Abstract:
A server coupled to wireless transceivers wirelessly communicating user data on corresponding ones of a plurality of wireless local area networks (WLAN) is disclosed. The server comprises: a memory, and a processor. The memory to store executable instructions. The processor is coupled with the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the executable instructions, performs operations comprising: identifying wireless transceivers and access privileges requested by each of a plurality of WiFi service vendors; opening a control portal between each WiFi service vendor and the corresponding wireless transceivers identified in the identifying act; and arbitrating access by each WiFi service vendor to the corresponding identified wireless transceivers to avoid interruption of the wireless user data communications on corresponding ones of the WLANs.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The field of the present invention relates in general to wireless local area networks including wireless access points (WAP) and wireless stations and operational methods therefore. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Home and office networks, a.k.a. wireless local area networks (WLAN) are established using a device called a Wireless Access Point (WAP). The WAP may include a router. The WAP wirelessly couples all the devices of the home network, e.g. wireless stations such as: computers, printers, televisions, digital video (DVD) players, security cameras and smoke detectors to one another and to the Cable or Subscriber Line through which Internet, video, and television are delivered to the home. Most WAPs implement the IEEE 802.11 standard which is a contention based standard for handling communications among multiple competing devices for a shared wireless communication medium on a selected one of a plurality of communication channels. The frequency range of each communication channel is specified in the corresponding one of the IEEE 802.11 protocols being implemented, e.g. “a”, “b”, “g”, “n”, “ac”, “ad”, “ax”. Communications follow a hub and spoke model with a WAP at the hub and the spokes corresponding to the wireless links to each ‘client’ device. 
     After selection of a single communication channel for the associated home network, access to the shared communication channel relies on a multiple access methodology identified as Collision Sense Multiple Access (CSMA). CSMA is a distributed random access methodology for sharing a single communication medium, by having a contending communication link back off and retry access a prospective collision on the wireless medium is detected, i.e. if the wireless medium is in use. 
     Communications on the single communication medium are identified as “simplex” meaning, one communication stream from a single source node to one or more target nodes at one time, with all remaining nodes capable of “listening” to the subject transmission. Starting with the IEEE 802.11ac standard and specifically ‘Wave 2’ thereof, discrete communications to more than one target node at the same time may take place using what is called Multi-User (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) capability of the WAP. MU capabilities were added to the standard to enable the WAP to communicate with multiple single antenna single stream devices concurrently, thereby increasing the time available for discrete MIMO video links to wireless HDTVs, computers tablets and other high throughput wireless devices the communication capabilities of which rival those of the WAP. 
     To characterize the communication channel between the WAP and each station, a sounding is conducted. An explicit sounding consists of the transmission of a known sequence from the WAP to each associated station, followed by a sounding response from the station characterizing the communication channel between the WAP and itself. The WAP uses the sounding response to focus its antennas in a manner which improves either or both signal strength at the station or downlink throughput thereto. 
     What is needed are improved methods for operating each WAP and its associated stations. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a method and apparatus for arbitrating 3 rd  party access to selected wireless transceivers in wireless local area networks (WLAN)s. This access allows these 3 rd  parties vendors of auxiliary wireless services, a.k.a. WiFi service vendors, to provide services to: the homeowner/subscriber, to WiFi device manufacturers, or to the Internet Service Provider (ISP)/Telco, above and beyond simply providing access to the Internet. For the homeowner, these services include: home security, health monitoring, accident prevention, etc. For the WiFi device manufacturer, these services include: device performance monitoring, operational enhancement of device functions, etc. For the ISP/Telco, these services include: field trials of new WiFi hardware, asset tracking, content piracy detection, WLAN optimization, customer service, etc. 
