Wireless client device detection and steering on a network with multiple access points

1. A method of automatically preventing steering of electronic client devices accessing a wireless local area network, the wireless local area network having multiple access points, from a first one of the access points of the wireless local area network to a different access point of the wireless local area network, comprising:

automatically identifying, by a network controller of the wireless local area network, a pre-determined type of electronic client device gaining access to the wireless local area network via wireless communications with the first one of the access points of the wireless local area network, wherein the pre-determined type of electronic client device includes stationary low bandwidth (SLB) client devices that are stationary relative to a nearest access point of the network for at least a predetermined period of time, and that have bandwidth usage below a predetermined threshold over the predetermined period of time; and

automatically designating, by the network controller, an electronic client device as a non-steerable SLB client device in a no-steer list of the network controller in response to identifying the electronic client device as the predetermined type of electronic client device,

wherein, when the network controller selects a candidate electronic client device for steering to the different access point of the wireless local area network during a steering event, each electronic client device designated as a non-steerable SLB client device in the no-steer list by the network controller is prevented from being steered, and only electronic client devices that are not designated as non-steerable SLB client devices in the no-steer list are available as the candidate electronic client device to be steered.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the network is a wireless local area network having multiple access points provided by network devices including at least one network extender, and wherein the network controller is contained with one of the network devices of the network.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein one of the network devices is a gateway device, and wherein the network controller is included in the gateway device.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined type of electronic client devices includes Internet of Things (IoT) electronic client devices.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

increasing a station count limit for an access point by a number of the predetermined type of electronic devices detected as being associated with the access point.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the steering event may include at least one of:

low link quality to an access point,

overloaded fronthaul access point channel utilization,

overloaded backhaul access point channel utilization, and

proactive steering from an access point having highest associated station count.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein automatically identifying the predetermined type of electronic client device includes performing deep packet inspection (DPI) of traffic from an electronic client device to obtain a device identification category of the electronic client device that identifies the electronic client device as a SLB client device.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the device identification category may include at least one of device vendor, operating system (OS), class of device, name of device, and type of device.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein automatically identifying the predetermined type of electronic client device includes obtaining information about an electronic client device during a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) pairing operation with the network that identifies the electronic client device as a SLB client device.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein messaging exchanged during the WPS pairing operation is used to obtain the information about the electronic device, which includes at least one of device manufacturer, model number of device, and model name of device.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein automatically identifying the predetermined type of electronic client device includes comparing the information about the electronic device obtained during the WPS pairing operation with a stored database of information of electronic client devices.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein automatically identifying the predetermined type of electronic client device includes determining stationarity of an electronic client device relative to a nearest access point that identifies the electronic client device as a SLB client device.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein determining stationarity of the electronic client device includes determining whether a variation of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the electronic client device to the nearest access point over a predetermined period of time is less than a pre-set threshold of RSSI variation.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein automatically identifying the predetermined type of electronic client device includes determining bandwidth usage of the electronic client device that identifies the electronic client device as a SLB client device.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein determining bandwidth usage of the electronic client device includes determining whether at least one of a maximum average bandwidth usage and a peak bandwidth usage over a predetermined period of time is below a pre-set threshold of bandwidth usage.

16. A network device for automatically preventing steering of electronic client devices accessing a wireless local area network having multiple access points, the network device comprising:

a network controller configured to steer a candidate electronic client device from a first one of the access points of the wireless local area network to a different access point of the wireless local area network upon detection of a steering event;

the network controller being further configured to

automatically identify a predetermined type of electronic client device having access to the wireless local area network via wireless communications with the first one of the access points of the wireless local area network, wherein the predetermined type of electronic client device includes stationary low bandwidth (SLB) client devices that are stationary relative to a nearest access point of the network for at least a predetermined period of time, and that have bandwidth usage below a predetermined threshold over the predetermined period of time, and

automatically designate an electronic client device as a non-steerable SLB client device in response to identifying the electronic client device as the predetermined type of electronic client device,

wherein, when the network controller selects the candidate electronic client device for steering to the different access point of the wireless local area network during the steering event, each electronic client device designated as a non-steerable SLB client device in the no-steer list by the network controller is prevented from being steered, and only an electronic client device that is not designated as a non-steerable SLB client device in the no-steer list is available as the candidate electronic client device to be steered.

17. The network device according to claim 16 , wherein the network controller is configured to automatically identify the pre-determined type of electronic client device by at least one of:

performing deep packet inspection (DPI) of traffic from an electronic device to obtain a device identification category of the electronic client device that identifies the electronic client device as a SLB client device,

obtaining information about an electronic client device during a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) pairing operation with the network that identifies the electronic client device as a SLB client device, and

determining stationarity of an electronic client device relative to a nearest access point, and bandwidth usage thereof, that identifies the electronic client device as a SLB client device.

18. The network device according to claim 17 , wherein the device identification category includes at least one of device vendor, operating system (OS), class of device, name of device, and type of device,

obtaining the information about the electronic device includes comparing the information about the electronic device obtaining during the (WPS) pairing operation, which includes at least one of device manufacturer, model number of device, and model name of device, with a stored database of information of electronic client devices,

determining stationarity of the electronic client device includes determining whether a variation of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the electronic client device to the nearest access point over a second predetermined period of time is less than a pre-set threshold of RSSI variation and

determining bandwidth usage of the electronic client device includes determining whether at least one of a maximum average bandwidth usage and a peak bandwidth usage of the electronic client device over the second predetermined period of time is below a pre-set threshold of bandwidth usage.

19. The network device according to claim 17 ,

wherein the network device is a gateway device interconnected to at one network extender;

wherein the predetermined type of electronic client devices includes Internet of Things (IoT) electronic client devices;

wherein the network controller is configured to increase a station count limit for an access point by a number of the predetermined type of electronic devices detected as being associated with the access point; and

wherein the steering event may include at least one of:

low link quality to an access point,

overloaded fronthaul access point channel utilization,

overloaded backhaul access point channel utilization, and

proactive steering from an access point having highest associated station count.