Backup Home Wireless Switch Stateful Switchover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current WLAN systems face challenges in maintaining seamless layer 3 mobility and IP connectivity when wireless client devices roam across different IP subnets, leading to disruptions in active sessions and loss of connectivity, especially in capacity-oriented deployments with multiple access points.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a layer 3 mobility protocol that includes a backup home wireless switch and peer wireless switches within a mobility domain, which synchronizes IP addresses and databases to ensure continuous connectivity by updating and synchronizing wireless client databases across switches, allowing seamless handovers and maintaining consistent IP addresses during roaming.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a backup home wireless switch is implemented to take over upon failure of the initial home wireless switch, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for backup switches and state synchronization mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designates a backup home wireless switch in advance before any failure occurs. The backup switch is pre-configured with the capability to assume the role of the initial home wireless switch, and the system maintains state information (WCDb) that can be synchronized to the backup switch, enabling rapid failover without manual intervention or complex real-time reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent synchronizes the wireless client database (WCDb) from the initial home wireless switch to the backup home wireless switch. This copying of state information ensures that the backup switch has an accurate replica of the network state, allowing it to seamlessly take over upon failure without requiring complex real-time state reconstruction or manual configuration.
2Reliability
If wireless client databases are synchronized across peer wireless switches to maintain stateful information, then connectivity is maintained during roaming, but network bandwidth is consumed by synchronization traffic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs database synchronization proactively before failures or roaming events occur. By maintaining up-to-date WCDb copies at peer switches in advance, the system ensures that connectivity can be maintained during roaming and failover events without requiring intensive real-time communication, thus reducing the bandwidth burden during critical operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements selective synchronization where each peer wireless switch maintains a local copy of the wireless client database relevant to its mobility domain. This local storage and synchronization approach reduces the need for continuous remote communication, as switches can operate with locally cached state information, thereby conserving network bandwidth while maintaining connectivity.
3Duration of action of moving object
If the backup home wireless switch assumes responsibility for wireless client devices previously homed to the failed switch, then service continuity is maintained, but IP address management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent copies the IP address assignments and wireless client state information from the failed initial home wireless switch to the backup home wireless switch through database synchronization. When failover occurs, the backup switch already possesses the necessary IP address management information, allowing it to assume responsibility for wireless client devices seamlessly without requiring complex real-time IP address reassignment or manual configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The backup home wireless switch automatically assumes the role of the failed initial home wireless switch without requiring external intervention. The switch uses its synchronized WCDb to self-configure and manage IP addresses for wireless client devices, maintaining service continuity autonomously and reducing the complexity of manual IP address management during failover events.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques and technologies are provided for recovering from failure of a home wireless switch in a network of wireless switches which includes an initial home wireless switch of at least one wireless client device in a first mobility domain, a backup home wireless switch in the first mobility domain, and other peer wireless switches in the first mobility domain.