Wireless system and method for cross-deployment basic service set (BSS) color and channel optimization

Abstract

In a dense wireless local area network (WLAN) deployment, access points (APs) located in other extended service sets (ESSs) may be hidden (a first AP cannot receive signals from a third AP). However, these APs in other ESSs may still interfere with communications between the third AP and a device communicating with the first AP. In order to improve service to the device in this case, the first AP requires information about the third AP in the first AP's decision-making process. In these cases, a second AP in contact with the third AP may share information about the third AP with the first AP so that the first AP can avoid conflicts with the third AP.

Description

[0001] This application was filed as a PCT international patent application on December 17, 2020, and claims priority to U.S. non-provisional patent application serial number 16 / 726,554 filed on December 24, 2019, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0002] The exemplary aspects relate to communication systems. More particularly, the exemplary aspects relate to IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 wireless communication systems. Background Art

[0003] Wireless systems employ processes to manage the radio resources of wireless devices to optimize parameters including channelization, transmit power, etc. Radio management helps avoid or mitigate signal interference issues. The processes for managing radio resources are performed on a controller, which may only manage access points (APs) that are either joined to that controller or to different controllers that belong to the same radio frequency (RF) group, called an extended service set (ESS). Therefore, any AP that is not part of the same deployment cannot perform joint optimization nor is it fully aware of the surrounding "second hop" neighbors. When one of the managed APs in the ESS experiences interference, the controller tends to confirm the interference.

[0004] There are many deployment scenarios where there are unmanaged AP deployment sets in the vicinity. For example, a deployment in a shopping mall may have many ESSs that are not managed by a common controller. Even if the same network manager deploys multiple controllers where APs managed by different controllers are within range of each other, radio resource management is still performed independently only for APs directly managed by this controller. This lack of a single source of management results in a lack of awareness and non-joint optimization as with disjoint AP deployments.

[0005] These above scenarios present challenges in radio resource optimization. Summary of the invention

[0006] Aspects of the present invention may include a method having the following steps: receiving information about a third AP of a second ESS from a second AP of a second ESS at a first AP of a first ESS. The first AP determines an adjusted received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the third AP based on the information about the third AP. Then, the first AP performs radio resource management (RRM) that takes into account the third AP based on the adjusted RSSI. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1A An environment with two basic service sets according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0008] Figure 1B An environment with APs from two ESSs, where the APs may cause interference between each other, is shown in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

[0009] Figure 2 An access point according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0010] Figure 3 shows a signaling process according to aspects of the present disclosure;

[0011] Figure 4A illustrates data structures that may be received, stored, retrieved, managed, etc., according to aspects of the present disclosure;

[0012] Figure 4B Another data structure that may be received, stored, retrieved, managed, etc., according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0013] Figure 5 A process for determining the RSSI of another AP according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0014] Fig. 6A A method for receiving information about another AP that may be causing interference according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0015] Figure 6B Also shown are methods for receiving information about another AP that may be causing interference in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

[0016] Figure 7 Another method for receiving information about another AP that may be causing interference according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0017] Figure 8 Another method for receiving information about another AP that may be causing interference according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Fig. 9 Embodiments of stations or access points according to aspects of the present disclosure are shown.

[0019] In the accompanying drawings, the same reference numeral may refer to the same component. A letter following a number indicates another example of the same type of component. Similar components may share the description of the component. When referring to a component without a letter following a number, all components with that numerical designator may share the description. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] Overview

[0021] An AP can typically identify nearby APs and determine or receive parameters of those nearby APs to avoid conflicts. This identification of other APs is possible when the AP can receive signals sent from other APs. However, other APs in other ESSs may be hidden (the AP cannot receive signals from other APs). However, other APs may still cause interference to communications between the AP and the devices communicating with the AP. For example, the AP may be out of range of other APs, but the device between the APs may be within range of both APs, which may create the possibility of signal interference and conflict from both APs. Therefore, in order to improve service to the device in this situation, the AP needs information about other APs in the decision-making process of the AP.

[0022] The hidden AP problem of overlapping coverage as described above may be more pronounced in the case of independent ESS deployments (e.g., in a shopping mall with independent vendors, in an office building, etc.). As an example, the first AP may be part of one managed group (e.g., the first ESS). The second AP and the third AP may both be part of another managed group (e.g., the second ESS). Since the first AP and the third AP may have overlapping coverage areas, the third AP may cause interference to the first AP, and vice versa. However, the third AP may be visible only to the second AP. In this case, the first AP's lack of awareness of the third AP and the third AP's lack of awareness of the first AP may adversely affect stations or devices that are communicating with the first AP or the third AP but are located in the overlapping coverage area of ​​the first AP and the third AP. In order to assist the first AP or the third AP, the second AP may provide information about the first AP or the third AP to the other AP of the first AP and the third AP.

[0023] In the first case, aspects of the present invention are directed to the case where the first AP advertises an open service set identifier (SSID), which can be a name associated with an 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) that allows devices to connect to the WLAN. Many open WiFi access WLANs (e.g., WLANs in malls, stores, etc.) broadcast an open SSID to provide open WiFi access to customers. In addition, many residential or office Internet service providers (ISPs) can provide a guest SSID, or an open service provider SSID provided to roaming subscribers.

[0024] In this case, a second AP or wireless sensor that is part of a second managed group can spoof a first AP that is part of another managed group to appear as a client device that wishes to access the first AP's WLAN. The second AP spoofs the first AP to associate to an open SSID. The second AP can then notify the first AP of the presence of a third AP (that is not part of the first AP's managed group) in the vicinity and provide the first AP with the third AP's channel and / or BSS color information. The above notification can be provided using beacon reports and / or BSS color conflict reports.

[0025] In addition, the second AP in contact with the third AP can share information about the first AP with the third AP so that the third AP can avoid conflict with the first AP. Sending the above notification to the first AP and / or the third AP has important benefits: preventing the first AP from making a decision that will cause a conflict with the third AP; reducing the need for frequent switching of channels and / or BSS colors in the first AP in response to the presence of an unmanaged third AP; and / or, solving the problem of static channel and / or BSS color allocation in the first AP.

[0026] Since the association and reporting process may take up valuable time resources of the second AP and may occur in a channel different from the operating channel of the second AP, an auxiliary radio on the second AP or using deployed wireless sensors can be used to perform the association and reporting process as described above. In the presence of 5G technologies managed by the same infrastructure, the channels / bandwidths used by these technologies can also be reported to the first AP as part of the beacon report.

[0027] In the second case, an extended neighbor discovery (ND) packet may be embedded with additional information about the channel and BSS color of the neighbor AP and may be broadcast in a medium access control (MAC) frame, which may be unencrypted or encrypted using a public key. In some cases, the MAC frame may be sent by a wireless sensor. The extended ND report in the MAC frame may include the signal strength from each neighbor, the neighbor's BSS color, the load on the neighbor, the neighbor's spatial reuse statistics, etc.

