in accordance with some embodiments.
• FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an example wireless network in which the STA is receiving signals from three APs in accordance with some embodiments.
• FIG. 4A depicts RSSI values of two of the APs of FIG. 3 over a period of time and an association switching operation in accordance with some embodiments.
• FIG. 4B depicts RSSI values of two of the APs of FIG. 3 over a period of time and an association switching operation in accordance with other embodiments.
• FIG. 5 shows an illustrative flow chart depicting an example operation for selectively switching a STA's association from a first AP to a second AP, in accordance with some embodiments.
• FIGS. 6A-6C show illustrative flow charts depicting example operations for dynamically adjusting the RSSI difference value, in accordance with some embodiments.
• WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
• Wi-Fi® may include communications governed by the IEEE 802.1 1 family of standards
• BLUETOOTH® Bluetooth or BT
• HiperLAN a set of wireless standards, comparable to the IEEE 802.1 1 standards, used primarily in Europe
• WLAN Wi-Fi
• data packet may include any frame, packet, or data unit such as, for example, protocol data units (PDUs), MAC protocol data units (MPDUs), and physical layer convergence procedure protocol data units (PPDUs).
• PDUs protocol data units
• MPDUs MAC protocol data units
• PPDUs physical layer convergence procedure protocol data units
• A-MPDU may refer to aggregated MPDUs.
• a wireless station may periodically scan its surroundings to find and/or determine the most suitable AP with which to associate.
• Connected scans may refer to scanning operations performed by a STA while the STA is connected to an associated AP (e.g., to find a more suitable AP to roam to).
• Disconnected scans may refer to scanning operations performed by a STA that is not yet connected to any AP (e.g., to find a suitable AP to associate with). Because scanning operations may consume a significant amount of power, it is desirable to reduce power consumption associated with scanning operations.
• power consumption associated with a STA's scanning operations may be reduced by reducing the number of channels that the STA scans. For example, rather than scanning all available channels in a given frequency band (e.g., all channels in the 2.4 GHz band), the STA may scan only a subset of the available channels (e.g., channels 1 and 6 in the 2.4 GHz band), which reduces power consumption (as compared with a full channel scan). For at least some embodiments, the STA may scan only the most popular or frequently used channels, may terminate the scanning operation if an RSSI value of an AP is greater than a threshold value, and may dynamically adjust the threshold value based, at least in part, on the number of channels scanned.
• the STA may scan only the most popular or frequently used channels, may terminate the scanning operation if an RSSI value of an AP is greater than a threshold value, and may dynamically adjust the threshold value based, at least in part, on the number of channels scanned.
• the threshold value may be initially set to a relatively high value (e.g., a threshold to ensure that the AP having the highest RSSI value is located), and then the threshold value may be progressively decreased towards a relatively low value (e.g., a threshold value that precludes a number of channels being scanned before locating a suitable AP).
• a relatively high value e.g., a threshold to ensure that the AP having the highest RSSI value is located
• a relatively low value e.g., a threshold value that precludes a number of channels being scanned before locating a suitable AP
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless network system 100 within which example embodiments may be implemented.
• the system 100 is shown to include four wireless stations STA1 -STA4, a wireless access point (AP) 1 10, and a wireless local area network (WLAN) 120.
• the WLAN 120 may be formed by a plurality of Wi-Fi access points (APs) that may operate according to the IEEE 802.1 1 family of standards (or according to other suitable wireless protocols).
• APs Wi-Fi access points
• the AP 1 10 is assigned a unique MAC address that is programmed therein by, for example, the manufacturer of the access point.
• each of STA1 -STA4 is also assigned a unique MAC address.
• the stations STA1 -STA4 may be any suitable Wi-Fi enabled wireless devices including, for example, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet devices, laptop computers, or the like.
• the stations STA1 -STA4 may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.
• UE user equipment
• stations STA1 -STA4 may include a transceiver, one or more processing resources (e.g., processors and/or ASICs), one or more memory resources, and a power source (e.g., a battery).
• the memory resources may include a non-transitory computer- readable medium (e.g., one or more nonvolatile memory elements, such as EPROM,
• EEPROM Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
• Flash memory Flash memory
• hard drive etc.
