Method and access point for ping-pong roaming control

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for ping-pong roaming control performed by an access point (AP), a method for ping-pong roaming control performed by a controller, an AP, a controller, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, and a computer program product for processing / identifying ping-pong roaming. A method performed by an AP for ping-pong roaming control includes: determining an association handover behavior of a station (STA) based on an association and / or de-association behavior of the STA; identifying one or more connection instability events of the STA based on an associated handover behavior of the STA; and reporting at least one of the one or more connection instability events of the STA to the controller to cause the controller to identify a ping-pong roaming event of the STA between the plurality of APs.

Description

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 18 / 829,247, filed September 9, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Technical Field

[0003] This disclosure relates to wireless local area network (WLAN) communications, and more specifically, to methods, access points (APs), controllers, non-transitory computer-readable media, and program products for ping-pong roaming control in wireless local area networks. Background Technology

[0004] With the development of communication technology, wireless local area network (WLAN) technology based on the IEEE 802.11 standard has been widely used. WLAN technology allows wireless access in homes or businesses or in specific service areas using radio frequency (RF) based client devices (such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, portable multimedia players (PMPs), etc.).

[0005] When wireless client devices (or stations (STAs)) move between access points (APs), if the AP's signal strength fluctuates significantly due to environmental interference, signal attenuation, or unstable AP performance, the client device may frequently attempt to reconnect to one or more APs. This results in frequent and unnecessary connection switching between multiple APs, resembling a "ping-pong" motion, hence the term "ping-pong" handover or "ping-pong" roaming. Ping-pong roaming can lead to degraded network performance, poor user experience, increased terminal power consumption, increased network management complexity, and potential security risks. Therefore, it is necessary to identify, control, and avoid ping-pong roaming. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This disclosure provides techniques for ping-pong roaming control to control or avoid ping-pong roaming in STAs, thereby solving problems such as frequent association switching, disconnection, packet loss, and poor network connection stability, and thus improving user experience.

[0007] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a method for ping-pong roaming control is provided, the method being performed by an access point (AP) and comprising:

[0008] The association switching behavior of a Station (STA) is determined based on its association and / or disassociation behavior.

[0009] Identify one or more connection instability events of a STA based on its associated handover behavior; and

[0010] Report at least one of one or more connection instability events of the STA to the controller so that the controller can identify ping-pong roaming events of the STA among multiple APs.

[0011] In at least one embodiment, determining the association switching behavior of a STA based on its association and / or deassociation behavior includes: determining one of the following association switching behaviors of a STA in response to: the STA associating with a first AP during a first time period after the STA deassociates with the AP; the STA associating with the AP during a second time period after the STA deassociates with the AP; or the STA deassociates with the AP.

[0012] In at least one embodiment, identifying one or more connection instability events of a STA based on its associated handover behavior includes:

[0013] In response to the following, identify one of one or more connection instability events for the STA:

[0014] The number of associated handover actions of STAs occurring during the third time period is greater than the first threshold; or

[0015] The number of STA association switching actions occurring within the fourth time period starting from when the STA associates with the AP is greater than the second quantity threshold.

[0016] In at least one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0017] Record any connection instability event that meets the filter criteria from one or more connection instability events in the connection instability event list.

[0018] Specifically, reporting at least one of one or more connection instability events from the STA to the controller so that the controller can identify ping-pong roaming of the STA includes: reporting connection instability events from a list of connection instability events in response to a reporting condition being met; and

[0019] The method also includes clearing the list of unstable connection events after reporting an unstable connection event in the list.

[0020] In at least one embodiment, the filtering conditions include:

[0021] Conditions under which a connectivity instability event occurs in the first region.

[0022] The first region is the region where the average value of the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) for associated handover behavior corresponding to connection instability events is below a first RSSI threshold; or

[0023] The first region is the area where each RSSI used for associated switching behavior corresponding to connection instability events is below the second RSSI threshold.

[0024] In at least one embodiment, the filtering conditions include:

[0025] A connection instability event occurs when the standard deviation of the RSSI of each associated handover action in the associated handover actions of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than the first RSSI standard deviation threshold, or when the average of the RSSI standard deviations of the associated handover actions of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than the second RSSI standard deviation threshold.

[0026] In at least one embodiment, the filtering conditions include:

[0027] The connection instability event was not caused by Basic Service Set (BSS) Transformation Management (BTM) conditions.

[0028] In at least one embodiment, the reporting conditions include one or more of the following:

[0029] The reporting cycle has been reached;

[0030] One of one or more connection instability events in the STA is identified; or

[0031] A command to report connection instability events was received.

[0032] In at least one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0033] Receive the first ping-pong roaming processing related instructions from the controller; and

[0034] The ping-pong roaming processing operation is executed based on the first ping-pong roaming processing instruction received.

[0035] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation includes one or more of the following:

[0036] Increase or decrease the AP's transmission power;

[0037] Enable or disable AP access control to STA to prohibit or allow AP to respond to STA access requests;

[0038] Enable or disable the sticky control of the AP on the STA to maintain or prevent the STA from being more stably associated with the AP; or

[0039] Enable or disable AP roaming control over STA to exclude or not exclude target APs that the AP should recommend to be associated with the STA, so that the STA will not be recommended or can be recommended to be associated with excluded target APs (such as APs with access control on the STA enabled as above).

[0040] In at least one embodiment, the method further includes:

[0041] The ping-pong roaming operation is cancelled in response to the conditions for cancellation being met.

[0042] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition includes one or more of the following:

[0043] The cumulative time period used to perform the ping-pong roaming processing operation is longer than the cancellation time threshold and meets the cancellation condition that the ping-pong roaming processing operation is not extended.

[0044] The conditions for canceling STA leaving the area where the Ping Pong roaming event was identified;

[0045] Cancellation condition for AP transmit power change exceeding power change threshold;

[0046] Another ping-pong roaming event at STA occurred under the cancellation conditions across multiple APs;

[0047] The user cancels the conditions for performing the Ping Pong roaming processing operation;

[0048] Conditions for users to disable the Ping Pong roaming control function;

[0049] Cancellation conditions for AP power failure (e.g., AP is off, or all AP radios are off); or

[0050] The connection between the AP and the controller was continuously lost for a period exceeding the cancellation period.

[0051] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a method for ping-pong roaming control is provided, the method being executed by a controller and comprising:

[0052] Receive one or more connection instability events from one or more access points (APs) and one or more stations (STAs);

[0053] Identify the ping-pong roaming event of the first STA in one or more STAs based on one or more connection instability events;

[0054] Determine the ping-pong roaming processing strategy for the first STA; and

[0055] Send a ping-pong roaming processing instruction to at least one of one or more APs to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations based on a determined ping-pong roaming processing strategy.

[0056] In at least one embodiment, identifying a ping-pong roaming event of a first STA among the one or more STAs based on the one or more connection instability events includes identifying the ping-pong roaming event of the first STA in response to one or more of the following:

[0057] There are multiple APs that report two or more connection instability events to the first STA, and the time interval between any two consecutive connection instability events from different APs in the two or more connection instability events is shorter than a first time interval threshold;

[0058] Among them, there are multiple APs reporting two or more connection instability events to the first STA, and the time interval between two consecutive connection instability events from different APs in the two or more connection instability events is shorter than a second time interval threshold; or

[0059] The conditions under which the AP reports the first STA's connection instability event.

[0060] In at least one embodiment, the determination of the ping-pong roaming handling strategy for the first STA is performed based on the attributes of one or more connection instability events of one or more STAs and / or the wireless specifications or RF parameters of one or more APs, and / or

[0061] Ping-Pong roaming handling strategies include:

[0062] Which APs need to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations; and / or

[0063] For each AP that needs to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations, perform ping-pong roaming processing operations.

[0064] According to another aspect of this disclosure, an access point (AP) for ping-pong roaming control is provided, the AP comprising:

[0065] One or more processors;

[0066] Memory coupled to at least one processor in the processor; and

[0067] A set of computer program instructions stored in memory, which, when executed by at least one processor, perform the following actions:

[0068] The association switching behavior of a Station (STA) is determined based on its association and / or deassociation behavior.

