Station, method, and apparatus for network detection in a wireless communications system

1. A station for identifying the presence of at least one access point to associate with, the station comprising a processor configured to:

generate a probe message requesting a plurality of probe response messages for initiating a process for transmitting association information, the probe message including a scrambling seed, and the processor being configured to generate the scrambling seed using a standardized transformation of the probe message or a station address;

transmit the probe message;

receive a first probe response message from each access point, each first probe response message being encoded with the scrambling seed, each first probe response being received at the same time, and each first probe response message being identical;

after the first probe response message is received, receive a second probe response message from each access point, each second probe response message including at least an address of the access point;

identify an access point to associate with based on the second probe response messages;

generate an association request for the identified access point; and

transmit the association request to the identified access point.

2. The station of claim 1 , the probe message further including an identifier of the station and the first probe response message further including the identifier of the station.

3. The station of claim 1 , the probe message further including a request-to-send (RTS) frame comprising a destination address corresponding to a pre-defined address for scanning a channel.

4. The station of claim 1 , the second probe response message including at least one of a clear-to-send (CTS) frame, an acknowledgment (ACK) frame, and a PHY layer preamble comprising a length field having a value of zero.

5. A processing circuit configured to perform a method for identifying the presence of at least one access point to associate with, the method comprising:

generating a probe message requesting a plurality of probe response messages for initiating a process for transmitting association information, the probe message including a scrambling seed, and the scrambling seed being generated using a standardized transformation of the probe message or a station address;

transmitting the probe message;

receiving a first probe response message from each access point, each first probe response message being encoded with the scrambling seed, each first probe response being received at the same time, and each first probe response message being identical;

receiving a second probe response message from each access point, each second probe response message including at least an address of the access point;

identifying an access point to associate with based on the second probe response messages;

generating an association request for the identified access point; and

transmitting the association request to the identified access point.

6. The method of claim 5 , the probe message further including an identifier of the station and the first probe response message further including the identifier of the station.

7. The method of claim 5 , the probe message further including a request-to-send (RTS) frame comprising a destination address corresponding to a pre-defined address for scanning a channel.

8. The method of claim 5 , the second probe response message including at least one of a clear-to-send (CTS) frame, an acknowledgment (ACK) frame, and a PHY layer preamble comprising a length field having a value of zero.

9. An apparatus for identifying the presence of at least one access point to associate with, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating a probe message requesting a plurality of probe response messages for initiating a process for transmitting association information, the probe message including a scrambling seed, the means for generating being configured to generate the scrambling seed using a standardized transformation of the probe message or a station address;

means for transmitting the probe message;

means for receiving a first probe response message from each access point, each first probe response message being encoded with the scrambling seed, each first probe response being received at the same time, and each first probe response message being identical;

means for receiving a second probe response message from each access point, each second probe response message including at least an address of the access point;

means for identifying an access point to associate with based on the second probe response messages;

means for generating an association request for the identified access point; and

means for transmitting the association request to the identified access point.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , the probe message further including an identifier of the station and the first probe response message further including the identifier of the station.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , the probe message further including a request-to-send (RTS) frame comprising a destination address corresponding to a pre-defined address for scanning a channel.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , the second probe response message including at least one of a clear-to-send (CTS) frame, an acknowledgment (ACK) frame, and a PHY layer preamble comprising a length field having a value of zero.