Dynamic channel assignment driven by client analytics

1. A method comprising:

scanning Radio Frequency (RF) channels to detect access points of a network;

determining a subset of the access points belonging to a same Extended Service Set (ESS) of the network based on data collected from the access points during the scanning;

for each access point in the subset, measuring a Channel Quality Index (CQI) for an RF channel assigned to the access point;

generating a custom non-preferred channel report based on the CQI, wherein generating the custom non-preferred channel report based on CQI comprises:

generating a standard non-preferred channel report comprising a first list of non-preferred channels that a client device cannot support, and

generating the custom non-preferred channel report comprising a second list of non-preferred channels with a predetermined trait determined from the CQI; and

transmitting the custom non-preferred channel report to a network management system for use in dynamic channel assignment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein scanning the RF channels comprises one or more of:

passively scanning the RF channels by listening for beacon frames transmitted by the access points; and

actively scanning the RF channels by sending probe requests for the access points to respond to via probe responses.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the subset of the access points belonging to the same ESS of the network based on the data collected from the access points during the scanning comprises:

collecting the beacon frames and the probe responses transmitted by the access points during the scanning;

extracting an Extended Service Set Identifier (ESSID) associated with a transmitting access point from each of the beacon frames and the probe responses for storage in a table; and

determining the subset of the access points by identifying one or more access points within the table having a same ESSID.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

extracting the RF channel associated with the transmitting access point from each of the beacon frames and the probe responses for storage in the table; and

determining the RF channel assigned to each access point in the subset based on the table.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the CQI for the RF channel comprises determining one or more parameters associated with the RF channel, the one or more parameters including:

a number of overlapping basic service sets;

an average signal strength of each overlapping basic service set;

a channel utilization;

a noise floor; and

a radar pulse observation.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the custom non-preferred channel report comprises including values for each of the one or more parameters associated with the RF channel in the custom non-preferred channel report.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

aggregating values for each of the one or more parameters associated with the RF channel to compute a single CQI value for the RF channel; and

generating the custom non-preferred channel report to include the single CQI value.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the one or more parameters are weighted in the aggregation.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining whether the single CQI value for the RF channel meets a predetermined threshold; and

generating the custom non-preferred channel report to include an indication that the RF channel is non-preferred if the predetermined threshold is not met.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the custom non-preferred channel report comprises generating a list of non-preferred channels based on the CQI measured for each RF channel.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the custom non-preferred channel report comprises utilizing a non-preferred channel enforcement mechanism of Wi-Fi Agile Multiband Operation (MBO) to generate the custom non-preferred channel report, the custom non-preferred channel report including a unique preference field and reason code.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to:

scan Radio Frequency (RF) channels to detect access points of a network;

determine a subset of the access points belonging to a same Extended Service Set (ESS) of the network based on data collected from the access points during the scan;

for each access point in the subset, measure a Channel Quality Index (CQI) for an RF channel assigned to the access point;

generate a custom non-preferred channel report based on the CQI, wherein the processing unit being operative to generate the custom non-preferred channel report based on CQI comprises the processing unit being operative to:

generate a standard non-preferred channel report comprising a first list of non-preferred channels that a client device cannot support, and

generate the custom non-preferred channel report comprising a second list of non-preferred channels with a predetermined trait determined from the CQI; and

transmit the custom non-preferred channel report to a network management system for use in dynamic channel assignment.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the apparatus is a client connected to the network via one of the access points of the network.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the non-preferred channel report includes one or more of a list of non-preferred channels and the CQI measured for the RF channel assigned to each access point in the subset of access points.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the network management system updates a set of RF channels available for assignment to the subset of the access points based on the non-preferred channel report.

16. A method comprising:

receiving a custom non-preferred channel report from one or more clients associated to access points within a site served by a network;

determining a list of non-preferred channels for the site based on data extracted from the custom non-preferred channel report, wherein generating the list of non-preferred channel report based on the data extracted from the non-preferred channel report comprises:

generating a standard non-preferred channel report comprising another list of non-preferred channels that a client device cannot support, and

generating the custom non-preferred channel report comprising the list of non-preferred channels with a predetermined trait; and

updating a set of Radio Frequency (RF) channels available for assignment to the access points within the site based on the determined list of non-preferred channels for the site.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein receiving the custom non-preferred channel report comprises receiving, from each of the one or more clients, one or more of a list of non-preferred channels and a Channel Quality Index (CQI) measured for each RF channel assigned to an access point in a subset of access points detected by the client and determined to belong to a same Extended Service Set (ESS) of the network.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein determining the list of non-preferred channels for the site based on the data extracted from the custom non-preferred channel report comprises:

extracting the non-preferred channels from the list of non-preferred channels within each custom non-preferred channel report received; and

aggregating the extracted non-preferred channels to determine the list of non-preferred channels for the site.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein determining the list of non-preferred channels for the site based on the data extracted from the non-preferred channel report comprises:

extracting the CQI measured for each RF channel from each custom non-preferred channel report received; and

aggregating the extracted CQI on a per RF channel basis to determine whether each RF channel is a non-preferred channel for the site.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein updating the set of RF channels comprises:

updating a Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA) list; and

providing the DCA list to a controller that is operable to assign the set of RF channels to the access points within the site based on the updated DCA list.