Neighbor list management and connection control in a network environment

1. A method comprising:

via computer processor hardware, executing operations of:

at a given wireless access point, receiving communications from multiple candidate wireless access points, the received communications indicating presence of the multiple candidate wireless access points in a monitored region in which the given wireless access point resides, each of the multiple wireless access points operable to provide wireless network access to communication devices in the monitored region;

processing the communications to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points; and

providing notification of identities of the trusted wireless access points to a communication device in communication with the given wireless access point;

wherein providing notification of the identities of the trusted wireless access points further comprises;

identifying identities of the trusted wireless access points that communicate with the given wireless access point, the identities ranked in accordance with a priority order to indicate which of the trusted wireless access points in communication with the given wireless access point are best suited to receive a link handoff of the communication device from the given wireless access point; and

transmitting the identities of the trusted wireless access points over a wireless communication link between the given wireless access point and the communication device.

2. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

recording a respective direction with respect to the given wireless access point from which each of the communications is received from the multiple candidate wireless access points.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein processing the communications to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points further comprises:

forwarding unique information received from the candidate wireless access points in the monitored region to a controller resource in communication with the given wireless access point, the controller resource identifying which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points; and

receiving, in the notification, the identities of the trusted wireless access points from the controller resource.

4. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

processing the received communications from the multiple candidate wireless access points to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points purports to be part of a network in which the given wireless access point belongs.

5. The method as in claim 1 , wherein receiving the communications from the multiple candidate wireless access points further comprises:

at the given wireless access point, receiving a network name from each of the multiple candidate wireless access points; and

at the given wireless access point, receiving a network address from each of the multiple candidate wireless access points.

6. The method as in claim 5 , wherein processing the communications to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points further comprises:

processing the network names received from the multiple candidate wireless access points to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points purports to be part of a network in which the given wireless access point belongs; and

forwarding network addresses of the multiple candidate wireless access points purporting to be part of the network to a network controller resource, the controller resource utilizing the network addresses to determine which of the multiple candidate wireless access points is a trusted wireless access point for use by the communication device.

7. The method as in claim 6 , wherein providing the notification of identities of the trusted wireless access points to the communication device includes:

ranking identities of the trusted wireless access points based at least in part on a signal strength of wireless communications received from the trusted wireless access points.

8. The method as in claim 7 further comprising:

ranking the trusted wireless access points in the notification at least in part depending upon both the signal strength of and a direction with respect to the given wireless access point from which the communications are received from the trusted wireless access points.

9. The method as in claim 1 , wherein providing the notification of identities of the trusted wireless access points to a communication device includes:

ranking identities of the trusted wireless access points in accordance with a priority order based at least in part on received signal strength of communications received from the trusted wireless access points.

10. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

ranking the identities of the trusted wireless access points depending at least in part upon a signal strength of the communications received from the trusted wireless access points.

11. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the trusted wireless access points and the given wireless access point are assigned a same network name.

12. The method as in claim 11 , wherein providing notification of identities of the trusted wireless access points to the communication device includes:

providing notification to the communication device that the trusted wireless access points are assigned the same network name as the given wireless access point.

13. The method as in claim 12 , wherein the identities of the trusted wireless access points includes a first identity and a second identity, the first identity assigned to a first wireless access point of the multiple wireless access points, the second identity assigned to a second wireless access point of the multiple wireless access points, the method further comprising:

producing the notification to indicate an ordering of the first identity and the second identity, the notification indicating that the second wireless access point is better suited to support wireless communications with the communication device than the first wireless access point.

14. The method as in claim 13 further comprising:

identifying a first direction from which wireless communications are received at the given wireless access point from the first wireless access point;

identifying a second direction from which wireless communications are received at the given wireless access point from the second wireless access point;

identifying a third direction from which wireless communications are received at the given wireless access point from the communication device; and

determining the ordering based at least in part on a combination of the first direction, the second direction, and the third direction.

15. The method as in claim 13 further comprising:

identifying a first direction from which wireless communications are received from the first wireless access point;

detecting a first signal strength of the wireless communications received from the first wireless access point;

identifying a second direction from which wireless communications are received from the second wireless access point;

detecting a second signal strength of the wireless communications received from the second wireless access point;

identifying a third direction from which wireless communications are received from the communication device; and

determining the ordering based on the combination of the first direction, the second direction, the third direction, the first signal strength, and the second signal strength.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising

ranking the trusted wireless access points in the notification at least in part depending upon both the signal strength of and a direction with respect to the given wireless access point from which the communications are received from the trusted wireless access points.

