Method and systems for multiple access point coordination
According to a first aspect of the disclosure, methods are discussed in which a station (STA) sends a message to an access point, for example an associated access point, about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters. A STA, which may be a mobile STA, can be in a better position than the APs themselves, for detecting changes in conditions which can affect the effectiveness, or even the desirability of the multi-AP coordination. Accordingly the STA can send a message reporting detected conditions related to multi-AP coordination. In some embodiments, such a message can request for initializing multi-AP coordination, such a message can be in response to a triggering event detected by the STA. In response to such a triggering event, the STA can analyze the STA's service needs, and send the message about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters. A second aspect of the disclosure provides an AP-to-AP negotiation process for multi-AP coordination. This can be useful either by itself or combined with the first aspect or can be used as an improvement to other multi-AP coordination methods and systems. In some embodiments, such a process includes each AP maintaining an ongoing database of adjacent APs based on prior multi-AP coordination.
1 . A method for multiple access point (AP) coordination comprising:
detecting, by a station (STA), a triggering event, the STA being served by an associated access point (AP);
analyzing, by the STA, the STA's service needs in response to the triggering event; and
sending, by the STA to the associated AP, a message about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters, wherein the message/request is included as part of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU).
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the message about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters includes a request for initializing multi-AP coordination.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the triggering event is triggered by an internal factor related to an application running on the STA.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the triggering event is triggered by an external factor related to a change in quality of service conditions.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the request includes a report of analyzed conditions.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the message/request is included in a designated frame.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing, by the STA, the STA's service needs in response to the triggering event comprises the STA measuring and analyzing QoS metrics including one or more of:
i) timeliness parameters;
ii) bandwidth parameters; and
iii) reliability, stability, and availability parameters.
8 . The method of claim 7 wherein sending, by the STA to the associated AP, a message about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters comprises sending one or more of:
i) timeliness parameters: (acknowledgement) ACK delay, jitter;
ii) bandwidth parameters: effective throughput, buffer size; and
iii) reliability, stability, and availability parameters: SINR variation, average bit error rate and average frame loss rate.
9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
the associated AP receiving the message relating to multiple AP (multi-AP) coordination from the STA;
the associated AP broadcasting a message to neighboring APs listed in a table of candidate APs stored in the AP's memory;
the associated AP receiving replies from the neighboring APs, the replies including information relating to the STA's message;
the associated AP selecting an AP to act as a leader AP for the multi-AP coordination based on the information in the replies; and
the associated AP participating in the multi-AP coordination according to control messages received from the leader AP.
10 . A method of multiple access point (AP) coordination, the method executed by an AP (associated with a station (STA)), the method comprising:
the AP receives a message relating to multiple AP (multi-AP) coordination from the STA;
the AP broadcasts a message to neighboring APs listed in a table of candidate APs stored in the AP's memory;
the AP receives replies from the neighboring APs, the replies including information relating to the STA's message;
the AP selects an AP to act as a leader AP for the multi-AP coordination based on the information in the replies; and
the AP participates in the multi-AP coordination according to control messages received from the leader AP.
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the AP selects a neighboring AP as the leader AP.
12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the AP updates its table of candidate APs based on the information received in the replies.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the information received in the replies includes a coordination score, received from each neighboring AP, according to the message relating to multiple AP (multi-AP) coordination from the STA and the method further includes the AP determining a coordination score for itself.
14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the AP selects an AP to act as a leader AP for the multi-AP coordination based on the information in the replies includes selecting the AP with the highest coordination score.
15 . The method of claim 14 wherein each AP's coordination score is computed based on resource accessibility, resource availability, and resource quality.
16 . The method of claim 14 wherein the AP selects itself as the leader AP, and the method further comprises:
the leader AP determines participating APs in the multi-AP coordination; including
calculating and determining a cost effective coordination scheme to satisfy the message;
the leader AP performs resource scheduling; and
the leader AP messages participating AP's according to the scheduling for controlling the multi-AP coordination.
17 . A station (STA) device comprising:
at least one processor:
at least one wireless interface for communicating with at least one access point (AP); and
machine readable memory storing machine readable instructions for configuring the STA for:
detecting, by a station (STA), a triggering event, the STA being served by an associated access point (AP);
analyzing, by the STA, the STA's service needs in response to the triggering event; and
sending, by the STA to the associated AP, a message about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters, wherein sending, by the STA to the associated AP, a message about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters comprises:
i) sending timeliness parameters: (acknowledgement) ACK delay, jitter;
ii) bandwidth parameters: effective throughput, buffer size; and
iii) reliability, stability, and availability parameters: SINR variation, average bit error rate and average frame loss rate.
18 . The station as claimed in claim 17 wherein the message about a change in multi-AP coordination parameters includes a request for initializing multi-AP coordination.