     In an embodiment of the invention a server coupled to wireless transceivers wirelessly communicating user data on corresponding ones of a plurality of wireless local area networks (WLAN) is disclosed. The server comprises: a memory, and a processor. The memory to store executable instructions. The processor is coupled with the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the executable instructions, performs operations comprising: identifying wireless transceivers and access privileges requested by each of a plurality of WiFi service vendors; opening a control portal between each WiFi service vendor and the corresponding wireless transceivers identified in the identifying act; and arbitrating access by each WiFi service vendor to the corresponding identified wireless transceivers to avoid interruption of the wireless user data communications on corresponding ones of the WLANs. 
     The invention may be implemented in hardware, firmware or software. 
     Associated methods are also claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description in conjunction with the appended drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a system view of wireless local area networks (WLAN)s coupled both to the Internet via a Telco/ISP and also coupled to WiFi service vendors via a WiFi access provider, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIGS. 2A-D  are exploded hardware views of a WiFi access provider server coupling WiFi service vendors to a representative wireless transceiver on a WLAN in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a process flow diagram of processes for arbitration of WiFi service vendors in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  is a system view of wireless local area networks (WLAN)s  102 A-B coupled both to the Internet  136  via a Telco/ISP  140  and also coupled to WiFi service vendors  170 A-G via a WiFi access provider server “Cloud”  142 , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
     As shown in the lower half of  FIG. 1 , two buildings  100 A-B are shown with multiple condominiums on each of the floors. Each condominium&#39;s owner is also a subscriber to the Internet access provided by a Telco or ISP for their wireless devices, e.g. notebook computers and TV&#39;s to connect to the Internet. Each WLAN in each condo in buildings  100 A-B is comprised of wireless transceivers, i.e. wireless access point (WAP) and stations. WAP transceiver  104 A provides a WLAN  102 A to its associated station transceivers, e.g. station  106 A. WAP transceiver  104 B provides a WLAN  102 B to its associated station transceivers, e.g. station  106 B. Stations include: televisions, set-top boxes, smart phones, computers, tablets, and any other device such as smoke detectors, door locks, thermostats, sensors, and appliances that has an IEEE 802.11 wireless communication capability. The stations wirelessly communicate with the WAP, which in turn passes their upstream and downstream user data communication traffic,  108 A-B, to and from the Internet  136  via the Telco or ISP  140 . 
     As shown in the upper half of  FIG. 1 , multiple 3 rd  party WiFi service vendors are given arbitrated access by a provider of WiFi access represented as a “cloud”  142  of one or more servers, each with one or more processors, to identified ones of the transceivers on corresponding WLAN&#39;s. The phrase WiFi as applied to either the access provider or to a service vendor encompasses a range of wireless networking protocols for homes or businesses including for example those compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, as well as Bluetooth, and Long Term Evolution Unlicensed family such as, (LTE-U), Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA) and MulteFire. The provider of arbitrated access to the transceivers may be the Telco/ISP itself, or may be an independent business entity. This arbitrated access enables a broad range of WiFi vendor&#39;s services, without interrupting or degrading the homeowner/subscribers Internet access. The WiFi provider  142  allows arbitrated access by the WiFi service vendors to a limited set of the operational features of identified transceivers independent of the subscriber&#39;s user data. 
     The WiFi access provider  142  identifies in step  144  each WiFi service vendors target wireless transceivers and the access privileges requested therefore. Identified wireless transceivers may be WAPs, or Stations. They may be limited to a particular type or manufacturer, or model of WAP or Station. They may be limited by a particular geographic region or building. Access privileges may comprise either or both information feeds or control sockets. Then the WiFi access provider  142  locates in step  146  the target wireless transceivers identified for each service vendor across all the WLANs to which the provider has access. Next in step  148  the WiFi access provider  142  opens a control portal between each WiFi service vendor and the identified WiFi transceivers for that vendor. Among the many available information feeds that an identified transceiver can provide, only those information feeds  110 A-B that are required to support