[0069] Identify one or more connection instability events of a STA based on its associated handover behavior; and

[0070] Report at least one of one or more connection instability events of the STA to the controller so that the controller can identify ping-pong roaming events of the STA among multiple APs.

[0071] A set of computer program instructions stored in memory, when executed by at least one processor, determines STA-based association and / or deassociation behavior by performing the following operations:

[0072] In response to the following, determine one of the associated handover behaviors of the STA:

[0073] In the first time period after the STA deassociates with the AP, the STA associates with the first AP;

[0074] In the second time period after STA and AP deassociate, STA and AP reassociate; or

[0075] STA and AP are de-associated.

[0076] In at least one embodiment, a set of computer program instructions stored in memory, when executed by at least one processor, performs operations to identify one or more connection instability events of the STA based on the associated handover behavior of the STA:

[0077] In response to the following, identify one of one or more connection instability events for the STA:

[0078] The number of associated handover actions of STAs occurring during the third time period is greater than the first threshold; or

[0079] The number of STA association switching actions occurring within the fourth time period starting from when the STA associates with the AP is greater than the second quantity threshold.

[0080] In at least one embodiment, a set of computer program instructions stored in memory also executes when executed by at least one of the processors:

[0081] Record any connection instability event that meets the filter criteria from one or more connection instability events in the connection instability event list.

[0082] Specifically, reporting at least one of one or more connection instability events from the STA to the controller so that the controller can identify ping-pong roaming of the STA includes: reporting connection instability events from a list of connection instability events in response to a reporting condition being met; and

[0083] The method also includes clearing the list of unstable connection events after reporting an unstable connection event in the list.

[0084] In at least one embodiment, the filtering conditions include:

[0085] Conditions under which a connectivity instability event occurs in the first region.

[0086] The first region is the region where the average value of the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) for associated handover behavior corresponding to connection instability events is below a first RSSI threshold; or

[0087] The first region is the area where each RSSI used for associated switching behavior corresponding to connection instability events is below the second RSSI threshold.

[0088] In at least one embodiment, the filtering conditions include:

[0089] A connection instability event occurs when the standard deviation of the RSSI of each associated handover action in the associated handover actions of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than the first RSSI standard deviation threshold, or when the average of the RSSI standard deviations of the associated handover actions of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than the second RSSI standard deviation threshold.

[0090] In at least one embodiment, the filtering conditions include:

[0091] The connection instability event was not caused by Basic Service Set (BSS) Transformation Management (BTM) conditions.

[0092] In at least one embodiment, the reporting conditions include one or more of the following:

[0093] The reporting cycle has been reached;

[0094] One of one or more connection instability events in the STA is identified; or

[0095] A command to report connection instability events was received.

[0096] In at least one embodiment, a set of computer program instructions stored in memory also executes when executed by at least one of the processors:

[0097] Receive the first ping-pong roaming processing related instructions from the controller; and

[0098] The ping-pong roaming processing operation is executed based on the first ping-pong roaming processing instruction received.

[0099] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation includes one or more of the following:

[0100] Increase or decrease the AP's transmission power;

[0101] Enable or disable AP access control to STA to prohibit or allow AP to respond to STA access requests;

[0102] Enable or disable the sticky control of the AP on the STA to maintain or prevent the STA from being more stably associated with the AP; or

[0103] Enable or disable AP roaming control over STA to exclude or not exclude target APs that the AP should recommend to be associated with the STA, so that the STA will not be recommended or can be recommended to be associated with excluded target APs (such as APs with access control on the STA enabled as above).

[0104] In at least one embodiment, a set of computer program instructions stored in memory also executes when executed by at least one of the processors:

[0105] The ping-pong roaming operation is cancelled in response to the conditions for cancellation being met.

[0106] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition includes one or more of the following:

[0107] The cumulative time period used to perform the ping-pong roaming processing operation is longer than the cancellation time threshold and meets the cancellation condition that the ping-pong roaming processing operation is not extended.

[0108] The conditions for canceling STA leaving the area where the Ping Pong roaming event was identified;

[0109] Cancellation condition for AP transmit power change exceeding power change threshold;

[0110] Another ping-pong roaming event at STA occurred under the cancellation conditions across multiple APs;

[0111] The user cancels the conditions for performing the Ping Pong roaming processing operation;

[0112] Conditions for users to disable the Ping Pong roaming control function;

[0113] Conditions for canceling AP power outage; or

[0114] The connection between the AP and the controller was continuously lost for a period exceeding the cancellation period.

[0115] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a controller for ping-pong roaming control is provided, comprising:

[0116] One or more processors;

[0117] Memory coupled to at least one processor in the processor; and

[0118] A set of computer program instructions stored in memory, which, when executed by at least one processor, perform the following actions:

[0119] Receive one or more connection instability events from one or more access points (APs) and one or more stations (STAs);

[0120] Identify the ping-pong roaming event of the first STA in one or more STAs based on one or more connection instability events;

[0121] Determine the ping-pong roaming processing strategy for the first STA; and

[0122] Send a ping-pong roaming processing instruction to at least one of one or more APs to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations based on a determined ping-pong roaming processing strategy.

[0123] In at least one embodiment, a set of computer program instructions stored in memory is executed when executed by at least one processor: identifying a ping-pong roaming event of a first STA based on one or more connection instability events in response to one or more of the following:

[0124] There are multiple APs that report two or more connection instability events to the first STA, and the time interval between any two consecutive connection instability events from different APs in the two or more connection instability events is shorter than a first time interval threshold;

[0125] Among them, there are multiple APs reporting two or more connection instability events to the first STA, and the time interval between two consecutive connection instability events from different APs in the two or more connection instability events is shorter than a second time interval threshold; or

[0126] The conditions under which the AP reports the first STA's connection instability event.

[0127] In at least one embodiment, the determination of the ping-pong roaming handling strategy for the first STA is performed based on the attributes of one or more connection instability events of one or more STAs and / or the wireless specifications or RF parameters of one or more APs, and / or

[0128] Ping-Pong roaming handling strategies include:

[0129] Which APs need to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations; and / or

[0130] For each AP that needs to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations, perform ping-pong roaming processing operations.

[0131] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided, having stored thereon computer instructions, wherein the computer instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method according to any embodiment.

[0132] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a computer program product including computer instructions is provided, wherein the computer instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method according to any embodiment.

[0133] Based at least on the above embodiments of this disclosure, the ping-pong roaming phenomenon of STAs can be controlled or avoided, so as to solve problems such as frequent association switching, disconnection, packet loss, and poor network connection stability, thereby improving the user experience. Attached Figure Description

[0134] The above and other objects, features, and advantages of this disclosure will become more apparent from the more detailed description of embodiments thereof in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided to offer a further understanding of the embodiments of this disclosure and form part of the specification. The drawings, together with the embodiments of this disclosure, are used to explain this disclosure but do not constitute a limitation thereof. In the drawings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the same reference numerals denote the same parts, steps, or elements.

[0135] Figure 1 An exemplary block diagram of a ping-pong roaming-related process for implementing at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0136] Figure 2 An exemplary flowchart of a method for ping-pong roaming control performed by an AP according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0137] Figure 3 Another exemplary flowchart of a method for ping-pong roaming control performed by an AP according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0138] Figure 4 An exemplary flowchart of the ping-pong roaming processing operation steps for performing a method for ping-pong roaming control executed by an AP, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, is shown.

[0139] Figure 5 An exemplary flowchart is shown of the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation step of a method for ping-pong roaming control performed by an AP according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0140] Figure 6An exemplary flowchart of a method for ping-pong roaming control executed by a controller according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0141] Figure 7 An exemplary flowchart is shown of a ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation step in a method for ping-pong roaming control performed by a controller according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0142] Figure 8 This is an exemplary block diagram illustrating an AP according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0143] Figure 9 This is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a controller according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0144] The technical solutions of this disclosure will now be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of, but not all, of the embodiments of this disclosure. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this disclosure without any creative effort fall within the protection scope of this disclosure.

[0145] In the description of this disclosure, it should be noted that terms such as “first,” “second,” and “third” are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. Similarly, words such as “a,” “an,” or “the” do not indicate a quantity limitation but rather indicate the presence of at least one. Words such as “including” or “comprising” mean that the element or object preceding the word encompasses those elements or objects listed following the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects.