• the AP 1 10 may be any suitable device that allows one or more wireless devices to connect to a network (e.g., a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), and/or the Internet) via AP 1 10 using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or any other suitable wireless communication standards.
• a network e.g., a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), and/or the Internet
• AP 1 10 may include a transceiver, a network interface, one or more processing resources, and one or more memory sources.
• the memory resources may include a non-transitory computer- readable medium (e.g., one or more nonvolatile memory elements, such as EPROM,
• EEPROM Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
• Flash memory Flash memory
• hard drive etc.
• FIG. 2 shows a STA 200 that is one embodiment of at least one of the stations
• the STA 200 may include a PHY device 210 including at least a WLAN transceiver 21 1 , a MAC 220 including a number of contention engines 221 , a processor 230, and a memory 240.
• the transceiver 21 1 may be used to transmit signals to and receive signals from AP 1 10 (see also FIG. 1 ), and may be used to scan the surrounding environment to detect and identify nearby access points (e.g., access points within range of STA 200).
• MAC 220 is shown in FIG. 2 as being coupled between PHY device 210 and processor 230.
• PHY device 210, MAC 220, processor 230, and/or memory 240 may be connected together using one or more buses (not shown for simplicity).
• the contention engines 221 may contend for access to the shared wireless medium, and may also store packets for transmission over the shared wireless medium.
• the STA 200 may include one or more contention engines 221 for each of a plurality of different access categories.
• the contention engines 221 may be separate from MAC 220.
• the contention engines 221 may be implemented as one or more software modules (e.g., stored in memory 240 or stored in memory provided within MAC 220) containing instructions that, when executed by processor 230, perform the functions of contention engines 221 .
• Memory 240 may include an AP profile data store 241 that stores profile information for a plurality of APs.
• the profile information for a particular AP may include information including, for example, the AP's SSID, channel information, RSSI values, supported data rates, connection history with STA 200, a trustworthiness value of the AP (e.g., indicating a level of confidence about the AP's location, etc.), and any other suitable information pertaining to or describing the operation of the AP.
• Memory 240 may also include a non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., one or more nonvolatile memory elements, such as EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, a hard drive, and so on) that can store the following software modules:
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium e.g., one or more nonvolatile memory elements, such as EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, a hard drive, and so on
• a frame exchange software module 242 for facilitating the creation and exchange of frames (e.g., association requests, probe requests, data frames, acknowledgement (ACK) frames, management frames, action frames, control frames, and so on) between the STA 200 and other STAs and/or a number of APs (e.g., as described for the operations of FIGS. 5 and 6A-6C);
• frames e.g., association requests, probe requests, data frames, acknowledgement (ACK) frames, management frames, action frames, control frames, and so on
• an RSSI determination software module 243 for determining a number of RSSI values for each of a number of nearby APs and/or to determine, for each of the nearby APs, an instantaneous RSSI value and/or an average RSSI value for a selected time period (e.g., as described for the operations of FIGS. 5 and 6A-6C);
• an AP selection software module 244 for selecting one of a number of nearby APs with which the STA is to associate or to switch its association (e.g., as described for the operations of FIGS. 5 and 6A-6C);
• an RSSI threshold value adjustment software module 245 for dynamically adjusting an RSSI threshold value based, at least in part, on a number of channels scanned during the current scanning operation, a number of RSSI values of an AP currently associated with the STA 200, the STA's connection history with APs, and/or on a user selection of a mode (e.g., as described for the operations of FIGS. 5 and 6A-6C).
• Each software module includes instructions that, when executed by processor 230, cause STA 200 to perform the corresponding functions.
• the non-transitory computer-readable medium of memory 240 thus includes instructions for performing all or a portion of the STA-side operations of the methods of FIGS. 5 and 6A-6C.
• Processor 230 which is shown in the example of FIG. 2 as coupled to PHY device 210 and transceiver 21 1 , to MAC 220 and contention engines 221 , and to memory 240, may be any suitable processor capable of executing scripts or instructions of one or more software programs stored in STA 200 (e.g., within memory 240).
• processor 230 may execute frame exchange software module 242 to facilitate the creation and exchange of frames (e.g., association requests, probe requests, data frames, acknowledgement (ACK) frames, management frames, action frames, control frames, and so on) between the STA 200 and one or more APs, and may execute frame exchange software module 242 to facilitate the reception of frames (e.g., beacon frames, association responses, probe responses, data frames, acknowledgement (ACK) frames, management frames, action frames, control frames, and so on) from one or more APs (or other STAs).