a given WiFi Service Vendor&#39;s requirements are made available to that vendor. Among the many available control sockets that an identified transceiver will accept, only those control sockets  110 A-B that are required to support a given WiFi service vendor&#39;s requirements are made available to that vendor. The WiFi access provider filters the corresponding portion of the identified WiFi transceivers operation to provide exclusively the requested information feeds, without opening any sockets, or to provide a combination of requested feeds and sockets for the identified transceivers. Then in step  150  the WiFi access provider  142  arbitrates the portal access of each WiFi service vendor to avoid interruption of the corresponding WLAN(s) user data communications. 
     WiFi vendor services for homeowners/subscribers include: home security, health monitoring, accident prevention, etc. Arbitrated access to the identified WAPs communication link setup with each station can be used to enable these services. Information feeds  110 A-B such as Link parameters including channel matrices or beamforming matrices that are used to transmit user data, can also be passed to WiFi service vendors for subsequent use in extracting spatial characteristics of the subscriber&#39;s home or condo including: structure, number of occupants and their location and movement, and the physical location of each WAP and station in the structure. These capabilities allow each WAP and associated stations to not merely serve as a conduit of upstream and downstream subscriber/user data to and from the Internet, but also as an independent source of data, e.g. spatial information about the structure, occupants and behavioral characteristics of individuals within and around the subscriber&#39;s home. Any services of this nature provided by the WiFi service vendors, would be sold to individual homeowner&#39;s only with their full and informed consent. 
     WiFi vendor services for the WiFi device manufacturers can include: device performance monitoring, operational enhancement of device functions, asset tracking etc. Arbitrated access to the identified WAPs communication link setup with each station can be used to enable these services. Information Feeds  110 A-B such as link parameters including link throughput and packet error rate (PER) that are used to select an optimal Modulation and Coding Schema (MCS) for the transmission of user data, can also be passed to WiFi service vendors for subsequent use in extracting a history of identified transceivers performance characteristics and used to predict device failure, or replacement. Information Feeds  110 A-B can include a Global Positioning System (GPS) or other location based information from a WAP, that can be used by the manufacturer of a specific station type, to track the assets location, without incurring the expense of including a GPS chip in the device itself. These capabilities allow each WAP and associated stations to not merely serve as a conduit of upstream and downstream subscriber/user data to and from the Internet, but also as an independent source of data. 
     WiFi vendor services for the ISP/Telco can include: field trials of new WiFi hardware or WiFi aggregate management algorithms, asset tracking, content piracy detection, WLAN optimization, customer service, etc. For field trials, specific control sockets  110 A-B may be used to remotely drive channel selection or power backoff of identified transceivers, based on knowledge gleaned in feeds from neighboring WLANs. For comparative field trails control sockets targeting distinct ones of the WLANs may be used to determine optimal channel selection and power backoff algorithms. For asset tracking, information feeds  110 A-B derived from WiFi capabilities exchanges between stations and WAP may also be used by a WiFi service vendor to identify and track assets. For content piracy detection, beamforming and channel matrices determined in the course of normal WiFi communications may also be provided as information feeds to requesting WiFi service vendors so that they may derive spatial information therefrom. Spatial information may include the location of each device in the home, as well as the presence of any associated devices that are outside the home, and therefore possibly pirating Telco/ISP content. For a WiFi service vendor providing customer service, the spatial diagnostic information derived from the beamforming and channel matrices may be used to determine the history of WAP and station location and orientation, and to trace changes in performance to changes in location or orientation. These capabilities allow each WAP and associated stations to not merely serve as a conduit of upstream and downstream subscriber/user data to and from the Internet, but also as an independent source of data useful to the WiFi service vendors and to their customers. 