[0028] In the third case, an AP may receive a neighbor report (NR) or a reduced neighbor report (RNR) from another AP. The NR or RNR element is intended for client roaming and contains less information than a beacon report. However, the NR and RNR still contain some relevant information about neighbor APs that may not be visible to the third AP. The NR and RNR may be included in beacons and / or fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frames sent by the AP or may be requested by active probing.

[0029] Regardless of how it is obtained, the information received in the above situations can improve RRM decisions in the network. Without this shared information, the RRM function would be unaware of APs managed by other networks that cannot be directly observed by the network's own equipment. This situation can cause the AP to make suboptimal decisions that can negatively impact the AP's own network and other networks.

[0030] The enhanced ND frame described above provides RRM with additional information about observable inter-network APs. RRM optimization can use information from enhanced ND frames to decide how to best manage radio resources. When an ND is received, the AP compares the identified nearby APs to a previously stored list of known nearby APs. Any AP that appears in the list in the ND but not in the AP's own neighbor list can be added to the channelization and BSS color algorithm optimization as another regular neighbor, but the RSSI needs to be adjusted. This adjusted RSSI expression takes into account the proximity of the reporting device so that if the information is received from a device located far away, the neighbor seen by the AP is of less interest.

[0031] RRM optimization that leverages information from NR or RNR can be somewhat different. Although NR and RNR contain much less information than enhanced ND frames, NR and RNR can still benefit RRM. In many cases, RSSI information is not included in NR and RNR. However, the AP can still extract the RSSI of the reporting AP, add a constant adjustment, and integrate this information back into RRM, which helps compensate for the lesser amount of information in NR and RNR.

[0032] Various aspects of the present invention generally relate to wireless communication systems that can be performed according to one or more wireless communication standards. For example, some aspects may relate to wireless communications performed according to the Wi-Fi standard developed by IEEE 802.11, for example, wireless communications performed according to IEEE 802.11ax. Some aspects may relate to wireless communications performed according to other standards, rules, regulations, guidelines, etc. Some aspects may additionally or alternatively relate to wireless communications according to one or more other wireless communication standards, such as but not limited to other IEEE wireless communication standards (e.g., IEEE802.11, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11u, IEEE802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ad, IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.11ah and / or IEEE 802.11ay standard), Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) wireless communication standards (e.g., Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Direct Service, Wireless Gigabit (WiGig), WiGig Display Extension (WDE), WiGig Bus Extension (WBE), WiGig Serial Extension (WSE) standards and / or standards developed by the WFA Neighbor Awareness Network (NAN) Task Group), Machine Type Communication (MTC) standards (e.g., those contained in 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 23.887, 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 22.368 and / or 3GPP TS 23.682), and / or Near Field Communication (NFC) standards (e.g., standards developed by the NFC Forum), including any predecessors, revisions, successors and / or variants of any of the foregoing standards.

[0033] Likewise, some aspects may relate to wireless communications performed in accordance with one or more broadband wireless communication standards, such as 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or 3GPP LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technologies and / or standards. Additional examples of broadband wireless communication technologies / standards may include Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) / Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) / High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA) and / or GSM with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system (GSM / GPRS), IEEE 802.16 wireless broadband standards (e.g., IEEE 802.16m and / or IEEE 802.16p), International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-ADV), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and / or WiMAX II, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 (e.g., CDMA2000 1.times.RTT, CDMA2000 EV-DO, CDMA EV-DV, etc.), High Performance Radio Metropolitan Area Network (HIPERMAN), Wireless Broadband (WiBro), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Packet Access (HSOPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technologies and / or standards.

[0034] Example Embodiments

[0035] Figure 1A and 1B An example of an operating environment associated with various aspects of the present invention is shown. The WLAN may include an extended service set (ESS) 100a, 100b, which may include: a master station or controller 101a, 101b, one or more APs 104a-104h, and one or more devices or stations (STA) 106. The controller or master station 101a, 101b may be an AP that uses the IEEE 802.11 protocol to transmit and receive. Hereinafter, the term AP will be used to identify the controller 101, but the configuration may not be limited to being an AP to perform the functions described herein, as a separate controller may also perform these functions.

[0036] AP 104 may be a base station and may use other communication protocols as well as IEEE 802.11 protocols. IEEE 802.11 protocols may include the use of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and / or code division multiple access (CDMA). IEEE 802.11 protocols may include multiple access techniques. For example, IEEE 802.11 protocols may include space division multiple access (SDMA) and / or multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO). Example configurations of AP 104 and / or controller 101 may be as follows: Fig. 9 as shown in .

[0037] STA 106 may include one or more high-efficiency (HE) STAs (as shown in, for example, the IEEE 802.11ax standard), future-developed STAs, and / or one or more legacy STAs (as shown in, for example, the IEEE 802.11n / ac standard). STA 106 may be a wireless device, such as a cellular phone, a smart phone, a handheld wireless device, wireless glasses, a wireless watch, a wireless personal device, a tablet device, or another device that can send and receive using the IEEE 802.11 protocol. In an operating environment, AP 104 may generally manage access of STA 106 to a wireless medium in a WLAN.

[0038] exist Figure 1A and Figure 1B In the environment shown in , one or more STAs 106 may associate and / or communicate with an AP 104 to join a WLAN. Joining a WLAN may enable the STAs 106 to wirelessly communicate with each other via the AP 104, directly with each other, with the AP 104, or with another network or resource through the AP 104. In some configurations, to send data to a recipient, the sending STA may send an uplink (UL) physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) including the data to the AP 104, which may then send the data to the recipient STA 106 in a downlink (DL) PPDU. PLCP is a physical layer protocol used with 802.11 and other standards.

[0039] In some configurations, the data frames transmitted between STA 106 or between STA 106 and AP 104 may be configurable. For example, the channel used for communication may be divided into subchannels, which may be continuous bandwidths of 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 320 MHz, or non-continuous bandwidths of 80+80 MHz (160 MHz). In addition, the bandwidth of the subchannel may be increased to bandwidths of 1 MHz, 1.25 MHz, 2.03 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, and 10 MHz, or combinations thereof, or other bandwidth divisions less than or equal to the available bandwidth may also be used. The bandwidth of the subchannel may be based on the number of active subcarriers. The bandwidth of the subchannel may be a multiple of 26 active subcarriers or tones at intervals of 20 MHz (e.g., 26, 52, 106, etc.). In some configurations, the bandwidth of the subchannel is 256 tones at intervals of 20 MHz. In other configurations, a subchannel is a multiple of 26 subcarriers, or a multiple of 20 MHz. A 20 MHz subchannel may also include 256 subcarriers for use with a 256-point Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

[0040] When AP 104 manages access to the wireless medium in a WLAN, AP 104 may schedule medium access for transmitting STA 106 during a UL time interval during which AP 104 may avoid transmitting over the wireless medium. UL time intervals may include a portion of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) owned by AP 104.