• frames e.g., association requests, probe requests, data frames, acknowledgement (ACK) frames, management frames, action frames, control frames, and so on
• Processor 230 may also execute RSSI determination software module 243 to determine a number of RSSI values for each of a number of nearby APs and/or to determine, for each of the nearby APs, an average RSSI value for a selected time period.
• execution of the RSSI determination software module 243 may cause the STA to store the RSSI values and/or average RSSI values for one or more APs in the AP profile data store 241 , and/or to provide the RSSI values and/or average RSSI values for one or more APs to the AP selection software module 244 and/or to the difference value adjustment software module 245.
• Processor 230 may also execute AP selection software module 244 to select one of a number of nearby APs with which the STA is to associate or to switch its association. For some embodiments, the AP selection software module 244 may compare first RSSI values for a first AP currently associated with the STA 200 with second RSSI values for at least a second AP not currently associated with the STA 200 to determine whether to switch association from the first AP to the at least one second AP.
• the AP selection software module 244 may switch association from the first AP and to the at least one second AP when the second RSSI values are greater than the first RSSI values by more than the RSSI threshold value, and may maintain the STA's association with the first AP when the second RSSI values are not greater than the first RSSI values by more than the RSSI threshold value.
• the AP selection software module 244 may switch association from the first AP and to the at least one second AP when an average of the second RSSI values is greater than an average of the first RSSI values by more than the RSSI threshold value, and may maintain the STA's association with the first AP when the average of the second RSSI values is not greater than the average of the first RSSI values by more than the RSSI threshold value.
• Processor 230 may also execute the RSSI threshold value adjustment software module 245 to dynamically adjust the RSSI threshold value based, at least in part, on a number of channels scanned during the current scanning operation, a number of RSSI values of an AP currently associated with the STA 200, a connection history with the AP, and/or on a user selection of a mode. More specifically, for at least one embodiment, the difference value adjustment software module 245 may increase the RSSI difference value when a moving average of the first RSSI values indicates that the first RSSI values are increasing over time, and may decrease the RSSI difference value when the moving average of the first RSSI values indicates that the first RSSI values are decreasing over time.
• the difference value adjustment software module 245 may increase the RSSI difference value when the STA has been associated with the first AP for more than a predetermined time period, and may decrease the RSSI difference value when the STA has not been associated with the first AP for more than the predetermined time period.
• difference value adjustment software module 245 may set the RSSI difference value to a relatively high value when the user selects is a first mode, and may set the RSSI difference value to a relatively low value when the user selects is a second mode.
• the STA may have a choice between multiple wireless networks and/or between multiple APs that form an extended BSS.
• the STA may periodically scan its surroundings to find and/or determine the most suitable AP with which to associate (and therefore through which AP the STA may communicate with other devices and/or networks). More specifically, when STA 200 wants to access a WLAN (e.g., after power-up, upon re-entering an active mode, or when moving to a new area), the STA 200 may search for nearby APs by performing scanning operations.
• the IEEE 802.1 1 standards define both passive and active scanning operations.
• the STA 200 may scan individual channels for beacon frames that are periodically transmitted by nearby APs.
• the beacon frame includes the AP's SSID, supported data rates, synchronization information, and so on.
• the STA 200 may record information associated with the beacon frame (e.g., corresponding power levels and RSSI values) and thereafter use this information to select with which AP to associate.
• the STA 200 In active scanning, the STA 200 tries to locate nearby APs, and initiates the scanning process by broadcasting probe request frames. This allows the STA 200 to receive immediate responses from APs (e.g., without waiting for transmission of beacon frames).
• the probe request frames may include an SSID, may include a null SSID, or may include a destination address of a specific AP.
• all APs with a matching SSID that receive the probe request frame respond by transmitting a probe response frame.
• the probe request frame includes a null SSID
• all APs that receive the probe request frame respond by transmitting a probe response frame.
• the probe request frame includes a destination address of a specific AP, only the AP indicated by the destination address transmits a probe response that will be "heard" by the STA 200.
