Patent ID: 8000716
Filing Date: 2011-08-16
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A load balancing apparatus for a wireless network hotspot having a plurality of access points (APs) and a plurality of stations (STAs), said apparatus comprising: a resource allocation module for creating a resource model and relation among said plurality of APs and said plurality of STAs and finding a load balancing shift path (LBSP) from said resource model, said relation including the relation between a serving AP and a served STA, the relation between a scanning STA and an AP scanned by but not serving said scanning STA; a directed resource allocation graph having directional edges between said APs and said STAs for capturing utilization status of said APs and said relation among said APs and said STAs to describe said resource model, said directional edges including a plurality of assignment edges each connecting and pointing from a serving AP to an STA served by the serving AP, and a plurality of claim edges each connecting and pointing from a scanning STA to an AP scanned by but not serving the scanning STA; and a load balancer for re-allocating network resources and dynamically adjusting loads of said plurality of APs based on said LBSP, said LBSP being found according to said directed resource allocation graph by changing and tracing directions of said directional edges to adjust said relation among said APs and said STAs and reallocate network resources; wherein when a requested AP of said APs in said wireless network hotspot can not admit a quality of service (QoS) request of a requesting STA due to inadequate resource, said resource allocation module adds relation between said requesting STA and said requested AP in said resource model in order to find said LBSP from said resource model by using a claim edge to connect said requesting STA to said requested AP in said directed resource allocation graph for finding said LBSP from said directed resource allocation graph.