Distribution of clients across a network
Systems and methods for instituting redistribution of wireless clients to improve service, comprising via access point (AP), multiple APs acting in concert, and/or a central entity, in connection with a network, allowing a client to associate; deciding that an associated client should be redistributed based on a connection metric, wherein the decision is based on at least one of, a probability calculation, network metric and a threshold comparison; and via the AP, sending the associated client a trigger, wherein the trigger is at least one of, a redistribution request and a disconnect message.
1. A method for instituting redistribution of wireless clients to improve service, comprising:
by an access point (AP), in connection with a network, allowing a client to associate;
deciding, by the AP, that an associated client should be redistributed based on a connection metric,
wherein the decision is based on a probability calculation,
wherein the probability calculation includes,
maintaining connection metric distribution statistics for the client,
periodically comparing the client connection metric to a relevant selected set of historical client connection metrics,
periodically computing distribution percentiles of the client performance metric relative to the selected set, and
calculating trigger probability based on a function of the percentile; and
sending, by the AP, the associated client a trigger, based on the redistribution decision,
wherein the trigger is at least one of, a redistribution request and a disconnect message.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the redistribution request is a Base Service Set Transition Management (BTM) request that includes a list of potential candidate neighbor APs.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the connection metric is at least one of client specific and radio specific.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the connection metric is at least one of, received signal strength indication (RSSI), advertised throughput, and physical layer rate.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the connection metric distribution statistic includes at least one of, estimated throughput, saturation throughput, received signal strength indication (RSSI), and physical layer data rate.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, by the AP,
preventing the client from re-associating with the AP for a certain period of time after the AP sends the trigger to the client.
7. A non-transitory computer readable media, with instructions to carry out the method for instituting redistribution of wireless clients to improve service, comprising:
allowing, by an access point (AP) a client to associate to the AP the AP being in connection with a network;
deciding, by the AP and other APs acting in concert with one another and in connection with the network, that an associated client should be redistributed based on a connection metric,
wherein the decision is based on a probability calculation,
wherein the probability calculation includes,
maintaining connection metric distribution statistics for the client,
periodically comparing the client connection metric to a relevant selected set of historical client connection metrics,
periodically computing distribution percentiles of the client performance metric relative to the selected set, and
calculating trigger probability based on a function of the percentile,
sending, by the AP, the associated client a trigger, based on the redistribution decision, and
wherein the trigger is at least one of, a redistribution request and a disconnect message.
8. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 7 wherein the redistribution request is a Base Service Set Transition Management (BTM) request that includes a list of potential candidate neighbor APs.
9. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 7 wherein the redistribution request is a Base Service Set Transition Management (BTM) request that includes an empty list.
10. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 7 wherein the connection metric is at least one of client specific and radio specific.
11. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 7 wherein the connection metric is at least one of, received signal strength indication (RSSI), advertised throughput, and physical layer rate.
12. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 7 wherein the connection metric distribution statistic includes at least one of, estimated throughput, saturation throughput, received signal strength indication (RSSI), and physical layer data rate.
13. A system for instituting redistribution of wireless clients to improve service, comprising:
an access point (AP) configured to, allow a client to associate to it;
the AP configured to connect with a network;
the AP further configured to generate a decision, that an associated client should be redistributed based on a connection metric,
wherein the decision is based on a probability calculation,
wherein the probability calculation includes,
maintaining connection metric distribution statistics for the client,
periodically comparing the client connection metric to a relevant selected set of historical client connection metrics,
periodically computing distribution percentiles of the client performance metric relative to the selected set, and
calculating trigger probability based on a function of the percentile; and
the AP further configured to send the associated client a trigger, based on the redistribution decision,
wherein the trigger is at least one of, a redistribution request and a disconnect message.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein the redistribution request is a Base Service Set Transition Management (BTM) request that includes a list of potential candidate neighbor APs.