17. A method comprising:

via computer processor hardware, executing operations of:

at a given wireless access point, receiving communications from multiple candidate wireless access points, the received communications indicating presence of the multiple candidate wireless access points in a monitored region in which the given wireless access point resides, each of the multiple wireless access points operable to provide wireless network access to communication devices in the monitored region;

processing the communications to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points;

providing notification of identities of the trusted wireless access points to a communication device in communication with the given wireless access point; and

the method further comprising:

recording a respective direction with respect to the given wireless access point from which each of the communications is received from the multiple candidate wireless access points;

detecting which of the trusted wireless access points is best-suited to receive a link handoff of the communication device from the given wireless access point based at least in part on the respective directions from which the communications are received at the given wireless access point from the trusted wireless access points and a corresponding direction from which communications are received at the given wireless access point from the communication device.

18. A method comprising:

via computer processor hardware, executing operations of:

receiving communications from multiple candidate wireless access points in a monitored region in which a given wireless access point resides, the communications from the multiple candidate wireless access points indicating presence of the multiple candidate wireless access points in the monitored region;

processing the communications received from the multiple candidate wireless access points to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points purports to be part of a network in which the given wireless access point belongs; and

for the multiple candidate wireless access points that purport to be part of the network to which the given wireless access point belongs, utilizing unique identifier values assigned to the multiple candidate wireless access points to identify which of the wireless access points is a trusted wireless access point belonging to the network, the method further comprising:

identifying identities of the trusted wireless access points belonging to the network; and

ranking the identified identities of the trusted wireless access points depending upon an angular direction from which communications are received from the trusted wireless access points.

19. A computer system comprising:

computer processor hardware; and

a hardware storage resource coupled to the computer processor hardware, the hardware storage resource storing instructions that, when executed by the computer processor hardware, causes the computer processor hardware to:

at a given wireless access point, receive communications from multiple wireless access points, the received communications indicating presence of the multiple candidate wireless access points in a monitored region in which the given wireless access point resides;

process the communications to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points; and

provide notification of identities of the trusted wireless access points to a communication device in communication with the given wireless access point;

wherein, to provide the notification, the computer processor hardware is further operable to:

identify identities of the trusted wireless access points, the identities ranked to indicate which of the trusted wireless access points in communication with the given wireless access points are best suited to receive a link handoff of the communication device from the given wireless access point; and

transmit the identities of the trusted wireless access points over a wireless communication link between the given wireless access point and the communication device.

20. The computer system as in claim 19 , wherein the computer processor hardware is further operable to:

receive the communications from the multiple candidate wireless access points; and

record a direction from which each of the communications is received from the multiple candidate wireless access points.

21. The computer system as in claim 19 , wherein the computer processor hardware is further operable to:

detect which of the trusted wireless access points is best-suited to receive the handoff based at least in part on the direction from which each of the communications is received at the given wireless access point from the trusted wireless access points and a direction from which communications are received at the given wireless access point from the communication device.

22. The computer system as in claim 19 , wherein the computer processor hardware is further operable to:

forward unique information received from the candidate wireless access points in the monitored region to a controller resource in communication with the given wireless access point, the controller resource identifying which of the candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points; and

receive, in the notification, the identities of the trusted wireless access points from the controller resource.

23. The computer system as in claim 19 , wherein the computer processor hardware is further operable to:

receive a network name from each of the multiple candidate wireless access points; and

receive a network address from each of the multiple candidate wireless access points.

24. The computer system as in claim 23 , wherein to process the communications to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points, the computer processor hardware is further operable to:

process the network names received from the multiple candidate wireless access points to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points purports to be part of a network in which the given wireless access point belongs; and

forward network addresses of the multiple candidate wireless access points purporting to be part of the network to a network controller resource, the controller resource utilizing the network addresses to determine which of the multiple candidate wireless access points is a trusted wireless access point for use by the communication device.

25. The computer system as in claim 19 , wherein the computer processor hardware is further operable to:

rank identities of the trusted wireless access points based at least in part on received signal strength of communications received from the trusted wireless access points.

26. Computer-readable storage hardware having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when carried out by computer processor hardware, causes the computer processor hardware to:

at a given wireless access point, receive communications indicating presence of multiple candidate wireless access points in a monitored region in which the given wireless access point resides;

process the communications to identify which of the multiple candidate wireless access points are trusted wireless access points; and

provide notification of identities of the trusted wireless access points to a communication device in communication with the given wireless access point;

wherein, to provide the notification, the instruction cause the computer processor hardware to:

identify identities of the trusted wireless access points that communicate with the given wireless access point, the identified identities ranked in accordance with a priority order to indicate which of the trusted wireless access points in communication with the given wireless access point are best suited to receive a link handoff of the communication device from the given wireless access point; and

transmit the identities of the trusted wireless access points over a wireless communication link between the given wireless access point and the communication device.