Granted Patent B2

US 9,585,109 · App. 14/200,412 · Granted Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

Claims (57)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at an access point, a first beacon comprising a channel change request;

inserting the channel change request and additional information associated with the first beacon into a second beacon;

sending, by the access point, the second beacon, the second beacon comprising the channel change request in both proprietary and standard formats, the channel change request comprising:

an instruction to change to a particular channel; and

a timing synchronization function identifying when the change to the particular channel should occur;

using the timing synchronization function to determine that the time has arrived to change to the particular channel; and

changing to the particular channel synchronously with other access points in a mesh network.

2. The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the timing synchronization function comprises information for identifying one or more of:

a time prior to the time for changing to the particular channel when a transmission queue should be stopped;

a time prior to the time for changing to the particular channel when a reception queue should be stopped;

a time after the time for changing to the particular channel when the transmission queue should be restarted; and

a time after the time for changing to the particular channel when the reception queue should be restarted.

3. The method recited in claim 1 , wherein adding information associated with the first beacon comprises changing the timing synchronization function to account for time differences as a result of at least time to receive and send beacons.

4. The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

registering the change to the particular channel using a callback function.

5. The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by the access point, the access point comprising a kernel mode having a proprietary kernel module.

6. The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the standard format comprises an implementation in an action frame of 802.11 channel-switch announcement (CSA) elements to allow channel changes by devices that do not have access to the proprietary format.

7. The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to sending the second beacon, sending a clear channel assessment request identifying a particular channel for a clear channel assessment, wherein the clear channel assessment comprises information for identifying two or more of identification of a primary channel for the clear channel assessment, identification of a secondary channel for the clear channel assessment, a sampling duration, a sampling period, and a time synchronization function on when to perform the clear channel assessment.

8. The method recited in claim 7 , wherein sending the clear channel assessment request comprises adding information from the prior clear channel assessment request.

9. The method recited in claim 7 , wherein the clear channel assessment is performed, on all channels, synchronously with other access points in the mesh network.

10. The method recited in claim 7 , wherein performing the clear channel assessment comprises determining if power on a sampled channel is above or below a power threshold.

11. The method recited in claim 10 , wherein performing the clear channel assessment comprises measuring how busy the channel is, and wherein a channel busyness is inversely proportional to a bit asserted for each sample where power is below a predetermined threshold.

12. A computing device configured for channel switching, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor;

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:

receive, at an access point, a first beacon comprising a channel change request;

insert the channel change request and additional information associated with the first beacon into a second beacon;

send, by the access point, the second beacon, the second beacon comprising the channel change request in both proprietary and standard formats, the channel change request comprising:

an instruction to change to a particular channel; and

a timing synchronization function identifying when the change to the particular channel should occur;

use the timing synchronization function to determine that the time has arrived to change to the particular channel; and

change to the particular channel synchronously with other access points in a mesh network.

13. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the timing synchronization function comprises information for identifying one or more of:

a time prior to the time for changing to the particular channel when a transmission queue should be stopped;

a time prior to the time for changing to the particular channel when a reception queue should be stopped;

a time after the time for changing to the particular channel when the transmission queue should be restarted; and

a time after the time for changing to the particular channel when the reception queue should be restarted.

14. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the standard format comprises an implementation in an action frame of 802.11 channel-switch announcement (CSA) elements to allow channel changes by devices that do not have access to the proprietary format.

15. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:

prior to sending the second beacon, sending a clear channel assessment request identifying a particular channel for a clear channel assessment, wherein the clear channel assessment comprises information for identifying two or more of identification of a primary channel for the clear channel assessment, identification of a secondary channel for the clear channel assessment, a sampling duration, a sampling period, and a time synchronization function on when to perform the clear channel assessment.

16. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein performing the clear channel assessment comprises determining if power on a sampled channel is above or below a power threshold, and wherein performing the clear channel assessment comprises measuring how busy the channel is, and wherein a channel busyness is inversely proportional to a bit asserted for each sample where power is below a predetermined threshold.

17. A computer-program product for channel switching, by a processor, the computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions thereon, the instructions being executable by the processor to:

receive, at an access point, a first beacon comprising a channel change request;

insert the channel change request and additional information associated with the first beacon into a second beacon;

send, by the access point, the second beacon, the second beacon comprising the channel change request in both proprietary and standard formats, the channel change request comprising:

an instruction to change to a particular channel; and

a timing synchronization function identifying when the change to the particular channel should occur;

use the timing synchronization function to determine that the time has arrived to change to the particular channel; and

change to the particular channel synchronously with other access points in a mesh network.

18. The computer-program product of claim 17 , wherein the timing synchronization function comprises information for identifying one or more of:

a time prior to the time for changing to the particular channel when a transmission queue should be stopped;

a time prior to the time for changing to the particular channel when a reception queue should be stopped;

a time after the time for changing to the particular channel when the transmission queue should be restarted; and

a time after the time for changing to the particular channel when the reception queue should be restarted.

Assignments (10)