Assignment and use of wireless LAN channels in high station density environments

1. An access point (AP) for a wireless local area network, the AP assigned to operate on a master channel formed from a plurality of sub-channels, each sub-channel formed from a subset of orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) subcarriers within a frequency range, each said OFDM subcarrier occupying a particular single frequency, subcarriers of each said sub-channel having a frequency range which is distinct from any other sub-channel frequency range, each said sub-channel using a unique set of said OFDM subcarriers which are distinct from other sub-channels, each said sub-channel thereby formed from a unique set of said OFDM subcarriers;

said access point assigning one of said sub-channels to a requesting station during an association event when at least one of:

a number of other stations assigned to said particular sub-channel is below a limit threshold, or

a bandwidth utilization of other stations assigned to said sub-channel is below a limit threshold;

said access point operative for simultaneous OFDM communications with stations associated with a particular one of said sub-channels, each said sub-channel transmitting or receiving at intervals which are independent of a transmission or reception intervals of said other sub-channels.

2. The access point of claim 1 where each said sub-channel is an IEEE 802.11g channel.

3. The access point of claim 1 where at least one of said sub-channels is in a frequency range of 2.412-2.484 GHz and at least one of said sub-channels is in a frequency range of 5.180-5400 Ghz.

4. The access point of claim 1 where, from a possible plurality of sub-channels, said access point assigns itself a subset of said possible plurality of sub-channels for use as said plurality of sub-channels.

5. The access point of claim 4 where said access point associates a status or activity for each sub-channel in said plurality of sub-channels.

6. The access point of claim 5 where said access point association is periodically updated to remove sub-channel assignments.

7. An access point (AP) for a wireless local area network, said AP operative on a master channel formed from a plurality of sub-channels, said plurality of sub-channels formed as a subset of possible sub-channels;

each said possible sub-channel operative within a frequency band unique from other said possible sub-channels;

each said sub-channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) formed from subcarriers within said sub-channel;

said sub-channels determined by said access point to be either available or unavailable;

said access point advertising a wireless Service Set IDentifier (SSID) for a particular available sub-channel and accepting association requests in response to said advertised SSID until a threshold is reached;

said threshold based on either a threshold number of station connections or a threshold bandwidth utilization of stations currently associated with said access point;

said access point thereafter indicating said particular sub-channel is unavailable and thereafter advertising the SSID of a different available sub-channel.

8. The access point of claim 7 where said advertised available sub-channel of said master channel is a sub-channel of said master channel with fewer station connections than any other sub-channel of said master channel.

9. The access point of claim 7 where said available sub-channels of said master channel are sub-channels below a threshold level of traffic.

10. The access point of claim 7 where said master channel is formed from an available subset of sub-channels which are not used in a master channel of an adjacent access point.

11. The access point of claim 7 where said sub-channels of a master channel are allocated according to a number of adjacent access points.

12. The access point of claim 7 where the access point determines the number of said sub-channels in said master channel by dividing a number of possible sub-channels by a number of access point adjacencies.

13. An access point having adjacencies with other access points, the access point operative in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications system using a plurality of possible sub-channels formed from available sub-channels formed from available subcarriers which can be used by said access point, each said available subcarrier operative on a unique frequency, the access point having:

a master channel formed by a subset of said possible sub-channels, said master channel using a unique set of said sub-channels which are distinct from sub-channels of a master channel in use by an adjacent access point;

said sub-carriers of said master channel being within a unique frequency range from the sub-carriers of other sub-channels of said master channel;

each sub-channel indicated by said access point as available or unavailable;

said access point advertising a particular said available sub-channel for connection requests based on a threshold until a number of connection is reached for that particular sub-channel.

14. The access point of claim 13 where said access point maintains an association of said sub-channels to said master channel, each said sub-channel having an associated metric compared to said threshold which determines whether said sub-channel is available or unavailable.

15. The access point of claim 14 where said metric is a number of station connections present on said sub-channel.

16. The access point of claim 14 where said metric is a data throughput of said sub-channel.