Method for identifying client station association in a communication system
View Patent ↗A communication system comprises an access point and one or more client stations associated with the access point. The access point maintains a simple network management protocol (SNMP) table including a respective media access control (MAC) address for each of one or more client stations associated with the access point. In accordance with some embodiments, the access point receives a SNMP request message including a MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified. The access point then identifies the association of the client station by searching the SNMP table for the MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified. Further, the access point sends a reply message identifying the association of the client station with the access point when the SNMP table includes the MAC address of the client station.
1. A method for identifying an association of a client station with an access point in a communication network, the method comprising:
maintaining, by the access point, a simple network management protocol (SNMP) table including a respective media access control (MAC) address for each of one or more client stations associated with the access point;
receiving, by the access point, a SNMP request message including a MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified;
identifying the association of the client station, by the access point, by searching the SNMP table for the MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified; and
sending, by the access point, a reply message identifying the association of the client station with the access point when the SNMP table includes the MAC address of the client station.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SNMP request message comprises a broadcasted SNMP request message.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprises:
refraining, by the access point, from sending a reply message when the SNMP table does not include the MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the maintaining the SNMP table further comprises:
indexing, by the access point, the SNMP table by the MAC address for each of the one or more client stations associated with the access point.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SNMP table further includes information comprising for each of the one or more client stations, at least one of an identifier of the client station associated with the access point, an operational state of the client station associated with the access point, a virtual local area network identifiers of the client station associated with the access point, a service set identifier of the client station associated with the access point, an identifier of a parent device of the client station associated with the access point, a current version of firmware on the client station associated with the access point.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SNMP request message further comprises information relating to a SNMP version of the SNMP message, a SNMP community string, a request identifier, an error status, an error index, an object identifier, and a value of a parameter pointed by the object identifier.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reply message further comprises a returned value of true to indicate that the client station is associated with the access point and an identifier of the access point.
8. A communication network operating to identify an association of a client station with an access point, the communication network comprising:
a plurality of access points, wherein each access point maintains a simple network management protocol (SNMP) table including a respective media access control (MAC) address for each of one or more client stations associated with the access point; and
a network manager node in communication with the plurality of access points, wherein the network manager node is configured to
broadcast a SNMP request message for identifying the association of the client station, wherein the SNMP request message includes a MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified, and
receive a reply message indicating the association of the client station with an access point, wherein the reply message contains a MAC address of the access point associated with the client station, and further wherein
each access point is configured to:
receive the SNMP request message from the network manager node;
identify the association of the client station with the access point by searching the SNMP table for the MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified; and
send a reply message identifying the association of the client station with the access point to the network manager node when the SNMP table includes the MAC address of the client station, wherein the reply message contains a MAC address of the access point.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the SNMP request message comprises a broadcasted SNMP request message.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein each access point is further configured to:
refrain from sending a reply message when the SNMP table does not include the MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein each access point is configured to maintain the SNMP table by indexing the SNMP table by the MAC address for each of the one or more client stations associated with the access point.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the SNMP table maintained at each access point further includes information comprising for each of the one or more client stations associated with the access point, at least one of an identifier of the client station associated with the access point, an operational state of the client station associated with the access point, a virtual local area network identifiers of the client station associated with the access point, a service set identifier of the client station associated with the access point, an identifier of a parent device of the client stations associated with the access point, a current version of firmware on the client station associated with the access point.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the SNMP request message further comprises information relating to a SNMP version of the SNMP message, a SNMP community string, a request identifier, an error status, an error index, an object identifier, and a value of a parameter pointed by the object identifier.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the reply message further comprises a returned value of true to indicate that the client station is associated with the access point and an identifier of the access point.
15. An access point capable of identifying an association of a client station in a communication network, the access point comprising:
a simple network management protocol (SNMP) agent configured to
maintain a SNMP table including a respective media access control (MAC) address for each of one or more client stations associated with the access point,
identify the association of the client station with the access point by searching the SNMP table for a MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified; and
a transceiver communicatively coupled to the SNMP agent, the transceiver configured to
receive a SNMP request message including the MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified, and
transmit a reply message identifying the association of the client station with the access point when the SNMP table includes the MAC address of the client station, wherein the reply message contains a MAC address of the access point.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the SNMP request message comprises a broadcasted SNMP request message.
17. The access point according to claim 15 , wherein the SNMP agent is further configured to:
refrain from sending a reply message when the SNMP table does not include the MAC address of the client station for which the association is to be identified.
18. The access point according to claim 15 , wherein the SNMP agent is further configured to maintain the SNMP table by indexing the SNMP table by the MAC address for each of the one or more client stations associated with the access point.
19. The access point according to claim 15 , wherein the SNMP request message further comprises information relating to a SNMP version of the SNMP message, a SNMP community string, a request identifier, an error status, an error index, an object identifier, and a value of a parameter pointed by the object identifier.
20. The access point according to claim 15 , wherein the reply message further comprises a returned value of true to indicate that the client station is associated with the access point and an identifier of the access point.