Method and system for selective attenuation of preamble reception in co-located WI FI access points

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of co-located access points (APs) operative in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard;

a plurality of preamble detection units associated with the respective plurality of co-located APs, each preamble detection unit configured to detect a transmission of a preamble in accordance of the IEEE 802.11 standard, by at least one of the other co-located APs;

a plurality of attenuators associated with the respective plurality of co-located APs, each attenuator configured to attenuate a signal received by its associated AP upon detection by the preamble detection unit of a preamble transmitted by another of the co-located APs; and

at least one blanking pulse generator configured to generate a blanking pulse having an amplitude selected such that it desensitizes at least one receiver in at least one of the co-located APs throughout a duration of the preamble as detected by the preamble detection unit.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the attenuation of the received signal is carried out only when the AP transmitting the preamble and the AP receiving the preamble are co-channel.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the attenuation of the received signal is carried out after being received by an antenna of the receiving AP and prior to entering a receiver of said receiving AP.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one attenuator comprises said blanking pulse generator.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system is a Multi-Beam Access Point (MBAP) system having Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) functionality, and wherein said attenuation is configured to suppress an activation of the CCA functionality caused by a leakage introduced by co-located AP transmitters.

6. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the attenuator is configured to apply a variable amount of attenuation which is proportional to a measured residual transmitter to receiver signal leakage.

7. A method comprising:

transmitting at least one transmit signal via at least one of a plurality of co-located access points (APs) operative in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard;

detecting transmission of a preamble in accordance of the IEEE 802.11 standard, by at least one of the APs co-located with the transmitting AP; and

attenuating a signal received by at least one of the non-transmitting plurality of co-located APs upon said detection of transmission of the preamble by the transmitting AP, wherein the attenuation is achieved by generating a blanking pulse having an amplitude selected such that it desensitizes at least one receiver in at least one of the co-located APs throughout a duration of the preamble as detected by the preamble detection unit.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the attenuation of the received signal is carried out only whenever the AP transmitting the preamble and the AP receiving the preamble are co-channel.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the attenuation of the received signal is carried out after being received by an antenna of the receiving AP and prior to entering a receiver of said receiving AP.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the method is operable at a Multi-Beam Access Point (MBAP) system having Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) functionality, and wherein said attenuation is configured to suppress an activation of the CCA functionality caused by a leakage introduced by co-located AP transmitters.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the attenuation comprises a variable amount of attenuation which is proportional to a measured residual transmitter to receiver signal leakage.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium product having stored thereon instructions which when executed cause a processor to:

control transmission of at least one transmit signal via at least one of a plurality of co-located access points (APs) operative in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard;

detect transmission of a preamble in accordance of the IEEE 802.11 standard, by at least one of the APs co-located with the transmitting AP; and

cause attenuation of a signal received by at least one of the non-transmitting plurality of co-located APs upon said detection of transmission of the preamble by the transmitting AP, wherein the attenuation is achieved by generating a blanking pulse having an amplitude selected such that it desensitizes at least one receiver in at least one of the co-located APs throughout a duration of the preamble as detected by the preamble detection unit.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 12 , wherein the attenuation of the received signal is carried out after being received by an antenna of the receiving AP and prior to entering a receiver of said receiving AP.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 12 , wherein the computer program product is operable at a Multi-Beam Access Point (MBAP) system having Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) functionality, and wherein said attenuation is configured to suppress an activation of the CCA functionality caused by a leakage introduced by co-located AP transmitters.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 14 , wherein the attenuation comprises a variable amount of attenuation which is proportional to a measured residual transmitter to receiver signal leakage.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 12 , wherein the attenuation of the received signal is carried out only whenever the AP transmitting the preamble and the AP receiving the preamble are co-channel.