       FIGS. 2A-D  are exploded hardware views of a WiFi access provider server  260  coupling WiFi service vendors  170 A-G to identified transceivers on a plurality of WLANs in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. A representative wireless transceiver  104 A is shown. The wireless transceivers accessible via the WiFi Access Provider&#39;s server  260  include WAPs and stations of all types. WAP transceivers  104 A-Z are shown. WiFi transceiver  104 A is shown as a wireless access point (WAP) with a MIMO pair of antenna  240  for supporting a wireless local area network (WLAN)  102 A which provides associated stations, e.g. notebook computer  242 , access to the Internet  136  via the Telco or ISP  140 . The WiFi transceiver  104 A is also communicatively coupled, via the shared broadband connection, to the WiFi access provider&#39;s “cloud” and specifically a representative server  260 . In this embodiment of the invention the Telco/ISP operates both as an ISP and also as a Provider of WiFi access to the 3 rd  party vendors of WiFi services. 
     The wireless transceiver  104 A has either native firmware or embedded code  212  which allows it to provide requested feeds to and or accept control sockets from the WiFi access provider&#39;s “cloud” server  260 . These feeds and sockets expose the plurality of components which make up baseband  220 , analog front end (AFE) and radio frequency (RF) stages  242  of the transmit and receive path of the transceiver; to the WiFi service vendors via the provider of WiFi access. 
     The representative wireless transceiver  104 A is identified as an 2x2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) WAP supporting as many as 2 discrete communication streams over two antennas  240 . The WAP couples to the Internet  136  via an integral Ethernet medium access control (EMAC) interface  218  over a cable, fiber, or digital subscriber line (DSL) backbone connection to the Telco/ISP  140 . A packet bus  214  couples the EMAC to the MIMO WiFi baseband  220 , and AFE-RF stages  242 . 
     In the baseband portion  220  wireless communications transmitted to or received from each associated user/station are processed. The baseband portion is dynamically configurable to support SU-MIMO or MU-MIMO transmission to MU groups of two or more users/stations. The AFE and RF portion  242  handles the upconversion on each of transmit paths and wireless transmission initiated in the baseband. The RF portion also handles the downconversion of the signals received on the receive paths and passes them for further processing to the baseband. 
     Transmission: 
     The transmit path/chain includes the following discrete and shared components. The WiFi medium access control (WMAC) component  222  includes: hardware queues  222 A for each downlink and uplink communication stream; encryption and decryption circuits  222 B for encrypting and decrypting the downlink and uplink communication streams; medium access circuit  222 C for making the clear channel assessment (CCA), and making exponential random backoff and re-transmission decisions; and a packet processor circuit  222 E for packet processing of the communication streams. The WMAC component has read access to a node table  222 D which is managed and maintained by the related one of the local control circuits  200 . The node table lists each node/station on the WLAN, the station&#39;s capabilities as determined during a capabilities exchange, the corresponding encryption key, and the priority associated with its communication traffic. 
     Each sounding or data packet for wireless transmission on the transmit path components to one or more stations is framed in the framer  230 A. Next each stream is encoded and scrambled in the encoder and scrambler  230 B followed by interleaving and mapping in a corresponding one of the interleaver mappers  230 C. Next all transmissions are spatially mapped with a spatial mapping matrix (SMM)  230 D in the spatial mapper  230 E. The spatially mapped streams from the spatial mapper are input to inverse discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) components  230 F for conversion from the frequency to the time domain and subsequent transmission in the AFT and RF stage  242 . 
     Each IDFT is coupled to a corresponding one of the transmit path/chain components in the AFE/RF stage  242  for wireless transmission on an associated one of MIMO antenna  240 . Specifically each IDFT couples to an associated one of the digital-to-analog converters (DAC)  230 G for converting the digital transmission to analog, upconverters  230 H, coupled to a common voltage controlled oscillator (VCO)  230 J for upconverting the transmission to the appropriate center frequency of the selected channel(s), filters  230 K e.g. bandpass filters for controlling the bandwidth of the transmission, and power amplifiers  230 L for setting the transmit power level of the transmission on the MIMO antenna  240 . 
     Reception: 