[0146] Furthermore, the technical features involved in the different embodiments of this disclosure described below can be combined with each other, as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0147] Roaming in a wireless LAN means that a station (STA) or client device associates with an access point (AP) and connects with another AP. The STA continuously monitors the signal strength of the currently connected AP. When the signal strength drops below a certain threshold, the STA begins to consider roaming. The STA starts scanning the surrounding wireless networks to find available APs. The STA can evaluate the signal strength, network load, latency, and other factors of other APs in its vicinity and select the best AP to connect to. This decision-making process can be controlled by drivers, firmware, or algorithms in the STA's operating system. After the STA selects a new AP, it initiates the association process. In the context of a wireless LAN, "association" refers to the process by which the STA establishes a connection with the AP, involving several steps of negotiation and authentication, ultimately allowing the device to communicate with the wireless LAN and access the Internet or other resources provided by the wireless LAN. After successful association, a new encryption key can be installed between the STA and the new AP to ensure the security of communication. Once the STA successfully establishes a connection with the new AP and installs the necessary keys, the roaming process is complete. The STA can then continue to use network services.

[0148] Roaming modes for a STA include proactive roaming, passive roaming, and first-disassociation-then-reassociation due to connection loss. Typically, proactive roaming by the STA is triggered and target selection is based solely on signal strength, making it difficult for the STA to roam promptly and associate with the optimal target AP. Furthermore, due to differences in roaming algorithms between manufacturers and devices, the proactive roaming experience varies significantly between clients, failing to guarantee a good roaming experience for every client. In passive roaming, the STA can rely more on the AP or network infrastructure to trigger the roaming process. For example, when the AP detects signal quality degradation in the STA, it can proactively send roaming suggestions for a target AP or guide the STA to connect to the target AP. Therefore, passive roaming can theoretically provide a better roaming experience than proactive roaming by the STA.

[0149] In roaming modes involving first deassociating and then reassociating due to connection loss, the STA first deassociates with the original AP and then associates with other APs. This mode is not a seamless association handover, and users typically face prolonged network outages, resulting in a generally poor user experience. However, in proactive or reactive roaming modes, the STA associates with the AP before deassociating with the original AP, so in the event of successful roaming, it can be considered a seamless association handover, and the STA typically does not lose network connectivity during roaming. Although the user experience of proactive and reactive roaming is much better than that of first deassociating and then reassociating, issues such as packet loss and interference can still occur during the deassociation and reassociation (or association handover) process, which still negatively impact the user experience.

[0150] When a STA moves between multiple APs, if the AP signal strength fluctuates significantly or the STA is located in an area where the weak signals of multiple APs overlap, the overall signal strength difference between the STA and the multiple APs may not be large. In this case, the signal strength may suddenly change due to environmental fluctuations, making ping-pong roaming more likely to occur due to proactive roaming and connection loss leading to initial deassociation and subsequent reassociation. Furthermore, environmental fluctuations may also cause APs to be unreasonably recommended for roaming due to incorrect judgments, thus potentially leading to ping-pong roaming caused by passive roaming. Typically, ping-pong roaming caused by the STA moving back and forth between multiple APs can be considered an expected normal phenomenon and can be left unaddressed; however, ping-pong roaming caused by environmental fluctuations in areas where the weak signals of multiple APs overlap is an unexpected anomaly and requires handling.

[0151] A ping-pong roaming identification and processing scheme needs to be designed to identify and process the ping-pong roaming phenomenon caused by STAs losing connections, such as first de-associating and then re-associating, active roaming, passive roaming, or other reasons, which causes them to roam back and forth between multiple APs. This aims to solve problems such as frequent association switching, disconnection, packet loss, and poor network connection stability, and further improve the user experience.

[0152] The traditional approach to handling ping-pong roaming is to use a controller to collect associated behaviors or roaming actions based on STA (Standard Actions) to identify ping-pong roaming, which results in an unavoidable delay in the controller's identification of ping-pong roaming.

[0153] In view of the above problems, this disclosure provides a method, AP, controller, non-transitory computer-readable medium, and computer program product for ping-pong roaming control to avoid ping-pong roaming, where STAs roam back and forth between multiple APs due to connection loss, including deassociation and reassociation, active roaming, passive roaming, or other reasons. The AP can determine whether a STA has association switching behavior based on its association and deassociation behavior, and identify connection instability events based on these events (then record connection instability events that meet preset filtering conditions locally), and report these events to the controller. The controller identifies the ping-pong roaming phenomenon based on the connection instability events reported by the AP, then performs a ping-pong roaming handling strategy judgment to determine the ping-pong roaming handling strategy, and sends ping-pong roaming handling related instructions to the AP. The AP can perform ping-pong roaming handling operations, such as power adjustment, access control, stickiness control, and roaming control, based on the instructions issued by the controller to alleviate unstable STA connections. This solves problems such as frequent association switching, disconnection, connection loss, packet loss, and poor network connection stability, and further improves the user experience.

[0154] Figure 1 An exemplary block diagram illustrating the ping-pong roaming related process of AP 110 and controller 120 for implementing at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0155] Controller 120 can be a wireless LAN controller or network management system for managing and controlling multiple access points (APs), and it can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, etc. Controller 120 can be located in a device separate from the APs, or it can even be located within the APs. In some cases, a portion of the functionality of controller 120 can be performed within the APs, and another portion of the functionality of controller 120 can be performed partially outside the APs. The implementation of controller 120 is not limited.

[0156] The controller 120 can be wirelessly connected to the AP 110 or wired to the AP 110.

[0157] like Figure 1As shown, in block 101, AP 110 can identify connection instability events of STAs and report them to controller 120. In block 102, controller 120 can identify ping-pong roaming events of STAs, determine the ping-pong roaming handling strategy for STAs, and send ping-pong roaming handling instructions to AP 110. In block 103, AP 110 can perform ping-pong roaming handling operations. In block 104, AP 110 and / or controller 120 and / or the user can determine that the ping-pong roaming handling operation cancellation conditions are met, and AP 110 and / or controller 120 can cancel the ping-pong roaming handling operation. During this process, AP 110 and controller 120 can send instructions related to ping-pong roaming handling to each other to complete the process. Blocks 101-104 can be executed sequentially or non-sequentially, and can be executed in parallel or partially in parallel. Details of each block will be described below.

[0158] Figure 2 An exemplary flowchart of a method 200 for ping-pong roaming control performed by an AP according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0159] like Figure 2 As shown, method 200 includes steps 201, 202 and 203.

[0160] At step 201, the AP can determine the association switching behavior of the STA based on the association and / or deassociation behavior of the STA.

[0161] Association switching behavior can instruct either to deassociate after association or (after association) to deassociate.

[0162] Association and / or deassociation behaviors include deassociation and association behaviors between the STA and the current AP, or may also include deassociation behaviors between the STA and the current AP and association behaviors between the STA and another AP, or may only include deassociation behaviors between the STA and the current AP.

[0163] The methods used to determine whether a STA is associated with or detached from an AP include, but are not limited to, one of the following: the AP checks the Forwarding Database (FDB) used to determine detachment or / and association to determine whether the STA's relevant information (such as the name of the interface the STA is currently on) has changed, i.e., the name of the interface the STA is currently on has changed to the name of another interface associated with another AP; or when the STA is associated with an AP, the AP reports information about the STA to the controller, and the controller forwards this information to the original AP associated with the STA to determine detachment or / and association. Other conditions may be available, and details are omitted in this document.

[0164] At step 202, the AP can identify one or more connection instability events of the STA based on the STA's associated handover behavior.

[0165] Connection instability events can indicate instability in the connection and disconnection between a STA and one or more APs. Since ping-pong roaming is primarily caused by frequent and unstable connections and disconnections between a STA and one or more APs, connection instability events can be at least one factor to consider when identifying ping-pong roaming.

[0166] In at least one embodiment, step 201 may include determining one of the association switching behaviors of the STA in response to: the STA associating with a first AP during a first time period after deassociating with the AP; the STA associating with the AP during a second time period after deassociating with the AP; or the STA deassociating with the AP. It should be noted that the first time period and the second time period may be the same or different.