• STA 200 After the STA 200 is authenticated with a selected AP, STA 200 associates with the selected AP prior to exchanging data with the selected AP.
• the association process involves the exchange of information about capabilities of the STA 200 and the AP, and synchronizes the STA 200 with the selected AP.
• the STA 200 may initiate the association process by sending an association request frame to the selected AP.
• the selected AP responds by sending an association response frame containing an association ID (AID) along with other information regarding the AP.
• AID association ID
• the STA 200 may improve throughput by associating with another AP that offers better performance (even though the STA 200 may still be within wireless range of the currently associated AP).
• the STA 200 is currently associated with access point AP1 but is also within wireless range of non-associated access points AP2-AP3.
• AP2 and/or AP3 may offer better performance (e.g., higher throughput) than AP1 .
• the STA 200 may perform connected or "roaming" scanning operations to determine a number of RSSI values of the each of the access points AP1 -AP3, and then select the AP having the highest RSSI value as the "best" AP with which to associate.
• the RSSI values may be derived from beacon frames received from the access points AP1 -AP3.
• AP1 may broadcast beacon frames having a first RSSI value denoted as RSS
• AP2 may broadcast beacon frames having a second RSSI value denoted as RSSI 2
• AP3 may broadcast beacon frames having a third RSSI value denoted as RSSI3.
• selecting the AP having the highest instantaneous RSSI value may not always result in the best performance. For example, if the STA 200 is moving in a direction between AP1 and AP2 such that, for a selected period of time, the number of times that RSSI 2 is greater than RSSh is relatively small (e.g., compared with the number of times that RSSh is greater than RSSI 2 ), then switching association between AP1 and AP2 based solely on which AP has the greater RSSI value at any given instant in time may result in the STA 200 frequently "bouncing" or "ping-ponging" between AP1 and AP2.
• frequent "bouncing” or “ping-ponging" between AP1 and AP2 may reduce throughput due to the drain time and/or medium occupancy associated with dissociating and associating (or re- associating) with multiple APs.
• switching association between AP1 and AP2 based solely on which AP has the greater RSSI value at any given instant may not consider temporary reductions in an AP's RSSI values (e.g., resulting from multi-path effects, off- channel scanning operations, and the like) that may not be indicative of the AP's sustained signal strength.
• the STA 200 may determine whether to switch its association from a first AP to a second AP based on whether the RSSI values of the first AP are greater than the RSSI values of the second AP by more than a difference value. For at least one embodiment, the STA 200 may determine whether to switch its association from the first AP to the second AP based on whether an average of the RSSI values of the first AP is greater than an average of the RSSI values of the second AP by more than the difference value. Using the difference value to determine whether to switch the STA's association between APs, as described herein, may prevent AP ping-ponging and provide other performance benefits, as described in more detail below. For purposes of discussion herein, the AP with which the STA is currently associated may be referred to as the
• AP1 may be referred to as the associated AP
• AP2-AP3 may be referred to as candidate APs.
• FIG. 4A is sequence diagram 400A that depicts STA 200 selectively switching its associated between an associated AP and a candidate AP based, at least in part, on whether an RSSI value of the candidate AP is greater than the RSSI value of the associated AP by more than the difference value.
• the STA 200 is initially associated with AP1 , and may also receive signals from at least one candidate AP (e.g., AP2). More specifically, FIG. 4A depicts example first RSSI values (RSSh) of the associated access point AP1 and example second RSSI values (RSSI 2 ) of the candidate access point AP2 of FIG. 3 over a duration of time.
• RSSh first RSSI values
• RSSI 2 example second RSSI values
• the difference value is set to 5 dB (although the difference value may be dynamically adjusted, as described in more detail below).
• the criteria with which STA 200 may switch its association from the associated AP to the candidate AP may be expressed as RSSI C andidateAP > RSS so atedAP + RSS fference, where RSSIcandidateAP may be a value of RSSh at a given time, RSSI asS ociatedAP may be a value of RSSI 2 at the given time, and RSS Idifference is the difference value.
• RSSI 2 is not greater than RSSh + RSS Idifference
• the STA 200 maintains its current association with AP1 .
• RSSI2 is not greater than RSSh + RSS Idifference
• the STA 200 maintains its current association with AP1 .