[0041] At a given point in time, multiple STAs in the WLAN may wish to transmit data. In some configurations, instead of scheduling medium access for the STAs 106 in different respective UL time intervals, the AP 104 may schedule medium access for the STAs 106 to support a UL MU transmission technique, according to which multiple STAs 106 may simultaneously transmit UL MU PPDUs to the AP 104 during a given UL time interval. For example, by using UL MU OFDMA techniques during a given UL time interval, multiple STAs 106 may transmit UL MU PPDUs to the AP 104 via different respective OFDMA resource units (RUs) allocated by the AP 104. In another example, by using UL MU-MIMO techniques during a given UL time interval, multiple STAs 106 may transmit UL MU PPDUs to the AP 104 via different respective spatial streams allocated by the AP 104.

[0042] To manage access, the AP 104 may send a HE primary synchronization transmission at the beginning of the control time period, which may be a trigger frame (TF) or a control and scheduling transmission. The AP 104 may send the time duration and subchannel information of the TXOP. During the control time period, the STA 106 may communicate with the AP 104 according to a non-contention-based multiple access technology (e.g., OFDMA or MU-MIMO). This technology is different from the following traditional WLAN communications: in traditional WLAN communications, devices communicate according to contention-based communication technologies rather than multiple access technologies. During the control time period, the AP 104 may communicate with the station 106 using one or more control frames, and the STA 106 may operate on a subchannel that is smaller than the operating range of the AP 104.

[0043] During the primary synchronization transmission, the STA 106 can contend for the wireless medium, while the traditional STA 106 is excluded from the contention for the wireless medium during the primary synchronization transmission. The TF used during this primary synchronization transmission can indicate the UL-MU-MIMO and / or UL OFDMA control period. The multiple access technology used during the control period can be a scheduled OFDMA technology, or alternatively, it can be a TDMA technology, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) technology, or an SDMA technology.

[0044] Similarly, STAs in a WLAN may need to receive data. Likewise, instead of scheduling medium access for STAs 106 in different respective DL time intervals, the AP 104 may schedule medium access for the STAs 106 to support a DL MU transmission technique, according to which multiple STAs 106 may simultaneously receive DL MU PPDUs from the AP 104 during a given DL time interval. For example, by using a DL MU OFDMA technique during a given UL time interval, multiple STAs 106 may receive DL MU PPDUs from the AP 104 via different respective OFDMA RUs allocated by the AP 104. In another example, by using a DL MU-MIMO technique during a given DL time interval, multiple STAs 106 may receive DL MU PPDUs from the AP 104 via different respective spatial streams allocated by the AP 104.

[0045] To manage access, the AP 104 may send a master synchronization transmission at the beginning of the control time period, which may be a TF or control and scheduling. The AP 104 may send the time duration and subchannel information of the receive opportunity (RXOP). During the control time period, the STA 106 may communicate with the AP 104 according to a non-contention-based multiple access technology (e.g., OFDMA or MU-MIMO). During the control time period, the AP 104 may communicate with the station 106 using one or more control frames, and the STA 106 may operate on a subchannel that is smaller than the operating range of the AP 104.

[0046] During the primary synchronization transmission, STA 106 can contend for the wireless medium, while the traditional STA 106 is excluded from the contention for the wireless medium during the primary synchronization transmission. The TF used during this primary synchronization transmission can indicate the UL-MU-MIMO and / or UL OFDMA control period. The multiple access technology used during the control period can be a scheduled OFDMA technology, or alternatively, it can be a TDMA technology, an FDMA technology, or an SDMA technology.

[0047] AP 104 may also communicate with legacy stations and / or stations 106 according to conventional IEEE 802.11 communication techniques. In some configurations, AP 104 may also be configured to communicate with stations 106 according to conventional IEEE 802.11 communication techniques outside of control periods, although this is not required.

[0048] like Figure 1B As shown, the scheduling of the medium may be affected by the presence of another AP2d 104h / AP 1c 104c that is part of another ESS 100b / 100a. STA 106 may be associated with ESS 100a and communicate with AP 1c 104c. If both AP 1c 104c and AP 2d 104h transmit signals on the same RU at the same time, STA 106 may experience collision or interference, which prevents successful reception of signals from AP 1c 104c. Therefore, AP 1c 104c may use information about AP 2d 104h to adjust the scheduling of DL transmissions to STA 106, and vice versa.

[0049] An example of AP 104 may be Figure 2 The AP 104 may be embodied in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. An example architecture of the AP 104 may be as shown in conjunction with Fig. 9As described above. The AP 104 may include an information service 204 and / or an RRM component 208. The information service 204 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: a beacon receiver 212, a neighbor discovery (ND) component 216, and / or a neighbor reporting component 220. The beacon receiver 212 is operable to receive one or more beacons from APs 104 in different ESSs 100b. For example, AP 1a 104a may receive a beacon from AP 2d 104h. The beacon may have additional information about AP 2d 104h, which allows neighbor calculations to be performed in AP 1a 104a and / or allows AP 1a 104a to notify AP 1c 104c of the presence of AP 2d 104h. The beacon sent from AP 2d 104h may be as understood in the art, but may include the following in conjunction with Figure 4A Data structure in 404 or Figure 4B Additional information described in data structure 454.

[0050] The ND component 216 can perform communication or extract information about one or more neighbors of the AP 1a 104a. The ND component 216 can be operated to place the information in a beacon to be broadcast, can place the ND information in a FILS discovery frame, place the ND information in a MAC frame, or receive such information from such various sources and / or signals. The ND component 216 can then provide such information to the RRM component 208.

[0051] Neighbor reporting component 220 can receive a NR or RNR from another AP 104 that may be within range. Figure 1B As shown in FIG. 1 , AP 1a 104a is within range of AP 2d 104h. The two APs 104 may exchange NRs or RNRs. AP 1a 104a may then provide such information to AP 1c 104c. The information from neighbor reporting component 220 may also be reported to RRM component 208.

[0052] The RRM component 208 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: an RSSI calculation component 224, a spatial reuse component 228, a channelization component 232, and / or a color algorithm component 236. More or fewer components may be provided in the radio resource management 208. In addition, the RRM component 208 may include existing functions or components for performing radio resource management, and / or other functions for mitigating or eliminating interference between two APs 104. The RRM component 208 of the AP 1c 104c may consider information received from the separate AP 1a 104a and perform RRM to compensate for the presence of the AP 2d 104h, wherein the AP2d 104h is within the range of the station 106 but not necessarily within the range of the AP 1c 104c. The RRM component 208 may also communicate with the separate controller 101b through the controller 101a, or directly with the AP 2d 104h, to perform joint RRM functions or operations to eliminate interference.