[0167] Step 202 may further include: identifying one of one or more connection instability events of the STA in response to the following: the number of STA association handover actions occurring within a third time period is greater than a first quantity threshold (this may mean that there is no requirement for the time interval between STA association and deassociation); or the number of STA association handover actions occurring within a fourth time period starting from when the STA associates with the AP is greater than a second quantity threshold (this may mean that there is a requirement for the time interval between STA association and deassociation). These actions may indicate that STA association handover actions occur very frequently, which can be a cue for identifying ping-pong roaming events. It should be noted that the third and fourth time periods may be the same or different, and the first and second quantity thresholds may be the same or different.

[0168] At step 203, the AP may report at least one of one or more connection instability events of the STA to the controller so that the controller can identify ping-pong roaming events of the STA among multiple APs.

[0169] According to at least one embodiment, the AP undertakes a portion of the ping-pong roaming identification work, namely, determining the association handover behavior of a station (STA) based at least on its association and / or disassociation behavior, identifying one or more connection instability events of the STA based on the STA's association handover behavior, and reporting the STA's connection instability events to the controller, rather than directly reporting the STA's association and / or disassociation. This can provide the controller with more information more quickly to more accurately identify ping-pong roaming phenomena and reduce the operational burden and time delay for the controller in identifying ping-pong roaming phenomena.

[0170] Figure 3 Another exemplary flowchart of a method 200' for ping-pong roaming control performed by an AP according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0171] like Figure 3 As shown, in at least one embodiment, method 200' may include steps 201 (not shown), 202, 203', 204, 2031 (which may include...) Figure 2 (in steps 203 and 205).

[0172] like Figure 3 As shown, in step 201 ( Figure 3 After (not shown in the image), at step 202, similar to... Figure 2 The AP identifies one or more connection instability events of a STA based on the STA's associated handover behavior.

[0173] At step 203', it is determined whether the connection instability event meets the filtering conditions. In at least one embodiment, the filtering conditions may include one or more of the following: condition 1, wherein the connection instability event occurs in a weak signal area; condition 2, wherein the connection instability event occurs while the STA is stationary or moving within a small area; or condition 3, wherein the connection instability event is not caused by Basic Service Set (BSS) Transition Management (BTM).

[0174] Specifically, condition 1 can be a condition that a connection instability event occurs in a first region, wherein the first region is a region where the average value of the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the associated handover action corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than a first RSSI threshold; or the first region is a region where each RSSI of the associated handover action corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than a second RSSI threshold.

[0175] In condition 1, the aforementioned first area can be referred to as a weak signal area. Typically, connection instability events do not occur in strong signal areas (where RSSI should be stronger). Therefore, if a determined connection instability event occurs in a strong signal area, this determined event may be incorrectly identified and may not be considered when identifying ping-pong roaming. For example, a determined connection instability event could be caused by a user manually turning off Wi-Fi and then turning it on in a strong signal area; this should not be considered a ping-pong roaming event and can be ignored.

[0176] It is important to note that the RSSI of the associated handover action corresponding to a connection instability event refers to the RSSI of the signal received by the STA from the AP immediately before the STA deassociates with the AP. This deassociation is included in the associated handover action, and the connection instability event is identified based on this associated handover action. The deassociation of the associated handover action corresponding to a connection instability event can be a deassociation included within the associated handover action, and the connection instability event is identified based on this associated handover action. In other words, if a specific connection instability event is identified based on some frequent specific associated handover actions, each specific associated handover action can include specific association and specific deassociation, or only specific deassociation. Therefore, the deassociation corresponding to a specific connection instability event can be a specific deassociation included within a specific associated handover action.

[0177] Specifically, condition 2 can be a condition under which a connection instability event occurs when the standard deviation of the RSSI of each associated handover action in the associated handover actions of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than a first RSSI standard deviation threshold or the average value of the standard deviation of the RSSI of the associated handover actions of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than a second RSSI standard deviation threshold.

[0178] In condition 2, the second region is a small region. If the STA moves within a large region (where the RSSI standard deviation should be higher), deassociation and reassociation may occur normally due to the large variation in distance between the STA and AP, and such connection instability events may be normal and may be unmanageable.

[0179] It is important to note that the RSSI standard deviation of the associated handover behavior of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event can represent the RSSI standard deviation of the signal received by the STA from the AP or the signal received by the STA from the AP before the STA and AP deassociate in the associated handover behavior. The connection instability event can be identified based on this associated handover behavior.

[0180] The standard deviation of RSSI for associated handover behavior is calculated by using multiple RSSIs obtained by the STA or AP at the time of the corresponding decoupling action. It should be noted that the time between the multiple most recent periodic samples can be a preset parameter, such as the four most recent RSSI periodic samples; alternatively, the sampling period can also be another preset parameter, such as sampling the RSSI every two seconds.

[0181] For example, the time of the decoupling action corresponding to a certain associated handover action is 30s, and the standard deviation of RSSI is calculated by using the four most recent periodic RSSI samples, with an RSSI sampling period of 2s, and assuming that the RSSI sampling times are 23s, 25s, 27s and 29s respectively. The standard deviation of RSSI for associated handover actions is based on four RSSIs obtained from the most recent periodic sampling of the received signal from the STA or AP at 23s, 25s, 27s and 29s.

[0182] Specifically, condition 3 can be a condition where the connection instability event is not caused by Basic Service Set (BSS) Transformation Management (BTM). It's important to note that satisfying condition 3 only addresses ping-pong roaming caused by roaming not recommended by BTM.

[0183] Condition 1, condition 2, and / or condition 3 can be combined to obtain connection instability events that satisfy one or more of conditions 1, condition 2, and / or condition 3, while removing ineligible connection instability events that do not meet the conditions.

[0184] Therefore, the AP can filter out unqualified connection instability events based on filtering conditions to increase the recognition accuracy of ping-pong roaming (performed by the controller).

[0185] At step 204, the AP can record any connection instability event that meets the filtering criteria from one or more connection instability events in a connection instability event list. The connection instability event list can be stored in the AP's storage device, but is not limited to this.

[0186] In at least one embodiment, recording connection instability events that meet the filtering criteria in the connection instability event list includes recording one or more of the following: the STA's Media Access Control (MAC) address; the cumulative number of consecutive connection instability events for the STA; the frequency band of the latest associated handover action corresponding to the STA's latest connection instability event; the average RSSI of the associated handover action corresponding to the STA's latest connection instability event; the basic service set identifier (BSSID) of the latest associated handover action corresponding to the STA's latest connection instability event; the service set identifier (SSID) of the latest associated handover action corresponding to the STA's latest connection instability event; or the timestamp of the STA's latest connection instability event. The above can help determine whether two or more connection instability events are the same connection instability event and remove redundant connection instability events.

[0187] It's important to note that the above-recorded content accumulates the STA's unstable connection events before clearing the unstable connection event list to obtain the cumulative number of STA unstable connection events. Furthermore, the frequency band / BSSID / SSID of the latest associated handover action corresponding to the STA's latest unstable connection event indicates at least the deassociative frequency band / BSSID / SSID included in the latest associated handover action that identified the latest unstable connection event. Of course, the above-recorded content is merely an example and is not limited to any specific example. Other content can also be recorded, but it will not be detailed here.

[0188] At step 2031, the AP may report a connection instability event from the connection instability event list to the controller in response to the reporting conditions being met. In at least one embodiment, the reporting conditions may include one or more of the following: reaching a reporting period (e.g., when a timer expires, and the reporting period may be a fixed period or a flexible period); one of the connection instability events of the STA being identified (e.g., once the connection instability event of the STA is identified, the connection instability event is reported); or an instruction for reporting (e.g., from the controller or other device) a received connection instability event is received (e.g., the controller or other device may control the timing of the AP reporting connection instability events by sending an instruction). These reporting conditions are merely examples and are not limiting. Two or three reporting conditions may be combined such that when two or three reporting conditions are met or all of them are met, a connection instability event from the connection instability event list is reported.

[0189] In step 205, after all unstable connection events in the unstable connection event list have been reported, the list can be cleared. Then, newly identified unstable connection events can be recorded in the cleared list, preventing redundant unstable connection events from being reported.

[0190] Therefore, according to the embodiment, the AP can report qualified connection instability events, which helps to more accurately identify ping-pong roaming, enabling the determination and implementation of appropriate measures to avoid ping-pong roaming.

