WLAN AP Selection for Power-Saving Coverage Continuity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing power-saving solutions for wireless local area networks (WLAN) risk creating signal coverage holes when all APs in a region enter a power-saving state, leading to a lack of association services for stations attempting access.
Innovation Solution
An AP selection method that determines a first AP based on neighbor relationships and path losses to provide association services during power-saving states, ensuring basic network coverage and user experience by adjusting transmit power and monitoring terminal associations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If all APs in a region enter power-saving state to save energy, then power consumption is reduced, but signal coverage holes occur and association services are unavailable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the APs into different functional roles: monitoring APs that remain active and power-saving APs that enter low-power state. This segmentation allows the system to save energy while maintaining service availability through the monitoring APs that continue to provide association services.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by selecting and configuring monitoring APs before the power-saving period begins. These monitoring APs are pre-positioned to ensure coverage and service availability, so when power-saving mode activates, the association services are already in place and ready to handle terminal access requests.
2Area of stationary object
If transmit power of surrounding APs is increased to cover signal holes, then coverage is maintained, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by having different APs perform different functions with different power levels. Monitoring APs maintain adequate transmit power to provide association services and cover their local areas, while power-saving APs reduce or eliminate transmit power. This localized differentiation maintains overall coverage without requiring all APs to increase power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the functions of multiple APs into two categories: monitoring APs that handle association services and power-saving APs that conserve energy. By combining the capabilities of monitoring APs to cover the areas where power-saving APs would otherwise be needed, the system maintains coverage without the energy cost of increasing transmit power across the board.
3Reliability
If monitoring APs are selected based on terminal behavior, then service continuity is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by having monitoring APs automatically selected and configured based on pre-established neighbor relationships and path loss criteria. The system uses readily available network topology information to autonomously determine which APs should serve as monitoring APs, eliminating the need for complex real-time terminal behavior analysis while ensuring service continuity.
Data Source
AI summary
This application discloses an AP selection method and apparatus, and relates to the field of network technologies. The method includes: determining a first AP in a plurality of APs based on neighbor relationships and/or path losses between the plurality of APs in a network, where the first AP is configured to provide, when the network enters a power-saving state, an association service for a terminal intending to access the network. Because the first AP is obtained based on the neighbor relationships and/or the path losses between the plurality of APs, and is not determined based on a terminal behavior, when the network enters the power-saving state, basic signal coverage of the network can be ensured by using the first AP, and a network use requirement can be ensured while burst service access is monitored, so that power saving can be implemented to a large extent while ensuring user experience.