[0053] RSSI calculation component 224 can calculate or compute an adjusted RSSI for AP 104 to compensate for or account for interference from an interfering AP (e.g., AP 2d 104h) in a separate or different ESS 100b. RSSI calculation can be combined with Figure 5 In some cases, how the RSSI may be calculated may be based on how neighbor information about interfering APs and / or other BSSs is received. Thus, the metric calculation results that may be used as a result of the RSSI calculation may be different for the type or amount of information received, and may be different if the information is received in a beacon, FILS frame, MAC frame, or from a NR or RNR.

[0054] The spatial reuse component 228 can indicate or determine spatial reuse opportunities based on information provided in the information about interfering APs. The spatial reuse process can be understood or provided in one or more 802.11 protocols, but in this case, information about interfering APs (e.g., AP2d 104h) located in separate or different ESSs 100b can also be included in the calculation determination. Therefore, similarly, the spatial reuse calculation results include additional information that was not previously used to determine spatial reuse capabilities.

[0055] Similarly, channelization component 232 can perform similar processes as previous 802.11 systems. However, those previous systems do not consider or take into account interfering APs that are unknown to AP 104 located in separate ESS 100b in their determinations. However, channelization component 232 can use the methods described in conjunction with FIG. Figure 8The information received at the AP 104c can be used to determine the channel used by the interfering AP for communicating with the STA 106 or the channel used at the STA 106. In addition, the channelization component 232 can be jointly managed with the controller 2 101b or the AP 2d 104h, or communicate with the controller 2 101b or the AP 2d 104h. In this way, the AP 1c 104c can ensure that the interference experienced at the STA 106 can be mitigated or eliminated by the channelization component 232.

[0056] Similarly, the BSS coloring algorithm may also take into account the presence of interfering APs. The color algorithm component 236 may determine an identifier for the BSS 100a and may coordinate such identification with the ESS 100b through the controllers 101a and 101b or through the AP 104. In this manner, the ESSs 100a and 100b may select different ESS identifiers or colors and may be used to help the STA 106 to easily identify the source ESS of the incoming signal.

[0057] An embodiment of a signaling process for exchanging communications between one or more APs 104h, 104a, and / or 104c may be as follows: Figure 3 The signaling process 300 may be performed wirelessly or via a wired connection between controller 101a to controller 101b, between AP 104 and controller 101, and / or between APs 104, or vice versa. Any of these signals herein may be encrypted.

[0058] AP 2d 104h may send a signal 304. The signal may have a combination of Figure 4A 4. The signal 304 may include information described in data structure 404 described in detail in detail in detail. The signal may be received by AP 104a located in a separate ESS from AP 2d 104h. Upon receiving signal 304, AP 1a 104a may send signal 308 back to AP 104h to request more information from AP 104h. In this manner, if signal 304 does not have the information needed from AP 104h to perform an RRM process that takes neighbors into consideration, AP 104a may request information from AP 104h. Upon receiving signal 308 at AP 104h, AP 104h may then send another frame of data or other information back to AP 104a within signal 312. Signal 312 may also include information such as Figure 4A In other cases, AP 104h may send a neighbor report or a simplified neighbor report in signal 316. The NR or RNR may include information from, for example, a combination of Figure 4B The information of the data structure 454.

[0059] Regardless of the source of the information about AP 104h, AP 104a may then forward the information in signal 320 or send the information in neighbor information to another AP 104c in the same ESS. In this manner, AP 104a may determine or discover AP 104h from a separate ESS that may interfere with transmissions from AP 104c to a station, and information about such interference may then be provided to AP 104c. In other cases, AP 104c may receive the NR or RNR directly from AP 104h in signal 324. Similarly, signal 324 may include information in data structure 454 as described in conjunction with 4B. In this manner, AP 104c may utilize information from AP 104a or directly from AP 104h to perform radio resource management procedures.

[0060] In another configuration, AP 1a 104a may notify AP 2d 104h of the presence of AP 1c 104c located in the same ESS as AP 1a 104a. AP 1a 104a may receive or observe information about AP 1c 104c. The information may be as described in data structure 404. In the following, AP 1a 104a may receive a beacon or FILS signal as signal 332 from AP 2d 104h, which is part of another ESS. The beacon or other signal 332 may indicate that AP 2d 104h has advertised an open SSID. AP 1a 104a may associate with the open SSID in signal 336 to act as a client device. AP 1a 104a may send a beacon report to AP 2d 104h in a MAC frame or other data frame or structure through the association or as a separate signal 340. The beacon report may include information such as the information provided in conjunction with the data structure 404. Figure 4A If AP 1a 104a is not able to send a more detailed information packet or a different signal, then AP 1a 104a may instead broadcast, for example, NR or and RNR to AP 2d 104h. NR or RNR may be combined with Figure 4B In this manner, AP 1a 104a may broadcast a data frame that may be received by AP 2d 104h to provide information of the presence of AP 1c 104c to AP 2d 104h in a different ESS.

[0061] Embodiments or aspects of information that may be sent, received, stored, or managed within the system or one or more ESSs 100 may be as follows: Figure 4A and Figure 4B The information 400 may be stored in a data storage device, a database, or other types of storage systems. In addition, the information 400 may also be stored in a data storage device, a database, or other types of storage systems. Figure 3The ground is sent in one or more signals.

[0062] The data structure 404 may be provided in conjunction with Figure 3 Embodiments of one or more information transmitted in the signal or stored in other systems or data storage devices may be Figure 4A 448. The data structure 404 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: an AP identifier (ID) 408, a device type 412, a channel number 416, a bandwidth 420, a load 424, an RSSI 428, a transmit power 432, a BSS color or identifier 436, spatial reuse information 440, and / or products or support 444. There may be more or fewer fields in the data structure 404, as shown in ... 448. Each type of AP or transmission between APs in different ESSs may include the data structure 404 represented by the ellipsis 452.

[0063] AP ID 408 may include any type of identifier for AP 104. For example, AP ID 408 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: a numeric ID, an alphanumeric ID, a globally unique identifier (GUID), a uniform resource locator (URL), a MAC address, or some other type of identifier that uniquely identifies AP 104 among other APs in ESS 100a and / or ESS 100b.

[0064] The device type 412 may indicate whether the device sending or receiving the signal is an AP 104 or a sensor, etc. A sensor may be used to determine whether there is interference from an AP 104h in another ESS 100b. Therefore, the device type 412 may indicate what type of device is being used to determine information about an AP 104h in another ESS 100b.

[0065] The channel number 416 may be a channel number or channel allocation for transmission and / or reception by other APs 104h. The channel number 416 may have an identifier identifying the channel, for example, 1, 6, or 11. In some configurations where the AP 104, STA 106, etc. provide 5G connectivity, the channel information may include a 5G licensed assisted access (LAA) channel.

