Patent ID: 7289828
Filing Date: 2007-10-30
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 at least one 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; at an end of the sustained use period and before a next sustained use period, calculating a quality metric of exchanged data for the preferred antenna beam and for each alternate antenna beam, the calculating comprising comparing the quality metric for the preferred antenna beam to the alternate quality metrics for the alternate antenna beams; and if the quality metric is less than at least one of the alternate quality metrics, then selecting the alternate antenna beam corresponding to the at least one alternate quality metric having a higher value to continue exchanging data with the access point within the next sustained use period.