[0191] After the AP reports a valid connection instability event to the controller, the controller can identify ping-pong roaming, determine a ping-pong roaming handling strategy, and send ping-pong roaming handling instructions to the AP or another AP. The details of the controller's steps will be described in detail later.

[0192] After the AP receives the instructions related to ping-pong roaming processing, the AP can perform ping-pong roaming processing operations, and the details will be described below.

[0193] Figure 4An exemplary flowchart is shown of the ping-pong roaming processing operation steps of a method 200 / 200' for ping-pong roaming control performed by an AP, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0194] like Figure 4 As shown, method 200 / 200' further includes step 206: receiving a first ping-pong roaming processing related instruction from the controller; and step 207: performing a ping-pong roaming processing operation based on the received first ping-pong roaming processing instruction.

[0195] In at least one embodiment, the method further includes: receiving instructions to modify parameters for determining associated handover behavior and / or identifying one or more connection instability events of a STA; and modifying the parameters. The parameters may include parameters related to the determination of associated handover behavior and / or the identification of connection instability events, such as the threshold mentioned above, options for any of the conditions mentioned above, etc. Therefore, the sensitivity or accuracy of identifying connection instability events and / or identifying associated handover behavior can be controlled, and thus, the sensitivity or accuracy of identifying ping-pong roaming events can be indirectly controlled.

[0196] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation may include one or more of the following: increasing or decreasing the transmission power of the AP; enabling or disabling AP access control over the STA to prevent or allow the AP to respond to the STA's access request; enabling or disabling AP stickiness control over the STA to maintain or prevent the STA from being associated with the AP more stably; or enabling or disabling AP roaming control over the STA to exclude or not exclude target APs to be recommended by the AP to be associated with, so as to ensure that the STA will not be recommended or can be recommended to be associated with excluded target APs (e.g., APs with access control on the STA enabled as described above).

[0197] In at least one embodiment, increasing the AP's transmission power makes it easier for the AP to associate with the STA, making it less likely for the STA to disassociate with the AP, thus attempting to avoid ping-pong roaming. Decreasing the AP's transmission power allows the AP to have lower power to easily associate with or not associate with the STA, also attempting to avoid ping-pong roaming. The increment or decrement step value used to increase or decrease the AP's transmission power can be adjusted.

[0198] In at least one embodiment, enabling access control can mean that under certain conditions, the AP is not allowed to respond to certain frames from the STA, thus preventing the AP from allowing the STA to access the network and avoiding association between the AP and the STA, thereby attempting to avoid ping-pong roaming. These specific frames may include, but are not limited to, probe request frames, authentication request frames, association request frames, and re-association request frames. The specific conditions may include, but are not limited to: the RSSI of the specific frames received by the AP from the STA being less than or equal to a preset RSSI threshold; and the preset RSSI threshold may be: the average RSSI of multiple associated handover behaviors corresponding to the STA's latest connection instability event.

[0199] Enabling stickiness control means making STAs more likely to remain associated with the current AP under certain conditions, rather than roaming to other APs. In other words, it prohibits kicking (or unassociating) STAs due to roaming stickiness; that is, after identifying an STA as being in a sticky state, it does not force the kicking (or unassociating) of the STA.

[0200] Enabling roaming control can mean limiting the passive roaming behavior of a STA to some extent by excluding target APs that should be recommended by the AP to ensure that unrecommended STAs are associated with excluded target APs. This includes, but is not limited to: prohibiting other APs from including information about excluded target APs in the BSS transition candidate list entry field of BTM request messages sent to the STA; and / or allowing other APs to exclude target APs when selecting roaming targets according to the roaming algorithm. The target AP can be an AP that has access control enabled.

[0201] Therefore, according to the embodiments, the ping-pong roaming phenomenon of STAs can be controlled or avoided in order to solve problems such as frequent association switching, disconnection, packet loss, and poor network connection stability, thereby improving the user experience.

[0202] Figure 5 An exemplary flowchart is shown of the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation step of a method 200 / 200' for ping-pong roaming control performed by an AP according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0203] like Figure 5 As shown, method 200 / 200' may further include step 208: determining that the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition is met; and step 209: canceling the ping-pong roaming processing operation in response to the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition being met.

[0204] It should be noted that step 208, which determines whether the conditions for canceling the ping-pong roaming processing operation are met, and other steps related to canceling the ping-pong roaming processing operation, can be performed by the AP, another AP, the controller, or the user, which is not limited herein. Figure 5The determination of whether the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition is met is performed by the AP. However, if it is determined that the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition is not met, step 208 can be omitted.

[0205] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming operation cancellation condition can be determined in response to the following: the accumulated time period for performing the ping-pong roaming operation is longer than a cancellation time threshold and the ping-pong roaming operation non-extension condition is met. Note that if the AP determines whether the ping-pong roaming operation cancellation condition is met, the AP accumulates the time period from the moment it begins performing the ping-pong roaming operation; if the controller determines whether the ping-pong roaming operation cancellation condition is met, the controller accumulates the time period from the moment it sends the ping-pong roaming operation instruction. In other words, if the accumulated time period for performing the ping-pong roaming operation is longer than the cancellation time threshold and the ping-pong roaming operation non-extension condition is not met, the ping-pong roaming operation can be extended to the cancellation time threshold. That is, the length of the accumulated time period for performing the ping-pong roaming operation can be reset to 0.

[0206] It is important to note that the non-extended condition for ping-pong roaming processing can be that the number of specific frames received by the AP from the STA within the sixth time period exceeds a third quantity threshold, and / or the absolute value of the difference between the average RSSI of all specific frames received by the AP from the STA within the past sixth time period and the average RSSI of multiple associated handover behaviors corresponding to the latest connection instability event of the STA is less than or equal to a first RSSI difference threshold. Specific frames may include, but are not limited to, probe request frames, authentication request frames, association request frames, and reassociation request frames.

[0207] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition can be determined in response to the following condition: the STA leaves the area where the ping-pong roaming event was identified.

[0208] In at least one embodiment, a STA can be determined to have left an area in which a ping-pong roaming event was identified in response to one or more of the following conditions: the AP or APs where the ping-pong roaming occurred did not receive a specific frame from the STA within a time threshold for leaving the area; the time period during which the STA deassociated with the AP or APs where the ping-pong roaming occurred was longer than a deassociation time threshold; the STA entered a third area of ​​the AP or APs, wherein the third area is an area in which the AP or APs detected that the STA remained associated with the AP or APs, and the cumulative number of consecutive times that the periodically sampled RSSI of the STA is greater than a third RSSI threshold is greater than or equal to a first threshold. Within the fifth time period, the number of consecutive cumulative times in which the first difference is greater than the second RSSI difference threshold is greater than or equal to the second threshold, wherein the first difference is the absolute difference between the RSSI of a specific frame received from the STA and the average of the RSSI of multiple associated handover behaviors corresponding to the latest connection instability event of the STA; or the STA remains associated with the AP, and the number of consecutive cumulative times in which the second difference is greater than the third RSSI difference threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold, wherein the second difference is the absolute difference between the RSSI of the periodically sampled STA and the average of the RSSI of multiple associated handover behaviors corresponding to the latest connection instability event of the STA.

[0209] It is important to note that the specific frames mentioned in this document may include, but are not limited to, probe request frames, authentication request frames, association request frames, and reassociation request frames. Since the AP can deassociate with the STA, it can only receive certain specific frames from the STA; therefore, the RSSI of specific frames received from the STA is considered. The average RSSI of multiple association handover actions corresponding to the STA's latest connection instability event also refers to the average RSSI received before the multiple deassociations included in the association handover action, based on which the STA's latest connection instability event is identified.

[0210] It is important to note that the first, second, and third count thresholds can be the same or different. The first, second, and third RSSI thresholds can be the same or different... The first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth time periods can be the same or different. The first, second, and third RSSI difference thresholds can be the same or different. The first, second, and third quantity thresholds can be the same or different.

[0211] In at least one embodiment, a ping-pong roaming operation cancellation condition can be determined to be met in response to an AP's transmit power change exceeding a power change threshold. The AP's transmit power change may be caused by non-ping-pong roaming operations. In this case, if the AP's power change is large, it means the AP may not be suitable for performing the ping-pong roaming operation, and the ping-pong roaming operation should be cancelled.