[0066] The bandwidth 420 may indicate the amount of bandwidth that the AP 104h is using or will use. The bandwidth may indicate the amount of bandwidth 420 required by the AP 104h in megabits per second or some other type of metric. As described above, in the case where the AP 104, STA 106, etc. provide 5G connectivity, the bandwidth information may also include 5G bandwidth information.

[0067] The load 424 may indicate the amount of traffic or STAs 106 being served by the AP 104h. The load 424 may also be the future amount of bandwidth or traffic that may be sent or received by the AP 104h. Thus, the load 424 may help determine the ability of the AP 104h to reduce or need to increase the amount of transmission and how to best manage the radio resources associated with the AP 104h.

[0068] RSSI 428 may be an indication of the amount of signal strength received at AP 104a or AP 104c, and / or an indication of the amount of signal strength sent from transmitting AP 104h, which is related to the amount of signal strength used for transmission. Any of these metrics may be used for RRM information including interference that may be created by the AP. RSSI may be used in conjunction with the above Figure 5 The equations, calculations, etc. described.

[0069] The transmit power 432 may be an indication of the amount of power used for transmission from the transmitting AP 104h. The transmit power 432 may give an indication of the distance from the current AP 104c based on the amount of signal strength received and recorded in the RSSI 428. In this manner, some APs may be ignored if they are likely to be at a greater distance and cause little or no interference.

[0070] The BSS color identifier 436 (also referred to simply as the BSS color) may be an identifier of the BSS to which the AP belongs. The BSS color 436 may be, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: a numeric ID, an alphanumeric ID, a GUID, or other type of identifier that identifies the BSS 100a, 100b among all other BSSs. The BSS color identifier 436 may be provided to indicate which BSS the AP 104h is part of and to identify the controller 101 associated with the BSS.

[0071] The spatial reuse information 440 may include any type of indication of the ability to reuse bandwidth in the environment. Thus, the spatial reuse information 440 may be an indication of the ability to use similar spatial transmissions based on the use of external non-associated APs 104h.

[0072] Protocol support 444 may include any type of information or indication of which protocols the AP 104 may support. These protocols may include any type of negotiation performed by neighbors or different BSSs or ESSs for determining or providing radio resources, especially in environments that may be subject to interference. Protocol support 444 allows the AP 104c to determine how best to communicate with the AP 104h or controller 101b and other ESSs 100b.

[0073] Another data structure 454, which may be a representation of a neighbor report or a simplified neighbor report, may be as follows: Figure 4B 4. Data structure 454 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following fields: AP ID 408, channel number 416, and reporting device RSSI 456. There may be more or fewer fields in data structure 454, as indicated by ellipses 458. In addition, each device or AP 104 providing such neighbor reports may have different neighbor reports, which may be indicated by ellipses 460.

[0074] AP ID 408 and channel number 416 may be combined with Figure 4A The data shown is the same or similar to that shown in Figure 1 and will not be described further here. The reporting device RSSI 456 can be an amount of signal strength generated by AP 104c or received by AP 104c from AP 104h. The reporting device RSSI 456 can be a smaller piece of information and can be combined with Figure 5 The ground is used in the RSSI calculation. Signal strength may be expressed in watts or some other type of metric.

[0075] The method 500 for performing RRM taking into account AP 2d 104h / AP 1c 104c from another BSS and / or ESS 100b may be as follows: Figure 5 In general, method 500 begins with start operation 504 and ends with end operation 520. Method 500 may include more or fewer steps, or may be different from Figure 5 The order of steps may be arranged differently from the order shown in . The method 500 may be executed as a set of computer executable instructions, executed by a computer system or processing component, and encoded or stored on a storage medium. In addition, the method 500 may be executed by gates in an ASIC, FPGA, or other type of hardware device or other hardware device or component. Hereinafter, the method 500 will be explained with reference to the systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc. described herein.

[0076] In step 508, the first AP 2d 104h (or AP 1c 104c) may receive information about another AP (e.g., AP 1c 104c (or AP 2d 104h)) in another ESS 100a (or ESS 100b) (as shown in FIG. 1). The information about the AP 1c 104c or the AP 2d 104h located in the same ESS 100a or a different ESS 100b may be received through one or more different processes. Examples of several processes may be described in conjunction with FIGS. 6 to 7. Figure 8 The information may include the combination of Figure 4A and 4BOne or more of the information items included in the described data structures 404 or 454. The information may be provided to the AP 2d 104h or as a combination Figure 3 The one or more signals described above are provided. The AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c may utilize the information service 204 to receive information at the beacon receiver 212, the ND component 216, or the neighbor report component 220. The various information provided may then be provided to the radio resource management component 208 of the AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c for use in avoiding signal collisions with the AP 1c 104c or AP 2d 104h.

[0077] Then, in step 512, the radio resource management component 208 can determine an adjusted RSSI associated with the AP 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h. The RSSI calculation component 224 can receive RSSI information and / or other information about other APs 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h and use the information to calculate the adjusted RSSI. The RSSI information can include RSSI information in field 428 or field 456. The adjusted RSSI can be calculated based on how the information is received or the type of RSSI information, based on one or more algorithms applied. For example, if the received information is in a beacon report, a FILS frame, a MAC frame, etc., the information includes data in the data structure 404, and / or is received as described in conjunction with Figures 6 and 7, the adjusted RSSI can be calculated using the following equation:

[0078] RSSI adj =RSSI reported +RSSI reporting device -RSSI reference

[0079] The adjusted RSSI replaces the RSSI input in various RRM calculations or determinations. "Reported RSSI" refers to the RSSI of AP 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h received and calculated at AP 1a 104a and sent to AP 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h. "Reporting RSSI" means the RSSI associated with AP 1a 104a received at AP 1c 104c. "Reference RSSI" is a constant value associated with the reporting AP 1a 104a or with this type of calculation. If the adjusted RSSI is not above a predetermined threshold, the neighbor AP 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h can be ignored as being too far away to cause interference. The inclusion of the reporting AP's RSSI ensures that if AP 1a 104a is too far away, its neighbors will also be ignored.

[0080] If the received information is in a neighbor report or RNR, the information may include the information in data structure 454, and / or may be combined with Figure 8 The following equation can be used to calculate the adjusted RSSI:

[0081] RSSI adj =RSSI reporting device -Adjustment Factor

[0082] Likewise, the adjusted RSSI replaces the RSSI input in various RRM calculations or determinations. "Reporting device RSSI" represents the RSSI associated with AP 1a 104a received at AP 2d 104h / AP 1c 104c. "Adjustment Factor" is a constant value associated with the reporting AP 1a 104a or with this type of calculation. Likewise, if the adjusted RSSI is not above a predetermined threshold, then the neighbor AP 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h may be ignored as being too far away to cause interference, because AP 1a 104a is too far away.

