Patent ID: 7206586
Filing Date: 2007-04-17
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for frequency planning in wireless networks comprising: obtaining traffic load information for access points belonging to a wireless network having a plurality of Access Points (APs) where a channel between a terminal and an AP of said network is employed to communicate both traffic and control information and communication is established between said terminal and said AP by use of a protocol that supports a Point Coordination Function (PCF) that provides contentions-free access, and a Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) that uses a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CDMA/CA) mechanism for contention-based access; and assigning channels to the access points based on the traffic load information where traffic load information for a considered AP includes load of traffic between the considered AP and terminals that communicate with the considered AP, and effective load that results from detections of channel busy conditions due to interfering communication by terminals with other APs of said network, wherein the step of assigning comprises: determining, for each considered AP, at least one set of interferers from among the other APs relative to said considered AP based on interference signal strength; generating random channel assignments for the access points; determining effective channel utilization values for each access point; modifying the random channel assignment for interferers in the at least one set of interferers such that the highest one of the effective channel utilization values is minimized; repeating said step of modifying until the highest one of the effective channel utilization values cannot be reduced by further modification; and saving the modified random channel assignment as a final assignment.