[0212] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition can be determined to be met in response to the occurrence of another ping-pong roaming event of the STA among multiple APs. This means that the ping-pong roaming event of the STA no longer occurs among the original multiple APs, and therefore the ping-pong roaming processing operation of the current AP can be cancelled.

[0213] In at least one embodiment, the cancellation condition for the ping-pong roaming processing operation can be determined to be met in response to either the user canceling the execution of the ping-pong roaming processing operation, or the user disabling the ping-pong roaming control function. In this case, the cancellation is controlled by the user.

[0214] In at least one embodiment, in response to an AP power failure, it can be determined that the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition is met. If the AP is powered off, it means that the STA can no longer associate with the powered-off AP, so the STA that previously experienced ping-pong roaming may no longer experience ping-pong roaming, thus it is necessary to cancel the ping-pong roaming processing operation associated with the powered-off AP.

[0215] In at least one embodiment, in response to a persistent loss of connection between the AP and the controller for more than a given duration, it can be determined that the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition is met. The identification and processing of ping-pong roaming depends on the interaction between the controller and the AP. If the connection between the controller and the AP is broken for more than a given time, it can be considered that the controller and the AP are disconnected, and therefore, instructions related to ping-pong roaming processing (such as canceling and executing ping-pong roaming processing operations) cannot be exchanged between the controller and the AP. Therefore, the AP's ping-pong roaming control becomes uncontrollable, and new ping-pong roaming events associated with the AP cannot be identified, thus necessitating the cancellation of ping-pong roaming processing operations associated with the AP.

[0216] It should be noted that the cancellation conditions for the Ping Pong roaming processing operation illustrated above can be applied individually or in combination.

[0217] Therefore, the ping-pong roaming processing operation can be appropriately cancelled based on the cancellation conditions mentioned above.

[0218] In at least one embodiment, the AP can send a second ping-pong roaming processing related instruction to the controller. The second ping-pong roaming processing related instruction may include one or more of the following: an instruction for the controller to update the ping-pong roaming table to remove a record in the ping-pong roaming table related to a cancelled ping-pong roaming processing operation; or an instruction for the controller to send (i.e., a fourth ping-pong roaming processing related instruction) to other APs associated with the removed record to perform a ping-pong roaming processing operation (e.g., an instruction to cancel the current ping-pong roaming processing operation associated with the removed record, or to perform a new ping-pong roaming processing operation). For example, a ping-pong roaming event of the STA occurs between AP1, AP2, and AP3. When AP1 determines that a ping-pong roaming processing operation needs to be cancelled, it can report the second ping-pong roaming processing related instruction to the controller, enabling the controller to send a fourth ping-pong roaming processing related instruction, which is forwarded to AP2 and AP3, allowing AP2 and AP3 to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations (such as cancelling the current ping-pong roaming processing operation or performing a new ping-pong roaming processing operation).

[0219] The ping-pong roaming table can be stored in the controller, but is not limited to this, and can also be stored elsewhere. The content stored in the ping-pong roaming table may include, but is not limited to, the MAC addresses of the STAs experiencing ping-pong roaming and the associated APs, as well as the ping-pong roaming processing operations that the APs need to perform. Methods for updating the ping-pong roaming table can include: adding content to the ping-pong roaming table, deleting content from the ping-pong roaming table, and / or adding and deleting content simultaneously. It should be noted that the ping-pong roaming table stores identifiers of the STAs and APs currently experiencing ping-pong roaming, as well as the ping-pong roaming processing operations that need to be performed or are being performed for each currently occurring ping-pong roaming event; and the ping-pong roaming table can be maintained and updated by the controller, or by the corresponding AP, or by both the controller and the corresponding AP. If the AP / controller does not maintain the ping-pong roaming table, the steps related to the ping-pong roaming table may not be performed by the AP / controller and may be omitted.

[0220] Instructions for other APs to perform ping-pong roaming operations can instruct other APs to perform ping-pong roaming operations, such as power adjustment, access control, stickiness control, and roaming control.

[0221] Therefore, according to various embodiments, the ping-pong roaming phenomenon, in which a STA roams between multiple APs due to lost connections, such as first de-associating and then re-associating, actively roaming, passively roaming, and / or other reasons, can be identified and handled, in order to solve problems such as frequent association switching, disconnection, packet loss, and poor network connection stability, and further improve the user experience.

[0222] Figure 6 An exemplary flowchart of a method 600 for ping-pong roaming control executed by a controller according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0223] Method 600 may include steps 601, 602, 603 and 604.

[0224] At step 601, after one or more APs report their connection instability events to the controller, the controller receives one or more connection instability events from one or more APs and one or more STAs.

[0225] In step 602, the controller identifies a ping-pong roaming event of the first STA among the one or more STAs based on the one or more connection instability events.

[0226] In at least one embodiment, step 602 of identifying a ping-pong roaming event of a first STA among one or more STAs based on one or more connection instability events may include identifying the ping-pong roaming event of the STA in response to one or more of the following: condition (1), wherein multiple APs report two or more connection instability events of the first STA (meaning at least two APs report connection instability events of the first STA, and each AP reports at least one connection instability event of the first STA), and the time interval between any two consecutive connection instability events from different APs among the two or more connection instability events is less than a first time interval threshold; condition (2), wherein multiple APs report two or more connection instability events of the first STA, and the time interval between two consecutive connection instability events from different APs among the two or more connection instability events is less than a second time interval threshold; or condition (3) where an AP reports a connection instability event of the first STA. Condition (1) indicates very frequent connection instability events of a STA, and condition (2) indicates relatively frequent connection instability events of a STA, and condition (3) indicates that a ping-pong roaming event is identified once an AP reports a connection instability event of a STA. It should be noted that the first time interval threshold and the second time interval threshold may be the same or different. It should be noted that the SSIDs of two consecutive connection instability events from different APs can be the same or different, and there is no restriction on this.

[0227] In step 603, the controller determines a ping-pong roaming handling strategy for the first STA. In at least one embodiment, determining the ping-pong roaming handling strategy for the first STA is performed based on the attributes of one or more connection instability events of one or more STAs and / or the wireless specifications or RF parameters of one or more APs. In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming handling strategy may include: which AP(s) need to perform ping-pong roaming handling operations; and / or the ping-pong roaming handling operations for each AP(s) that need to perform ping-pong roaming handling operations. Since ping-pong roaming can lead to frequent association and deassociation between STAs and APs, it is necessary to attempt to keep STAs associated or connected to one AP and prevent STAs from associating or connecting to another AP in order to avoid ping-pong roaming. It is necessary to determine which AP(s) allow association or connection of STAs and which AP(s) avoid association or connection of STAs, particularly how association or connection is allowed or avoided, for example, due to access control or transmission power changes that may prevent STAs from being allowed access by the AP(s), or the AP(s) may have higher transmission power to more easily associate or connect with the STA(s).

[0228] In some embodiments, a ping-pong roaming handling strategy for a first STA can be determined based on the attributes of one or more connection instability events reported by one or more STAs from the AP and / or the AP's wireless specifications or RF parameters. For example, if a particular AP has a low bandwidth, a low RSSI, and / or the instability event at the particular AP occurred later (i.e., more recently), it can be determined that the particular AP will implement access control, i.e., it may not allow the STA to access the AP because the AP's signal is weaker. However, if the AP itself has lower transmission power and / or narrower bandwidth, it can be determined that the AP will implement access control to prohibit access, i.e., it will not allow the STA to access the AP. Meanwhile, it can be determined that another AP increases its transmission power so that the STA can connect to the other AP as easily as possible without switching the association between APs. In summary, a STA can be prevented from associating with an AP with poor wireless capabilities by reducing transmission power and / or enabling access control and / or disabling stickiness control and / or disabling roaming control (since it is not necessary to exclude the target access point associated with the STA). Conversely, a STA can be kept associated with an AP with better wireless capabilities for as long as possible by increasing transmission power and / or disabling access control and / or enabling stickiness control and / or enabling roaming control to exclude the target AP associated with the STA (where the target AP has access control enabled), thereby avoiding ping-pong roaming.