[0083] In step 516, the RRM component 208 may then utilize the adjusted RSSI to perform other functions for radio resource management that take into account other APs 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h. In step 516, the spatial reuse component 228 may determine spatial reuse opportunities in the environment, including determining spatial reuse based on other ESSs 100b or BSSs and APs 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h that may cause interference to the stations 106 communicating with the AP 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h. The spatial reuse component 228 may be used to determine spatial reuse as understood in the 802.11 protocol, but may use the adjusted RSSI and calculations.

[0084] In addition, the adjusted RSSI can also be utilized by the channelization component 232 to calculate a channelization or determination of a channel to use in communications with the station 106. In addition, a determination of a BSS color to use with the BSS in the ESSs 100a and 100b can also be determined based on the adjusted RSSI or in response to a determination that the adjusted RSSI exceeds a particular threshold. Thus, the normal functions performed by the radio resource management component 208 in determining how to communicate with the station 106 or how to communicate with another BSS can be affected or controlled by the adjusted RSSI or a determination that there are secondary AP 1c 104c / AP 2d 104h that may be causing interference to the station 106 or causing other problems to the BSS.

[0085] The method 600 for receiving information about an AP 2d 104h located in another ESS 100b may be as follows: Fig. 6A In general, method 600 begins with start operation 604 and ends with end operation 620. Method 600 may include more or fewer steps, or may be different from Fig. 6A The order of steps may be arranged differently from the order shown in . The method 600 may be performed as a set of computer executable instructions, executed by a computer system or processing component, and encoded or stored on a storage medium. In addition, the method 600 may be performed by gates in an ASIC, FPGA, or other type of hardware device or other hardware device or component. Hereinafter, the method 600 will be explained with reference to the systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc. described herein.

[0086] In step 608, the second AP (AP 1a 104a) may spoof the first AP (AP 2d 104h) that is part of another ESS 100b to associate with AP 2d 104h as a client. In some cases, the sensor instead of AP 1a 104a will spoof as a client and perform the operations described herein. Fig. 6A304. However, for ease of description, AP 104a will be described as performing the following process. AP 2d 104h may have an open SSID. AP 1a 104a may receive a beacon or other indication of the open SSID of AP 2d 104h in signal 304. AP 1a 104a may then associate with the first AP 2d 104h via the open SSID by sending signal 308 to AP 2d 104h.

[0087] In response to the request to associate as a client, the AP 2d 104h may then send a next signal 312 back to the AP 104a. The signal 312 may include information about the first AP 2d 104h, which is received by the AP 104a in step 612. The information provided may include information about the first AP 2d 104h in combination with the AP 104a. Figure 4A The information in the data structure 404 may be included in a MAC frame or other type of signal. The information may be received by the information service 204 of the AP 104a.

[0088] In step 616, information about AP 104h may be extracted and provided to a third AP 104c in a signal 320 sent by AP 104a to AP 104c. AP 104c may require neighbor information contained in data structure 404 to compensate for the presence of AP 2d 104h. AP 104h may not be within range of AP 1c 104c, but may be within range of AP 104a. However, stations 106 between AP 1c 104c and AP 2d 104h may experience interference from AP 2d 104h. Therefore, information service 204 may receive information at ND component 216 to perform as described in conjunction with Figure 5 The steps of determining the adjusted RSSI and performing other RRM processes.

[0089] The method 628 for sending information about the AP 1c 104c located in the second ESS 100b and having the second BSS color may be as follows: Figure 6B In general, method 628 begins with start operation 632 and ends with end operation 648. Method 628 may include more or fewer steps, or may be different from Figure 6BThe order of steps may be arranged differently from the order shown in . Method 628 may be executed as a set of computer executable instructions, executed by a computer system or processing component, and encoded or stored on a storage medium. In addition, method 628 may be executed by gates or other hardware devices or components in an ASIC, FPGA, or other type of hardware device. Hereinafter, method 628 will be explained with reference to the systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc. described herein.

[0090] The second AP (AP 1c 104c) may send or provide information about AP 2d 104h to the third AP (AP 1a 104a). In step 636, AP 1a 104a may receive the information. For example, AP 1a 104a may receive information such as the information provided in conjunction with Figure 4A The information in the data structure 404 may be sent by the AP 1c 104c to the AP 1a 104a in a signal 328. The information may be included in a MAC frame or other type of signal. The information may be received by the information service 204 of the AP 104a.

[0091] In step 640, the second AP (AP 1a 104a) may spoof the first AP (AP 2d 104h) which is part of another ESS 100b and may have a different BSS color to associate with AP 2d 104h as a client. In some cases, a sensor other than AP 1a 104a will spoof as a client and perform the operations described herein. Figure 6B 304. However, for ease of description, AP 104a will be described as performing the following process. AP 2d 104h may have an open SSID. AP 1a 104a may receive a beacon or other indication of the open SSID of AP 2d 104h in signal 304. AP 1a 104a may then associate with the first AP (AP 2d 104h) via the open SSID by sending signal 308 to AP 2d 104h.

[0092] In step 644, information about AP 1c 104c may be extracted and provided to a first AP (AP 2d 104h) in a signal 320 sent by AP 104a to AP 104c. AP 2d 104h may require neighbor information contained in data structure 404 to compensate for the presence of AP 1c 104c. AP 104h may not be within range of AP 1c 104c, but may be within range of AP 104a. However, stations 106 between AP 1c 104c and AP 2d 104h may experience interference from AP 1c 104c. Therefore, information service 204 may receive information at ND component 216 to perform as described in conjunction with Figure 5 The steps of determining the adjusted RSSI, BSS color, etc. and performing other RRM processes.

[0093] The method 700 for receiving a MAC frame with neighbor information may be used as described in conjunction with Figure 7 In general, method 700 begins with a start operation 704 and ends with an end operation 720. Method 700 may include more or fewer steps, or may be different from Figure 7 The order of the steps may be arranged differently than the order shown in . The method 700 may be performed as a set of computer executable instructions, executed by a computer system or processing component, and encoded or stored on a storage medium. In addition, the method 700 may be performed by gates in an ASIC, FPGA, or other type of hardware device or other hardware device or component. Hereinafter, the method 700 will be explained with reference to the systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc. described herein.

[0094] In step 708, the second AP 1a 104a may receive a MAC frame from an AP (e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c). The MAC frame may be in response to the already combined Fig. 6A The MAC frame may include a combination of the following: Figure 4A The information service 204 of the AP 104a may receive the MAC frame to extract information for another AP (e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c). The first AP (e.g., AP 2d 104h) may be part of a different ESS (e.g., ESS 100b) and may cause interference to the station 106 communicating with the AP 1c 104c and / or the AP 2d 104h.

