Identifying doorway access points

1. A system comprising:

a controller communicatively coupled to a computer-readable storage;

wherein the controller is to:

receive an indicator that an access point (AP) of a wireless network has detected that an unassociated client is approaching the wireless network;

store, in the computer-readable storage, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) information for the unassociated client detected by the AP;

identify that the unassociated client has associated with the wireless network;

identify the AP as a doorway AP, in response to the client associating to the AP;

identify a path that is followed by an associated client through the wireless network;

classify a client as a visitor based on a client dwell time at the doorway AP satisfying a visitor time period, and the client being detected at a second AP of the wireless network in a direction along the path; and

determine a footfall of the classified visitors to the wireless network.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to maintain a history of the associated client by persisting the stored RSSI information from the doorway AP.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is to maintain the history as an initial RSSI band data structure.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to identify the RSSI information over a time period to identify a minimum RSSI value and a maximum RSSI value for the client for a given AP; and wherein the controller is to create an RSSI band for the client based on the minimum RSSI value, the maximum RSSI value, and an adjustment value.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the adjustment value is based on tuning and is to divide the RSSI range, from −127 decibel-milliwatts (dBm) to 0 dBm, into between five to ten bands.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to identify a path that is followed by an associated client through the wireless network, based on a series of access points in the wireless network detecting the associated client.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to classify a client as a visitor based on a client dwell time at the doorway AP satisfying a visitor time period, and the RSSI information exceeding a visitor threshold value.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to identify a plurality of RSSI bands corresponding to a plurality of associated clients, wherein the plurality of RSSI bands correspond to clients statistically likely to associate with the wireless network.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller is to classify a client as a visitor based on a client dwell time satisfying a visitor time period, and the client's RSSI information consistently falling in later RSSI bands of the plurality of RSSI bands.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the stored RSSI information is persisted as a table in a database of a network accessible persistent store.

11. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, in a controller, an indicator that an access point (AP) of a wireless network has detected that an unassociated client is approaching the wireless network;

storing, in a computer-readable storage communicatively coupled to the controller, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) information for the unassociated client detected by the AP;

identifying, by the controller, that the unassociated client detected by the AP associates with the wireless network;

identifying, by the controller, the AP as a doorway AP, in response to the client associating to the AP, wherein the controller is to use the doorway AP identification to:

identifying clients as passersby and visitors to the wireless network by:

identifying a path that is followed by an associated client through the wireless network, and

classifying a client as a visitor based on a client dwell time at the doorway AP satisfying a visitor time period and client being detected at a second AP of the wireless network in a direction along the path; and

determining, by the controller, a footfall of the identified visitors to the wireless network.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the controller is to persist the stored RSSI information from the doorway AP for the associated client to maintain a history of the associated client, without persisting stored RSSI information for unassociated clients.

13. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a computing system that, when executed, cause the computing system to:

receive, in a controller of the computing system, an indicator that an access point (AP) of a wireless network has detected that an unassociated client is approaching the wireless network;

store, in a computer-readable storage communicatively coupled to the controller, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) information for the unassociated client detected by the AP;

identify, by the controller, that the unassociated client detected by the AP associates with the wireless network; and

identify, by the controller, the AP as a doorway AP, in response to the client associating to the AP, wherein the controller is to use the doorway AP identification to identify clients as passersby and visitors to the wireless network by identify identifying a path that is followed by an associated client through the wireless network, and classifying a client as a visitor based on a client dwell time at the doorway AP satisfying a visitor time period, and the client being detected at a second AP of the wireless network in a direction along the path; and

determine, by the controller, a footfall of the identified visitors to the wireless network.

14. The storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions that cause the computing system to store the RSSI information according to a plurality of RSSI bands.

15. The storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the determined footfall comprises a footfall pattern relative to a location where the wireless network is deployed.

16. The storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising determine, by the controller, a footfall of clients initially identified as passersby to the wireless network, the clients initially identified as passersby reclassified as visitors based on a client dwell time at the doorway AP satisfying the visitor time period and the client being detected by the wireless network.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determined footfall comprises a footfall pattern relative to a location where the wireless network is deployed.

18. The system of claim 1 , further comprising the controller to classify a client as a passerby based on a client dwell time at the doorway AP, and the client not being detected at a second AP of the wireless network in a direction along the path.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determined footfall comprises a footfall pattern relative to a location where the wireless network is deployed.

20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, by the controller, a footfall of clients initially identified as passersby to the wireless network, the clients initially identified as passersby reclassified as visitors based on a client dwell time at the doorway AP satisfying the visitor time period and the client being detected by the wireless network.