• RSSI2 is now greater than RSS h + RSS Idifference
• the STA 200 switches its association from AP1 to AP2, for example, by dissociating from AP1 and associating with AP2.
• RSSh is now greater than RSS I2 + RSS Idifference
• the STA 200 switches its association from AP2 to AP1 , for example, by dissociating from AP2 and associating with AP1 .
• RSSI2 is now greater than RSS h + RSS Idifference
• the STA switches its association from AP1 to AP2, for example, by dissociating from AP1 and associating with AP2.
• RSSh is not greater than RSSI 2 + RSS Idifference
• the STA 200 maintains its current association with AP2.
• the STA's association may be switched between APs when an average value of RSS IcandidateAP is greater than an average value of RSS I asS ociatedAP + RSSIdifference-
• the average values of RSS IcandidateAP and RSS I asS ociatedAP may be determined for a selected time period.
• determining whether to switch the STA's association based on average RSSI values may further improve performance by reducing the occurrences of AP ping-ponging.
• FIG. 4B is sequence diagram 400B that depicts STA 200 selectively switching its association from AP1 to AP2 based, at least in part, on whether an average value of RSSI 2 is greater than an average value of RSSh by more than the difference value.
• the STA 200 is initially associated with AP1 , and may also receive signals from at least one candidate AP (e.g., AP2). More specifically, FIG. 4B depicts the example values of RSSh for AP1 and the example values of RSSI 2 for AP2 of FIG. 4A relative to two selected time periods P1 and P2.
• the first selected time period P1 includes RSSI values determined at times to - 13
• the second selected time period P2 includes RSSI values determined at times - -
• the difference value is set to 5 dB (although the difference value may be dynamically adjusted, as described in more detail below).
• the criteria with which STA 200 may switch its association from an associated AP to a candidate is set to 5 dB (although the difference value may be dynamically adjusted, as described in more detail below).
• AP may be expressed as RSSI C andidateAP,average > RSS Iassociated AP.average + RSSIdifference, where
• RSSIcandidateAP.average is an average of multiple values of RSS IcandidateAP for a selected time period
• RSSI aS sociated AP average is an average of multiple values of RSS I associated AP for the selected time period
• RSS Idifference is the difference value.
• the STA 200 determines whether RSSI 2 ,average is greater than RSS , average by more than the difference value, for the first selected time period P1 .
• the value of RSSI 2 ,average is equal to -60 dB
• the value of RSSh, average is equal to -63 dB.
• the value of RSSI 2 ,average is greater than the value of RSSh, average by 3 dB, which is less than the difference value of 5 dB. Accordingly, the STA 200 maintains its current association with AP1 .
• the STA 200 maintains its current association with AP1 .
• the STA 200 does not switch its association from AP1 to AP2 at time t 3 because the average value of RSSI 2 is not greater than the average value of RSSh by more than the difference amount for the first selected time period P1 . This is in contrast to the example depicted in FIG. 4A in which the STA 200 switches its association from AP1 to AP2 at time t 3 .
• RSSI 2 average is greater than RSSh, average by more than the difference value, for the second selected time period P2.
• the value of RSSI 2 ,average is -51 .5 dB, and the value of RSSh, average - 57.5 dB.
• RSSI 2 ,average > RSSh, average + RSSIdifference, and therefore the STA 200 may switch its association from AP1 to AP2 just after time t 7 .
• the STA 200 switches association from AP1 to AP2 only once: just after time t 7 when the average of the RSSI 2 values is greater than the average of the RSSh values by more than the difference value.
• the embodiment of FIG. 4A switches the STA's association 3 times during a similar duration of time: a first switch from AP1 to AP2 at time t 3 , a second switch from AP2 to AP1 at time t 5 , and a third switch from AP1 to AP2 at time t 6 .
• the embodiment of FIG. 4B may reduce AP ping-ponging (as compared to the embodiment of FIG. 4A) by switching the STA's association between APs based on average RSSI values rather than on instantaneous RSSI values.
• the difference value may be dynamically adjusted in accordance with the present embodiments.
• the difference value may be dynamically adjusted based, at least in part, on the RSSI values of the currently associated AP.
