Patent ID: 7468960
Filing Date: 2008-12-23
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for selecting a channel frequency for wireless communication between a first access point (AP) and a non-AP station in a communications network operating according to a medium access scheme, the method comprising: (a) transmitting, from the first AP, a plurality of probe signals at a plurality of different channel frequencies; (b) receiving, at the first AP, a plurality of response signals, each response signal transmitted by a different AP, in response to receipt of one of the probe signals, at a channel frequency corresponding to the channel frequency of the received probe signal; (c) determining reception level of each received response signal; (d) characterizing reception level of each channel frequency based on the reception level of each corresponding received response signal; (e) determining load level of each channel frequency based on the received response signals, wherein the load level is different from the reception level; (f) determining noise level of each channel frequency based on the received response signals, wherein the noise level is different from the reception level and the load level; (g) generating, for each channel frequency, a cost function value using a closed-form expression that is a function of a reception level parameter, a load level parameter, and a noise level parameter, wherein: (h) selecting the channel frequency for the wireless communication between the first AP and the non-AP station based on the cost function values for the plurality of different channel frequencies.