[0095] In step 712, the information service 204 of AP 1a 104a may then extract any ND information, or other types of information about other APs (e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c) from the data structure 404. For example, the information service 204 may extract the device type 412, channel number 416, bandwidth 420, load 424, RSSI 428, transmit power 432, BSS color identifier 436, spatial reuse information 440, protocol support information 444 from the data structure 404 that may be embedded in the MAC frame. This information may then be placed into a separate message.

[0096] In step 716, AP 104a may send a separate message with the ND information as a signal 320 to a first AP, e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c. The signal 320 may be sent via the controller 101a or directly to an AP, e.g., AP2d 104h or AP 1c 104c. In other configurations, AP 1a 104a may spoof other APs (e.g., AP 2d 104h) and / or send the neighbor information to a receiving AP, e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c, in another MAC frame. In other configurations, AP 1a 104a may send the neighbor information to a receiving AP, e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c, in a broadcast frame (or FILS frame or other data or signal construct). The ND information may then be transmitted as described in conjunction with the controller 101a. Figure 5 The described method is used by an AP (eg, AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c) to communicate with other APs to determine various RRM procedures.

[0097] The method 800 for receiving information about an AP (eg, AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104c) in a neighbor report or a simplified neighbor report may be as described in conjunction with Figure 8 In general, method 800 begins with a start operation 804 and ends with an end operation 816. Method 800 may include more or fewer steps, or may be different from Figure 8 The order of steps may be arranged differently from the order shown in . The method 800 may be executed as a set of computer executable instructions, executed by a computer system or processing component, and encoded or stored on a storage medium. In addition, the method 800 may be executed by gates in an ASIC, FPGA, or other type of hardware device or other hardware device or component. Hereinafter, the method 800 will be explained with reference to the systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc. described herein.

[0098] In step 808, the information service 204 of the AP 1c 104c or the AP 1a 104a may receive a beacon or FILS discovery frame from the first AP 2d 104h. Thus, the AP 1c 104c may in some cases directly contact the AP 2d 104h. In these cases, the AP 1c 104c may receive the beacon or FILS discovery frame directly from the AP 2d 104h in the signal 324. The neighbor report component 220 may receive information in the beacon or FILS discovery frame to determine or extract the neighbor report information.

[0099] In step 812, neighbor reporting component 220 extracts neighbor reporting information in the NR or RNR from the beacon or FILS frame received in signal 324. This information may include Figure 4B It should be noted that the channel number 416 and the reporting device RSSI 456 can be extracted and used in conjunction with Figure 5 An adjusted RSSI is determined as described.

[0100] In other configurations, the information service 204 of the AP 2d 104h may receive a beacon or FILS discovery frame from the AP 1a 104a in step 808. Thus, the AP 1a 104a provides information about the AP 1c 104c in a beacon of a FILS frame. In these cases, the AP 2d 104h may receive the beacon or FILS discovery frame directly from the AP 1a 104a in the signal 324. The neighbor reporting component 220 may receive information in the beacon or FILS discovery frame to determine or extract neighbor report information about the AP 1c 104c.

[0101] In step 812, neighbor reporting component 220 extracts neighbor reporting information in the NR or RNR from the beacon or FILS frame received in signal 324. This information may include Figure 4B The information associated with AP 1c 104c is shown in data structure 454 of FIG. It should be noted that the channel number 416 and the reporting device RSSI 456 can be extracted and used in conjunction with Figure 5 An adjusted RSSI is determined as described.

[0102] Fig. 9 An embodiment of a communication device 900 that can implement one or more of the AP 104, controller 101, and / or STA 106 of FIG. 1 is shown. In various embodiments, the device 900 may include logic circuits. For example, the logic circuits may include physical circuits for performing operations described with respect to one or more of the AP 104, controller 101, and STA of FIG. 1. Fig. 9As shown in , device 900 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: a radio interface 910 , a baseband circuit 920 , and / or a computing platform 930 .

[0103] The device 900 may implement some or all of the structures and / or operations for one or more of the AP 104, the controller 101 and / or the STA 106, the storage medium 960, and the logic circuits of FIG. 1 in a single computing entity (e.g., entirely within a single device). Alternatively, the device 900 may use a distributed system architecture (e.g., a client-server architecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, a master-slave architecture, etc.) to distribute some parts of the structure and / or operations.

[0104] The radio interface 910 (which may also include an analog front end (AFE)) may include a component or combination of components suitable for transmitting and / or receiving single-carrier or multi-carrier modulated signals (e.g., including complementary code keying (CCK), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), and / or single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols), although the configuration is not limited to any particular air interface or modulation scheme. The radio interface 910 may include, for example, a receiver 912 and / or a transmitter 916. The radio interface 910 may include bias control, a crystal oscillator, and / or one or more antennas 918. In additional or alternative configurations, the radio interface 910 may use an oscillator and / or one or more filters as desired.

[0105] The baseband circuit 920 may communicate with the radio interface 910 to process, receive and / or transmit signals, and may include, for example, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for down-converting received signals and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 922 for up-converting signals for transmission. In addition, the baseband circuit 920 may include a baseband or physical layer (PHY) processing circuit for PHY link layer processing of corresponding received / transmitted signals. The baseband circuit 920 may include, for example, a medium access control (MAC) processing circuit 927 for MAC / data link layer processing. The baseband circuit 920 may include a memory controller for communicating with the MAC processing circuit 927 and / or the computing platform 930, for example, via one or more interfaces 934.

[0106] In some configurations, the PHY processing circuitry may include a frame structure and / or detection module in combination with additional circuitry such as a buffer memory to construct and / or deconstruct communication frames. Alternatively or additionally, the MAC processing circuitry 927 may share processing for some of these functions or perform these processes independently of the PHY processing circuitry. In some configurations, the MAC and PHY processing may be integrated into a single circuit.

[0107] The computing platform 930 may provide computing functions for the device 900. As shown, the computing platform 930 may include a processing component 928. In addition to or in lieu of the baseband circuit 920, the device 900 may perform processing operations or logic for one or more of the AP 104, the controller 101 and / or the STA 106, the storage medium 960, and the logic circuits using the memory component 960. The processing component 928 (and / or the PHY and / or the MAC 927) may include various hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements may include devices, logic devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, processor circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc.), integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), storage units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor devices, chips, microchips, chipsets, etc. Examples of software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, applications, system programs, software development programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, programs, software interfaces, application program interfaces (APIs), instruction sets, computing codes, computer codes, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether to implement an embodiment using hardware elements and / or software elements may vary according to any number of factors, such as desired computing rates, power levels, thermal tolerances, processing cycle budgets, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds, and other design or performance constraints as desired for a given implementation.

