Wireless access point management in a campus environment
View Patent ↗A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is operated in conjunction with a wired Local Area Network (wired LAN) to service a premises, e.g., a campus setting. The wired LAN services the wired communication needs of the premises and serves as the wired backbone of the WLAN. A plurality of Wireless Access Points (WAPs) of the WLAN couple to the wired backbone and are serviced by the LAN. With this shared structure, wired network components, e.g., multi-layer switches, manage the operation of WLAN components, i.e., WAPs. Such management includes ensuring that the WAPs provide sufficient bandwidth to support wireless packetized voice communications. Additional management operations include WAP access, wireless terminal registration, and channel resource allocation, among others.
1. A wired Local Area Network (LAN) switch that supports a wired LAN having a wired network infrastructure, the wired LAN switch comprising:
a first interface for communicatively coupling to a plurality of Wireless Access Points (WAPs) that couple to the wired network infrastructure;
a second interface for communicatively coupling to a plurality of wired network switches to service communications between a plurality of wired LAN clients within the wired LAN; and
a processor coupled to the first interface and the second interface, wherein the processor executes a plurality of software instructions that, upon execution, cause the wired LAN switch to manage the operation of the plurality of WAPs.
2. The wired LAN switch of claim 1 , wherein in managing the plurality of WAPs, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to ensure that each of the plurality of WAPs provides sufficient wireless bandwidth to service wireless network clients of the WAPs and does not interfere with neighboring WAPs.
3. The wired LAN switch of claim 2 , wherein in managing the plurality of WAPs, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to;
monitor a plurality of packetized communications;
determine that a packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication;
determine that the packetized voice communication is wirelessly serviced by at least one of the plurality of WAPs;
identify a servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs that wirelessly services the packetized voice communication of the plurality of packetized communications; and
direct the servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth to a wireless network client corresponding to the packetized voice communication.
4. The wired LAN switch of claim 3 , wherein in directing the servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth to the wireless terminal corresponding to the packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to direct the servicing WAP to provide a particular Class of Service (CoS) to the wireless network client.
5. The wired LAN switch of claim 3 , wherein in directing the servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth to the wireless network client corresponding to the packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to direct the servicing WAP to provide a maximum packet transfer latency to the packetized voice communication serviced by the wireless network client.
6. The wired LAN switch of claim 3 , wherein in determining that the packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to:
monitor the bandwidth usage of the plurality of packetized communications;
compare the bandwidth usage of the plurality of packetized communications to at least one voice communication bandwidth usage profile; and
based upon the comparison, determine that one of the packetized communications is a packetized voice communication.
7. The wired LAN switch of claim 3 , wherein in determining that the packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to:
extract a MAC address from a packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications;
compare the extracted MAC addresses to MAC addresses of known wireless network clients that service packetized voice communications; and
based upon the comparison, determine that the packetized communication is a packetized voice communication.
8. The wired LAN switch of claim 3 , wherein in determining that the packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to:
investigate layer 3 IP data packets of the plurality of packetized communications to determine whether a packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications indicates that the packetized communication is a packetized voice communication.
9. The wired LAN switch of claim 3 , wherein in determining that the packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to:
investigate layer 4 socket numbers of the plurality of packetized communications to determine whether a packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications indicates that the packetized communication is a packetized voice communication.
10. The wired LAN switch of claim 3 , wherein in directing the servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth to the wireless network client corresponding to the packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to:
determine a current load on the servicing WAP;
based upon the current load, determine that the servicing WAP has insufficient wireless bandwidth to service the packetized voice communication; and
direct the servicing WAP to reduce usage of wireless resources of the by other wireless network clients so that the servicing WAP will have sufficient wireless bandwidth to service the packetized voice communication.
11. The wired LAN switch of claim 10 , wherein in directing the servicing WAP to reduce usage of wireless resources of the by other wireless network clients so that the servicing WAP will have sufficient wireless bandwidth to service the packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to:
identify other packetized communications serviced by the servicing WAP; and
alter the service level provided to these other packetized communications by the servicing WAP.
12. The wired LAN switch of claim 10 , wherein in directing the servicing WAP to reduce usage of wireless resources of the by other wireless network clients so that the servicing WAP will have sufficient wireless bandwidth to service the packetized voice communication, the processor executes software instructions to cause the wired LAN switch to:
identify other packetized communications serviced by the servicing WAP; and
introduce packet delay into the other packetized communications serviced by the servicing WAP so that upper protocol layer throughput will be reduced for the other packetized communications and, resultantly, the other packetized communications will use fewer wireless resources of the servicing WAP.
13. The wired LAN switch of claim 2 , wherein the wireless network clients include voice clients servicing voice communications and data clients servicing data communications.
14. A method for a wired Local Area Network (LAN) switch to support a wired LAN having a wired network infrastructure, comprising:
coupling to a plurality of wired network switches to service communications between a plurality of wired LAN clients within the wired LAN;
coupling the wired LAN switch to a plurality of Wireless Access Points (WAPs) that couple to the wired network infrastructure; and
managing, by the wired LAN switch, the operation of the plurality of WAPs.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein in managing the plurality of WAPs, the wired LAN switch ensures that each of the plurality of WAPs provides sufficient wireless bandwidth to service wireless network clients of the WAPs and does not interfere with neighboring WAPs.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein in managing the plurality of WAPs, the wired LAN switch:
monitors a plurality of packetized communications;
determines that a packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication;
determines that the packetized voice communication is wirelessly serviced by at least one of the plurality of WAPs;
identifies a servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs that wirelessly services the packetized voice communication of the plurality of packetized communications; and
directs the servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth to a wireless network client corresponding to the packetized voice communication.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein in directing the servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth to the wireless terminal corresponding to the packetized voice communication, the wired LAN switch directs the servicing WAP to provide a particular Class of Service (CoS) to the wireless network client.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein in directing the servicing WAP of the plurality of WAPs to provide sufficient wireless bandwidth to the wireless network client corresponding to the packetized voice communication, the wired LAN switch directs the servicing WAP to provide a maximum packet transfer latency to the packetized voice communication serviced by the wireless network client.
19. The method claim 16 , wherein in determining that the packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication, the wired LAN switch:
monitors the bandwidth usage of the plurality of packetized communications;
compares the bandwidth usage of the plurality of packetized communications to at least one voice communication bandwidth usage profile; and
based upon the comparison, determines that one of the packetized communications is a packetized voice communication.
20. The method of claim 16 , wherein in determining that the packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications is a packetized voice communication, the wired LAN switch:
extracts a MAC address from a packetized communication of the plurality of packetized communications;
compares the extracted MAC addresses to MAC addresses of known wireless network clients that service packetized voice communications; and
based upon the comparison, determines that the packetized communication is a packetized voice communication.