Access point selection and management

1. A method of selecting one of access points by user equipment in a wireless local area network, the method comprising:

receiving a probe response frame from access points;

performing a first analysis process for analyzing quality parameters included in the received probe response frame to estimate wireless link quality of each access point;

selecting candidate access points from the access points based on the analysis result;

determining whether each of the candidate access points supports a predetermined standard protocol;

when the predetermined standard protocol is supported, transmitting a query frame of the predetermined standard protocol to the selected candidate access points, wherein the query frame excludes a probe request frame;

receiving a response frame of the predetermined standard protocol from the selected candidate access points, wherein the response frame excludes a probe response frame;

performing a second analysis process for analyzing quality parameters based on information included in the received response frame to estimate wireless link quality of each of the selected candidate access points; and

selecting one from the selected candidate access points based on the analyzing result.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received probe response frame includes at least one of a basic service set (BSS) load information element and a vender specific information element.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality parameters include at least one of station count, channel utilization, and available admission capacity.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received probe response frame includes information on allowable access conditions of a corresponding access point and current states measured by the corresponding access point.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:

the information on allowable access conditions includes at least one of an uplink received signal strength threshold, a downlink received signal strength threshold, a station count threshold, and a channel utilization threshold; and

the information on current states includes at least one of an uplink received signal strength, an access point noise level, and a wide area network information, measured and collected by a corresponding access point.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined standard protocol is an access network query protocol (ANQP) defined in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11u.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the standard protocol query frame includes information on a wide area network metric, a downlink speed, an uplink speed, a downlink load, and an uplink load.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the query frame of the predetermined standard protocol includes information on allowable access conditions of a corresponding access point and current states measured and collected by the corresponding access point.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the information on allowable access conditions includes a neighbor access point list, an uplink received signal strength threshold, a station count threshold, and a channel utilization threshold; and

the information on current states includes an uplink received signal strength, an access point noise level, a station count, and a channel utilization, measured and collected by a corresponding access point.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

repeatedly transmitting a link quality measurement request frame to the candidate access points at a predetermined interval for predetermined times;

receiving at least one link quality measurement response frame from the candidate access points in response to the link quality measurement request frames; and

analyzing quality parameters in the received link quality measurement response frame.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:

the quality parameters of the link quality measurement response frame include a number of link quality measurement request frames received at a corresponding access point and a received signal strength of a link quality measurement request frame, measured by the corresponding access point.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein quality parameters in a latest link quality measurement response frame received by the user equipment are analyzed to select one of the access points.

13. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

monitoring a wireless link established to the selected access point.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the monitoring comprises:

repeatedly transmitting a link quality measurement (LQM) request frame to the selected access point at a predetermined interval for predetermined times;

receiving at least one LQM response frame from the selected access point in response to the LQM request frames;

analyzing quality parameters in the received LQM response frame; and

determining whether to maintain the wireless link established to the selected access point based on the analysis result.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the monitoring comprises:

transmitting a link quality information (LQI) request frame to the selected access point;

receiving a LQI response frame from the selected access point;

analyzing quality parameters in the received LQI response frame; and

determining whether to maintain the wireless link established to the selected access point based on the analysis result.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

the LQI request frame includes a list of quality parameters for requesting a corresponding access point to measure; and

the LQI response frame includes state information on the requested quality parameters.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein an access point receiving the LQI request frame monitors the requested quality parameters in the list and transmits the LQI response frame when the monitoring result of the requested quality parameters is not satisfied by a predetermined condition.

18. A method of selecting one of access points by user equipment in a wireless local area network, the method comprising:

receiving a probe response frame from each access point;

performing a first analysis process for analyzing quality parameters included in the received probe response frame to estimate wireless link quality of each access point;

selecting at least one of the access points as candidate access points based on the analysis result;

transmitting a predetermined standard protocol query frame to the candidate access points, wherein the predetermined standard protocol query frame excludes a probe request frame;

receiving a predetermined standard protocol response frame from the candidate access points, wherein the predetermined standard protocol response frame excludes a probe response frame;

performing a second analysis process for analyzing quality parameters based on information included in the received standard protocol response frame to estimate wireless link quality of each candidate access point;

selecting one of the candidate access points based on the analysis result;

establishing a link to the selected access point; and

monitoring the established link using a link quality measurement protocol.

19. A method of selecting one of access points by user equipment in a wireless local area network, the method comprising:

repeatedly transmitting a link quality measurement request frame to access points at a predetermined interval for predetermined times;

receiving at least one link quality measurement response frame from the access points in response to the link quality measurement request frames;

analyzing quality parameters based on information in the received link quality measurement response frame;

selecting one of the access points based on the analysis result;

establishing a link to the selected access point; and

monitoring the established link using a link quality information request frame and a link quality information response frame.