Patent ID: 7181182
Filing Date: 2007-02-20
Classification: H04B,H04W,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A method for operating a client station in a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication system comprising an access point, the client station comprising an antenna steering algorithm and a smart antenna responsive to the antenna steering algorithm for selecting one of a plurality of antenna beams, the method comprising: selecting a preferred antenna beam and an alternate antenna beam; exchanging data with the access point using the preferred antenna beam during a sustained use period during which a re-scan of the other antenna beams is not performed; periodically calculating during the sustained use period a quality metric of the exchanged data for the preferred antenna beam, the calculating comprising comparing the quality metric for the preferred antenna beam to a swap threshold range; and swapping the preferred antenna beam with the alternate antenna beam if the quality metric is within the swap threshold range to continue exchanging data with the access point within the sustained use period.