Method and apparatus for calculating a coverage signal strength indicator

1. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless transmitter;

a wireless receiver;

a control circuit operably coupled to both the wireless transmitter and the wireless receiver and configured to:

calculate at least one value that represents, at least in part, wireless reception signal strength from the perspective of both the wireless receiver with respect to one or more successful wireless transmissions received by the wireless transmitter from a remote transmitter, and a remote receiver with respect to one or more successful wireless transmissions from the wireless transmitter, wherein the remote transmitter and the remote receiver are part of the same device, and

wherein the at least one value is a calculated coverage signal strength indicator (CSSI) representing, at least in part, a reception imbalance between the wireless receiver and the remote receiver.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

directly determine the wireless reception signal strength from the perspective of the wireless receiver; and

indirectly determine the wireless reception signal strength from the perspective of the remote receiver.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the wireless reception signal strength comprises wireless local area network reception signal strength and wherein the control circuit is configured to calculate the at least one value prior to the apparatus attaching to an access point that includes the remote receiver.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a display operably coupled to the control circuit; and wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

use the at least one value to determine a coverage indicator to present on the display.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the control circuit is configured to use the at least one value to determine a coverage indicator to present on the display by, at least in part, accessing a table containing threshold values.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the control circuit is configured to use the at least one value to determine the coverage indicator by, at least in part, comparing the at least one value to a threshold value.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the threshold value comprises a dynamically-determined threshold value.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

dynamically determine the dynamically-determined threshold value by, at least in part, accessing a table.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control circuit is configured to calculate the at least one value as a function of:

CSSI =max( AP TxPwr )−[ Dev TxPwr −max( AP sen )]

where:

Dev TxPwr comprises a known constant; and

max(AP TxPwr ) and max(AP sen )are constants that correspond to a specific model of access point that includes the remote receiver.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control circuit is configured to calculate the at least one value other than as a function of received signal strength.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the control circuit is configured to calculate the at least one value as a function, at least in part, at least one of:

bit error rate; and

a speed modifier.

12. A method comprising:

by a control circuit of a portable electronic device that is operably coupled to both a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver of the portable electronic device:

calculating at least one value that represents, at least in part, wireless reception signal strength from the perspective of both the wireless receiver with respect to one or more successful wireless transmissions received by the wireless transmitter from a remote transmitter, and a remote receiver with respect to one or more successful wireless transmissions from the wireless transmitter, wherein the remote transmitter and the remote are part of the same device, and wherein the at least one value is a calculated coverage signal strength indicator (CSSI) representing, at least in part, a reception imbalance between the wireless receiver and the remote receiver.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

using the at least one value to determine a coverage indicator;

presenting the coverage indicator on a display.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein determining the coverage indicator comprises, at least in part, comparing the at least one value to a threshold value to determine a fringe coverage state.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the threshold value comprises a dynamically-determined threshold value, the method further comprising:

determining the dynamically-determined threshold value by, at least in part, accessing a table.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

upon determining the fringe coverage state:

activating at least one of:

an active scan;

a management frame; and

an access network query protocol request;

to verify presence of a link to an access point.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein when unable to verify the presence of the link to the access point, disconnecting from a currently attached wireless local area network and re-scan for another wireless local area network.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein calculating the at least one value comprises calculating the at least one value as a function of:

CSSI =max( AP TxPwr )−[ Dev TxPwr−max( AP sen )]

where:

Dev TxPwr comprises a known constant; and

max(AP TxPwr ) and max(AP sen ) are constants that correspond to a specific model of access point that includes the remote receiver.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein calculating the at least one value comprises calculating the at least one value as a function, at least in part, of at least one of:

bit error rate; and

a speed modifier.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein calculating the at least one value comprises calculating the at least one value other than as a function of received signal strength.