     The receive path/chain includes the following discrete and shared components. Received communications on the WAP&#39;s array of MIMO antenna  240  are subject to RF processing including downconversion in the AFE-RF stage  242 . There are two receive paths each including the following discrete and shared components: low noise amplifiers (LNA)  250 A for amplifying the received signal under control of an analog gain control (AGC)  250 C for setting the amount by which the received signal is amplified, filters  250 B for bandpass filtering the received signals, downconverters  250 D coupled to the VCO  230 J for downconverting the received signals, analog-to-digital converters (ADC)  250 E for digitizing the downconverted signals. The digital output from each ADC  250 E is passed to a corresponding one of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) components  250 F in the baseband portion  220  of the WiFi stage for conversion from the time to the frequency domain. 
     Receive processing in the baseband stage includes the following shared and discrete components: an equalizer  250 G to mitigate channel impairments which is coupled to the output of the DFTs  250 F. The received streams at the output of the equalizer are subject to demapping and deinterleaving in a corresponding number of the demapper/deinterleavers  250 H. Next the received stream(s) are decoded and descrambled in the decoder and descrambler component  250 J, followed by de-framing in the deframer  250 K. The received communication is then passed to the WMAC component  222  where it is decrypted with the decryption circuit  222 B and placed in the appropriate upstream hardware queue  222 A for upload to the Internet  136 . 
     The WiFi transceiver also includes an integral controller  200  with circuits for controlling the higher level WAP functions performed by the transmit and receive path components and specifically: access control  200 A, channel selection  200 B, link optimization  200 C, link scheduling  200 D, and MESH routing  200 E. The controller  200  is coupled to non-volatile storage  210  which contains executable firmware program code  212  for various levels of remote access to and or control of various functions performed the WAP by the WiFi Access Provider and specifically by the WiFi service vendors coupled thereto. 
     In the example shown in  FIG. 2A  the channel control circuit  200 B couples to the VCO  230 J, and filters  230 K,  250 B, to provide local control of the channel selection portion of the transceiver&#39;s operation. The link control circuit  200 C couples to the transmit and receive amplifiers  230 L,  250 A respectively to control the transmit power and the receive sensitivity for each user data communication link between the WAP and a corresponding one of the associated stations. The scheduling control circuit  200 D couples to the WMAC circuit  222  for scheduling the hardware queues  222 A thereof. 
     The following tables 1A-1D show representative feeds and sockets available to the WiFi access provider from the WiFi transceiver. This availability is provided either natively or via a firmware program code upgrade  212 . Table 1A shows the Feeds available from the plurality of components which make up the WAP&#39;s TX/Rx paths, when the WAP is using a single channel, power level, bandwidth . . . etc. for all links, as in the IEEE 802.11n and prior standard versions. Table 1B shows the Feeds available from the plurality of components which make up the WAP&#39;s TX/Rx paths, when different channels, power levels, bandwidth, etc. can be used for each link, as in the IEEE 802.11ac and subsequent standards. Table 1C shows the Sockets available to the plurality of components which make up the WAP&#39;s TX/Rx paths, when the WAP is using a single channel, power level, bandwidth . . . etc. for all links, as in the IEEE 802.11n and prior standard versions. Table 1D shows the Sockets available to the plurality of components which make up the WAP&#39;s TX/Rx paths, when different channels, power levels, bandwidth, etc. can be used for each link, as in the IEEE 802.11ac and subsequent standards. 
     There are five columns in each table. The 1 st  column categorizes the feed or socket types. The 2 nd  column lists the feed/socket description. The 3 rd  column lists the feed source component or the socket input component among the plurality of components which make up the transmit and receive path of the baseband and AFE-RF stages  220 ,  242  as shown in  FIG. 2A . The 4th column lists the representative local control circuit(s) that require each feed or socket. The 5 th  column set shows the configuration setup, with the letters: “L”, “C”, and “R” indicating respectively local, collaborative, and remote control by one or more of the WiFi service vendors of the corresponding feeds and sockets. Any capabilities exchange between the WAP transceiver and the WiFi access provider&#39;s “cloud” may include a copy of these tables. An additional column (not shown) may indicate for each feed the required temporal frequency at which a given feed is to be delivered, e.g.: upon the occurrence of a related event, or upon the passage of a given amount of time, or upon the reaching of an upper or lower threshold, or upon a relative change in magnitude with respect to the last such feed. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 Switch 
                   