• the difference value may be increased (e.g., to reduce the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP); conversely, if the moving average of the RSSI values of the associated AP indicates that the associated AP's RSSI values are decreasing over time, then the difference value may be decreased (e.g., to increase the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP).
• an instantaneous RSSI value of the associated AP is greater than a first threshold value (e.g., indicating that the AP signal strength is excellent)
• the difference value may be increased (e.g., to reduce the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP); conversely, if the instantaneous RSSI value of the associated AP is less than a second threshold value (e.g., indicating that the AP signal strength is poor), then the difference value may be decreased (e.g., to increase the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP).
• the difference value may be dynamically adjusted based, at least in part, on the association history of the STA 200. For example, if STA 200 has been connected to the associated AP for more than a threshold time period and/or if the STA 200 connects to the associated AP more than a certain number of times per
• the difference value may be increased (e.g., to reduce the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP); conversely, if STA 200 has not been connected to the associated AP for more than the threshold time period and/or if the STA 200 connects to the associated AP less than a certain number of times per day/week/month/year (e.g., or other indications as to the popularity of the associated AP), then the difference value may be decreased (e.g., to increase the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP).
• the difference value may be dynamically adjusted based, at least in part, on a user selection of an operating mode. For example, the user may select between a first mode and a second mode, where selection of the first mode sets the difference value to a relatively high value (e.g., to reduce the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP), and selection of the second mode sets the difference value to a relatively low value (e.g., to increase the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP).
• a relatively high value e.g., to reduce the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP
• selection of the second mode sets the difference value to a relatively low value (e.g., to increase the likelihood that the STA switches its association to another AP).
• the STA 200 may determine a number of first RSSI values (RSSh) for the first AP (502), and determine a number of second RSSI values (RSSI 2 ) for the second AP (504).
• the RSSh values and the RSSI 2 values may be determined by STA 200 and/or provided to STA 200 in any suitable manner. For at least one embodiment, the RSSh and RSSI 2 values may be determined by STA 200 during scanning operations.
• the STA 200 may compare an indication of the RSSh values and an indication of the RSSI 2 values (506).
• the indication of the RSSh values may be an instantaneous value of RSSh, and the indication of the RSSI 2 values may be an instantaneous value of RSSI 2 .
• the indication of the RSSh values may be an average of the RSSh values, and the indication of the RSSI 2 values may be an average of the RSSI 2 values.
• the STA 200 may dynamically adjust the difference value based, at least in part, on the number of first RSSI values for the associated AP (507). More specifically, referring to the example flow chart 610 of FIG. 6A, the STA 200 may increase the difference value when a moving average of the first RSSI values indicates that the first RSSI values are increasing over time (61 1 ), and may decrease the difference value when the moving average of the first RSSI values indicates that the first RSSI values are decreasing over time (612).
• the STA 200 may dynamically adjust the difference value based, at least in part, on the connection history between the STA 200 and the associated AP (508). More specifically, referring to the example flow chart 620 of FIG. 6B, the STA 200 may increase the difference value when the STA has been associated with the first AP for more than a predetermined time period (621 ), and may decrease the difference value when the STA has been associated with the first AP for less than or equal to the predetermined time period (622).
• the STA 200 may dynamically adjust the difference value based, at least in part, on a user selection of an operating mode (509). More specifically, referring to the example flow chart 630 of FIG. 6C, the STA 200 may set the difference value to a relatively high value when the user selects a first mode (631 ), and may set the difference value to a relatively low value when the user selects a second mode (632).
• the STA 200 may then dynamically switch its association from the first AP to the second AP based, at least in part, on the results of the comparison operation (510). More specifically, when the indication of the RSSI 2 values is greater than the indication of the RSSh values by more than the difference value, the STA may switch its association from the first AP to the second AP, for example, by disassociating from the first AP and associating with the second AP (51 OA). Conversely, when the indication of the RSSI 2 values is not greater than the indication of the RSSh values by more than the difference value, the STA 200 may maintain its current association with the first AP (510B).

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• 2015
  • 2015-02-11 US US14/619,675 patent/US9961628B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2015-11-24 JP JP2017532854A patent/JP6386188B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2015-11-24 CN CN201580069223.6A patent/CN107113669A/zh active Pending
  • 2015-11-24 EP EP15805073.2A patent/EP3235291A1/en not_active Withdrawn
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