[0108] The computing platform 930 may also include other platform components. Other platform components include common computing elements, such as one or more processors, multi-core processors, coprocessors, memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input / output (I / O) components (e.g., digital displays), power supplies, etc. Examples of memory unit 960 may include, but are not limited to, various types of computer-readable and machine-readable storage media in the form of one or more high-speed memory cells, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), double data rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory (e.g., ferroelectric polymer memory), Austrian memory, phase change or ferroelectric memory, silicon oxide-nitride-silicon oxide (SONOS) memory, magnetic or optical cards, device arrays such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID) devices, solid-state storage devices (e.g., universal serial bus (USB) memory, solid-state drive (SSD)), and any other type of storage medium suitable for storing information.

[0109] Device 900 can be, for example, an ultra-mobile device, a mobile device, a fixed device, a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a phone, a digital phone, a cellular phone, a user device, an e-book reader, a mobile phone, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messaging device, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a netbook computer, a palmtop computer, a tablet computer, a server, a server array or server group, a web server, a network server, an Internet server, a workstation, a microcomputer, a mainframe computer, a supercomputer, a network device, a web device, a distributed computing system, a multiprocessor system, a processor-based system, a consumer electronic product, a programmable consumer electronic product, a gaming device, a display, a television, a digital television, a set-top box, a wireless access point, a base station, a node B, a subscriber station, a mobile subscriber center, a radio network controller, a router, a hub, a gateway, a bridge, a switch, a machine, or a combination thereof. Therefore, the functions and / or specific configurations of the device 900 described herein can be included or omitted in various embodiments of the device 900 as needed.

[0110] Embodiments of the device 900 may be implemented using a single-input single-output (SISO) architecture. However, certain implementations may include multiple antennas (e.g., antenna 918) for transmitting and / or receiving using adaptive antenna techniques for beamforming or spatial division multiple access (SDMA) and / or using MIMO communication techniques.

[0111] The components and features of the device 900 may be implemented using any combination of discrete circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), logic gates, and / or single chip architectures. In addition, the features of the device 900 may be implemented using a microcontroller, a programmable logic array, and / or a microprocessor, or any combination of the foregoing where appropriate. It should be noted that hardware, firmware, and / or software elements may be collectively or individually referred to herein as "logic," "circuitry," or "processor."

[0112] Fig. 9 The device in may also include a security module (not shown). This security module may include information about, but not limited to, security parameters required to connect the device to another device or other available network or network device, and may include Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security access keys, network keys, etc., as discussed.

[0113] Fig. 9 Another module that the device in may include is a network access unit (not shown). The network access unit may be used to connect to other network devices. In one example, connectivity may include synchronization between devices. In another example, the network access unit may work as a medium that provides communication support with other stations. In another example, the network access unit may work with at least MAC circuit 927. The network access unit may also work and interact with one or more of the modules / components described herein.

[0114] It should be understood that Fig. 9 The exemplary device 900 shown in the block diagram of can represent a functional descriptive example of many potential implementations. Therefore, the division, omission or inclusion of block functions depicted in the drawings does not mean that the hardware components, circuits, software and / or elements used to implement these functions will necessarily be divided, omitted or included in the embodiments.

Claims

1. A method for an access point AP, comprising: receiving, at a first access point AP of a first extended service set ESS, information about a third AP of a second ESS from a second AP of the second ESS, wherein the information about the third AP received by the second AP is included in a medium access control MAC frame, the MAC frame containing neighbor discovery ND information associated with the third AP; determining, by the first AP based on information about the third AP, a metric associated with the third AP; performing, by the first AP based on the metric, radio resource management RRM taking into account the third AP; The first AP compares the ND information with a list of known neighbor APs; and If the list of known neighbor APs does not include the third AP, the first AP adds the third AP to the list for channelization and BSS color algorithms.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first AP cannot detect the existence of the third AP.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The second AP is associated with an open service set identifier SSID of the first AP to notify the first AP of the third AP and provide information associated with the third AP.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The second AP communicates with the first AP using a secondary radio.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The third AP is a cellular base station, wherein the second AP is managed by the same controller that manages the second ESS.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The ND information includes one or more of the following: device type, channel number, bandwidth, load, received RSSI, transmit power, BSS color, number of spatial reuse opportunities, and protocol support.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The metric is an adjusted received signal strength indicator (RSSI), wherein determining the adjusted RSSI comprises adding the received RSSI to the RSSI determined by the first AP and subtracting a reference RSSI.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The adjusted RSSI is compared to a predetermined threshold, wherein if the adjusted RSSI is not higher than the predetermined threshold, the third AP is ignored in RRM calculations because the third AP is too far from the first AP.

9. An access point AP, comprising: Radio equipment; Memory; a processor in communication with the memory and the radio device, the processor being operable to perform a method comprising: receiving, at a first access point AP of a first extended service set ESS, information about a third AP also located in the second ESS through a second AP of the second ESS, wherein the information about the third AP received by the second AP is included in a medium access control MAC frame, the MAC frame containing neighbor discovery ND information associated with the third AP; Determining, by the first AP, a metric associated with the third AP based on information about the third AP and / or information about the second AP; performing, by the first AP based on the metric, radio resource management RRM taking into account the third AP; The first AP compares the ND information with a list of known neighbor APs; and If the list of known neighbor APs does not include the third AP, the first AP adds the third AP to the list for channelization and BSS color algorithms.

10. The AP according to claim 9, wherein: The metric is an adjusted received signal strength indicator, RSSI, wherein determining the adjusted RSSI comprises adding the received RSSI to a constant adjustment factor.

11. An extended service set ESS, comprising: A first access point AP, the first AP being operable to: receiving information about a third AP from a second device, wherein the second device and the third AP are both associated with a second ESS, and the information about the third AP received by the second device is included in a medium access control MAC frame, and the MAC frame includes neighbor discovery ND information associated with the third AP; determining, by the first AP based on information about the third AP, an adjusted received signal strength indicator RSSI associated with the third AP; The first AP performs radio resource management RRM considering the third AP based on the adjusted RSSI; The first AP compares the ND information with a list of known neighbor APs; and If the list of known neighbor APs does not include the third AP, the first AP adds the third AP to the list for channelization and BSS color algorithms.

12. The ESS according to claim 11, wherein: The information about the third AP is encrypted.

13. The ESS according to claim 11 or 12, wherein: The second device spoofs the first AP to appear as a client to associate with an open service set identifier (SSID) of the first AP.

14. The ESS according to claim 11 or 12, wherein: The second device is a sensor or a second AP.

15. The ESS according to claim 11, wherein: The ND information includes one or more of the following items: device type, channel number, bandwidth, load, received RSSI, transmit power, BSS color identifier, multiple spatial reuse opportunities, 5G bandwidth, 5G channel, and protocol support.

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