[0229] At step 604, the controller sends a ping-pong roaming processing instruction to at least one of the one or more APs to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations based on the determined ping-pong roaming processing strategy.

[0230] In at least one embodiment, the ping-pong roaming processing operation may include one or more of the following: increasing or decreasing the transmission power of the AP; enabling or disabling AP access control over the STA to prevent or allow the AP to respond to the STA's access request; enabling or disabling AP stickiness control over the STA to maintain or prevent the STA from being associated with the AP more stably; or enabling or disabling AP roaming control over the STA to exclude or not exclude target APs to be recommended by the AP for association, ensuring that the STA will not be recommended or can be recommended to be associated with excluded target APs (e.g., APs with access control enabled for the STA as described above). The details of the ping-pong roaming processing operation have been described above and will be omitted here.

[0231] For example, the controller can send a ping-pong roaming processing command to instruct the AP to open access control, and send another ping-pong roaming processing command to instruct another AP to increase transmission power, and so on.

[0232] In at least one embodiment, identifying a ping-pong roaming event for a first STA among the one or more STAs based on the one or more connection instability events and determining a ping-pong roaming handling strategy for the first STA can be performed periodically or in response to receiving a connection instability event from the AP.

[0233] Therefore, according to the embodiment, the controller can identify ping-pong roaming events of STAs and formulate ping-pong roaming handling strategies for APs to control or avoid ping-pong roaming of STAs, thereby solving problems such as frequent association switching, disconnection, packet loss, and poor network connection stability, and thus improving user experience.

[0234] Figure 7 An exemplary flowchart is shown of a ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation step in a method 600 for ping-pong roaming control performed by a controller according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0235] As mentioned above, determining whether the conditions for canceling the ping-pong roaming processing operation are met can be performed by the AP, another AP, the controller, or the user, which is not limited in this document. Figure 7 The determination of whether the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition is met is performed by the controller. However, if it is determined that the determination of whether the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition is met is not performed by the controller, step 605 can be omitted.

[0236] like Figure 7 As shown, method 600 may also include steps 605, 606 and 607.

[0237] In step 605, the controller can determine that the conditions for canceling the ping-pong roaming processing operation are met.

[0238] In at least one embodiment, a ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition can be determined in response to one or more of the following: a cancellation condition where the cumulative time period for the execution of the ping-pong roaming processing operation is longer than a cancellation time threshold and a non-extended condition for the ping-pong roaming processing operation; a cancellation condition where the STA leaves the area where the ping-pong roaming event was identified; a cancellation condition where the AP's transmit power change is greater than a power change threshold; a cancellation condition where another ping-pong roaming event of the STA occurs among multiple APs; a cancellation condition where the user cancels the execution of the ping-pong roaming processing operation; a cancellation condition where the user disables the ping-pong roaming control function; a cancellation condition where the AP is powered down (e.g., the AP is off, or all radios of the AP are off); or a cancellation condition where the connection between the AP and the controller is continuously lost for more than a given duration.

[0239] In at least one embodiment, a STA is determined to leave an area in which a ping-pong roaming event was identified in response to one or more of the following conditions: the AP or APs where the ping-pong roaming occurred do not receive a specific frame from the STA within a time threshold for leaving the area; the time period during which the STA deassociates with the AP or APs where the ping-pong roaming occurred is longer than a deassociation time threshold; the STA enters a third area of ​​the AP or APs, wherein the third area is an area in which the AP or APs detect that the STA remains associated with the AP or APs, and the cumulative number of consecutive times that the periodically sampled RSSI of the STA is greater than a third RSSI threshold is greater than or equal to a first threshold; Within the fifth time period, the cumulative number of times the first difference is greater than the second RSSI difference threshold is greater than or equal to the second threshold, wherein the first difference is the absolute difference between the RSSI of a specific frame received from the STA and the average of the RSSI of multiple associated handover behaviors corresponding to the latest connection instability event of the STA; or the STA remains associated with the AP, and the cumulative number of times the second difference is greater than the third RSSI difference threshold is greater than or equal to the third threshold, wherein the second difference is the absolute difference between the RSSI of the periodically sampled STA and the average of the RSSI of multiple associated handover behaviors corresponding to the latest connection instability event of the STA.

[0240] It should be noted that, unless otherwise stated, all RSSIs mentioned in this disclosure can be either uplink RSSIs or downlink RSSIs. Downlink RSSIs can be estimated based on uplink RSSIs, for example, downlink RSSI = uplink RSSI - uplink and downlink signal strength difference offset. The offset can be a fixed value (e.g., which can be specified empirically) or a dynamically changing value (e.g., which can be updated using an old offset or by calculating the uplink and downlink RSSIs measured by Radio Resource Management (RRM)).

[0241] In step 606, the controller may send a third ping-pong roaming processing related instruction to at least one AP to cancel the ping-pong roaming processing operation in response to the fulfillment of the ping-pong roaming processing operation cancellation condition. Here, the third ping-pong roaming processing related instruction may be an instruction for at least one AP to cancel the ping-pong roaming processing operation.

[0242] In step 607, the controller can update the ping-pong roaming table.

[0243] The ping-pong roaming table can be stored in the controller, but is not limited to this, and can also be stored elsewhere. The content stored in the ping-pong roaming table may include, but is not limited to, the MAC addresses of the STAs that perform ping-pong roaming and the associated APs, as well as the ping-pong roaming processing operations that the APs need to perform. Methods for updating the ping-pong roaming table may include: adding content, deleting content, and / or adding and deleting content simultaneously.

[0244] Figure 8 This is an exemplary block diagram illustrating an AP 800 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that... Figure 8 The AP 800 depicted can be used to process ping-pong roaming, for example, as described in the corresponding method 200 or method 200' above.

[0245] like Figure 8 As shown, AP 800 may include one or more processors 801 and memory 802. The one or more processors 801 are communicatively coupled to memory 802 and are configured to perform the ping-pong roaming control method performed by AP as described above.

[0246] Examples of one or more processors 801 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities throughout the present disclosure.

[0247] One or more processors 801 can execute software. Whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terms, software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc. Software may reside on memory 802.

[0248] Memory 802 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. As examples, non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic stripes), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs) or digital multifunction discs (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, or key drives), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disks, erasable PROM (EEPROM), and any other suitable medium for storing software and / or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. Memory 802 may reside in one or more processors 801, be external to one or more processors 801, or be distributed across multiple entities including one or more processors 801. Memory 802 may be embodied in a computer program product. For example, a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium in packaging material. Those skilled in the art will recognize how the functionality described herein can be implemented depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system as a whole.

[0249] Figure 9 This is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a controller 900 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that... Figure 9 The controller 900 depicted can be used to handle ping-pong roaming, for example, as described in the corresponding method 600 above.

[0250] like Figure 9 As shown, the controller 900 may include one or more processors 901 and a memory 902. The one or more processors 901 are communicatively coupled to the memory 902 and are configured to perform the method for ping-pong roaming control as described above, executed by the controller.

[0251] Additionally, according to another embodiment of this disclosure, a computer program product is disclosed. As an example, the computer program product includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therein, and the program instructions are executable by a processor of the AP. When executed, the program instructions cause the processor to perform one or more of the processes described above, and details are omitted herein for brevity.

[0252] This disclosure can be a system, method, and / or computer program product at any possible level of technical detail integration. A computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium (or medium) having computer-readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to perform aspects of this disclosure.

[0253] Unless otherwise expressly stated, expressions such as “according to,” “based on,” “dependent on,” etc., as used in this disclosure do not mean “according to only,” “based on only,” or “dependent on only.” In other words, in this disclosure, such expressions generally mean “at least according to,” “at least based on,” or “at least dependent on.”

[0254] Any references to elements in this disclosure, such as the names "first," "second," etc., are not intended to comprehensively limit the number or order of these elements. These expressions may be used in this disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish two or more units. Therefore, references to the first unit and the second unit do not imply that only two units may be used, or that the first unit must precede the second unit in some form.

[0255] The term "determine" as used in this disclosure can include a variety of operations. For example, "determine," calculation, operation, processing, derivation, investigation, search (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), and ascertainment are all considered "determine." Additionally, "determine" also refers to receiving (e.g., receiving information), sending (e.g., sending information), inputting, outputting, and accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory). Furthermore, "determine" can also refer to parsing, selecting, picking, building, and comparing. In other words, several actions can be considered "determine."

[0256] As used in this disclosure, terms such as “connection,” “coupling,” or any variations thereof refer to any direct or indirect connection or combination between two or more units, which may include situations where one or more intermediate units exist between two units that are “connected” or “coupled” to each other. The coupling or connection between units may be physical or logical, or a combination of both. As used in this disclosure, two units may be considered electrically connected by means of one or more wires, cables, and / or printing, and as numerous non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples, may be “connected” or “coupled” to each other by means of electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency region, microwave region, and / or light (visible and invisible) region, etc.

[0257] When the terms “comprising,” “including,” and variations thereof are used in this disclosure or claims, these terms are open-ended, just like the term “having.” Furthermore, the term “or” as used in this disclosure or claims is not an exclusive “or.”

[0258] The present disclosure has been described in detail above, but it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description in this disclosure is illustrative and has no limiting effect on the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for ping-pong roaming control, the method being performed by an access point (AP) and comprising: The association switching behavior of the STA is determined based on the association and / or deassociation behavior of the STA; One or more connection instability events of the STA are identified based on the associated handover behavior of the STA; as well as The STA reports at least one of the one or more connection instability events to the controller, so that the controller can identify ping-pong roaming events of the STA among multiple APs.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The determination of the association switching behavior of the STA based on the association and / or disassociation behavior of the STA includes: In response to the following, one of the associated handover behaviors of the STA is determined: During the first time period after the STA deassociates with the AP, the STA associates with a first AP, wherein the first AP is different from the AP. During a second time period after the STA deassociates with the AP, the STA associates with the AP; or The STA is de-associated with the AP.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method of identifying one or more connection instability events of the STA based on the associated handover behavior of the STA includes: In response to the following, identify one of the one or more connection instability events of the STA: The number of associated handover actions of the STA occurring during the third time period is greater than a first quantity threshold; or The number of association switching actions of the STA that occur within a fourth time period starting from when the STA associates with the AP is greater than the second quantity threshold.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Record any connection instability event that meets the filtering criteria from the one or more connection instability events in the connection instability event list. The step of reporting at least one of the one or more connection instability events of the STA to the controller so that the controller can identify the ping-pong roaming of the STA includes: reporting the connection instability event from the list of connection instability events in response to a reporting condition being met; and The method further includes clearing the connection instability event list after reporting the connection instability event in the connection instability event list.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The filtering conditions include: The conditions under which the connection instability event occurs in the first region. Wherein, the first region is the region where the average value of the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the associated handover behavior corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than a first RSSI threshold; or The first region is the region in which each RSSI for the associated switching behavior corresponding to the connection instability event is below a second RSSI threshold.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The filtering conditions include: The connection instability event occurs when the standard deviation of the RSSI of each associated handover action of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than a first RSSI standard deviation threshold, or when the average value of the standard deviations of the RSSI of the associated handover actions of the STA corresponding to the connection instability event is lower than a second RSSI standard deviation threshold.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The filtering conditions include: The connection instability event was not caused by Basic Service Set (BSS) Transformation Management (BTM).

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The reporting requirements include one or more of the following: The reporting cycle has been reached; One of the one or more connection instability events of the STA is identified; or An instruction to report the connection instability event was received.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Receive first ping-pong roaming processing related instructions from the controller; as well as The ping-pong roaming processing operation is executed based on the first ping-pong roaming processing instruction received.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The ping-pong roaming processing operation includes one or more of the following: Increase or decrease the transmission power of the AP; Enable or disable the AP's access control over the STA to prohibit or allow the AP from responding to the STA's access requests; Enable or disable the sticky control of the AP on the STA to maintain or prevent the STA from being more stably associated with the AP; or Enable or disable the AP's roaming control over the STA to exclude or not exclude target APs recommended by the AP to be associated with the STA.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising: The ping-pong roaming operation is cancelled in response to the conditions for cancellation of the ping-pong roaming operation being met.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The conditions for canceling the Ping Pong roaming processing operation include one or more of the following: The cumulative time period for performing the ping-pong roaming processing operation is longer than the cancellation time threshold and the cancellation condition that the ping-pong roaming processing operation is not extended is met. The cancellation condition for the STA to leave the area where the ping-pong roaming event was identified; The cancellation condition for the AP's transmit power change being greater than the power change threshold; The cancellation condition for another ping-pong roaming event of the STA occurring among multiple APs; The user cancels the conditions for performing the Ping Pong roaming processing operation; The conditions for the user to disable the Ping Pong roaming control function; The conditions for canceling the AP power outage; or The connection between the AP and the controller was continuously lost for a period exceeding the cancellation condition for a given duration.

13. A method for ping-pong roaming control, the method being executed by a controller and comprising: Receive one or more connection instability events from one or more access points (APs) and one or more stations (STAs); The ping-pong roaming event of the first STA among the one or more STAs is identified based on the one or more connection instability events; Determine the ping-pong roaming processing strategy for the first STA; as well as Send a ping-pong roaming processing instruction to at least one of the one or more APs to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations based on a determined ping-pong roaming processing strategy.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The method of identifying the ping-pong roaming event of the first STA among the one or more STAs based on the one or more connection instability events includes identifying the ping-pong roaming event of the first STA in response to one or more of the following: There are multiple APs that report two or more connection instability events to the first STA, and the time interval between any two consecutive connection instability events from different APs in the two or more connection instability events is shorter than a first time interval threshold; There are multiple APs that report two or more connection instability events to the first STA, and the time interval between two consecutive connection instability events from different APs in the two or more connection instability events is shorter than a second time interval threshold; or The conditions under which the AP reports connection instability events to the first STA.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The determination of the ping-pong roaming handling strategy for the first STA is performed based on the attributes of the one or more connection instability events of the one or more STAs and / or the wireless specifications or RF parameters of the one or more APs, and / or The ping-pong roaming processing strategy includes: Which APs need to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations; and / or For each AP that needs to perform ping-pong roaming processing operations, perform ping-pong roaming processing operations.

16. An access point (AP) for ping-pong roaming control, the AP comprising: One or more processors; Memory coupled to at least one of the processors in the processor; as well as A set of computer program instructions stored in the memory, which, when executed by at least one of the processors, perform the following actions: The association switching behavior of the STA is determined based on the association and / or deassociation behavior of the STA; One or more connection instability events of the STA are identified based on the associated handover behavior of the STA; as well as The STA reports at least one of the one or more connection instability events to the controller, so that the controller can identify ping-pong roaming events of the STA among multiple APs.

17. The AP according to claim 16, wherein, The determination of the association switching behavior of the STA based on the association and / or disassociation behavior of the STA includes: In response to the following, one of the associated handover behaviors of the STA is determined: During the first time period after the STA deassociates with the AP, the STA associates with a first AP, which is different from the AP. During a second time period after the STA deassociates with the AP, the STA associates with the AP; or The STA is de-associated with the AP.

18. The AP according to claim 16, wherein, The method of identifying one or more connection instability events of the STA based on the associated handover behavior of the STA includes: In response to the following, identify one of the one or more connection instability events of the STA: The number of associated handover actions of the STA occurring during the third time period is greater than a first quantity threshold; or The number of association switching actions of the STA that occur within a fourth time period starting from when the STA associates with the AP is greater than the second quantity threshold.

19. The AP according to claim 16, wherein, The set of computer program instructions stored in the memory, when executed by at least one of the processors, also performs the following actions: Receive first ping-pong roaming processing related instructions from the controller; and The ping-pong roaming processing operation is executed based on the first ping-pong roaming processing instruction received.

20. The AP according to claim 19, wherein, The ping-pong roaming processing operation includes one or more of the following: Increase or decrease the transmission power of the AP; Enable or disable the AP's access control over the STA to prohibit or allow the AP from responding to the STA's access requests; Enable or disable the sticky control of the AP on the STA to maintain or prevent the STA from being more stably associated with the AP; or Enable or disable the AP's roaming control over the STA to exclude or not exclude target APs recommended by the AP to be associated with the STA.

Images