                   
                 Local  
                 Switch 
               
               
                 Table 1A 
                 WAP FEED  
                 Component which 
                 Control 
                 Config. 
               
               
                 WAP 
                 (SELF) 
                 provides Feed 
                 Circuit(s) 
                 R/L/C 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Capabilities 
                 Capabilities  
                 Boot ROM (Not  
                 Bootup 
                   
               
               
                   
                 WAP 
                 Shown) 
                   
                   
               
               
                 Setup 
                 Location WAP 
                 GPS Chip (Not  
                 Bootup 
                   
               
               
                   
                 (GPS) 
                 shown) 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Channels  
                 VCO, Filter, AGC, 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 Availability 
                 WMAC(Med_A) 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 DFS 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Bandwidth 
                 Filters (TX-RX) 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 Association  
                 WMAC (Node  
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Table  
                 Table) 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 # Stations 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 TX Power 
                 Amplifier 
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Rx Sensitivity 
                 LNA and AGC 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                 Performance 
                 Broadband  
                 EMAC 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                 UpStream  
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Limit 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Broadband  
                 EMAC 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                 DownStream  
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Limit 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Free Airtime 
                 WMAC(Pkt TxRX), 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                   
                 (Med_Access), AGC 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 Switch Table 
                   
                   
                   
                 Switch 
               
               
                 1B 
                   
                 Component which provides 
                 Local Control 
                 Config. 
               
               
                 Links (A,N) 
                 WAP FEED (LINKS-STA) 
                 Feed 
                 Circuit(s) 
                 R/L/C 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Capabilities 
                 Device Capability/Type 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 ACCESS, 
                 L, L 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 CHANNEL 
                   
               
               
                 Link Setup 
                 Channel Selection 
                 VCO, AGC 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 Bandwidth 
                 Filter TX and RX 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 TX Power 
                 Amplifier 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 RX Sensitivity 
                 LNA and Carrier Sense(AGC) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 RSSI 
                 AGC 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 SNR 
                 DEMAPPER SLICER NOT WORK 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Sounding “H” or “V” 
                 WMAC (Pkt Rx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Beamforming Matrix “V”/“W” 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 # Streams 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx)  
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 MCS 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 MU v SU 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Sniff Mode Local/Loc + 
                 WMAC (Pkt Rx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Neighbor 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 Link Demand 
                 Data Type Uplink and 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                 Downlink 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Queue Size 
                 WMAC (Hdw Queue) 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                 QoS updates/Revisions 
                 WMAC (Hdw Queue), 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                   
                 (Med_Access) 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Packet Size 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                 Link 
                 Packet Error Rate 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                 Performance 
                 Throughput Actual 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Free Airtime 
                 ACG Free Airtime 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Source IP Address 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Destination IP Address 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                 Link Overhead 
                 Fine Time Measurement 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 MESH Table Distribution 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Mesh 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     
       
         
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 Switch 
                   
                   
                   
                 Switch 
               
               
                 Table 1C 
                   
                 Component which 
                 Local Control 
                 Config. 
               
               
                 Sockets 
                 WAP SOCKETS SELF 
                 provides Socket 
                 Circuit(s) 
                 R/L/C 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 WAP Setup 
                 Channel Select WLAN 
                 OSC, Tx/Rx Filters 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 Bandwidth Set 
                 Tx/Rx Filters 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 Association Set/Update (AAA) 
                 WMAC (Node Table) 
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Power TX set 
                 TX Amplifier 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 RX Sensitivity set 
                 RX Amplifier 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 SSID set 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx), 
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 (NodeTable) 
                   
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 S. Table 10 WAP SOCKETS LINKS-STA 
               
             
          
           
               
                 Link Setup 
                 Channel Select 
                 OSC, Tx/Rx Filters 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 Bandwidth Set 
                 Tx/Rx Filters 
                 Channel 
                 L 
               
               
                   
                 Power TX set 
                 Amp 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 RX Sensitivity set 
                 LNA 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Beamforming/SMM set 
                 Spatial Mapper 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 Streams # set 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 MCS 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Links 
                 C 
               
               
                   
                 QOS update/set 
                 WMAC 
                 Schedule 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 (H.Queue), (Med_Access) 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Packet Size select 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx) 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                 MU v SU set 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx) 
                 Schedule 
                 R 
               
               
                   
                 Source IP Address Block 
                 WMAC (Pkt Rx) 
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Destination IP Address Block 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Access 
                   
               
               
                 Link 
                 Fine Time Measurement 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 ?  
                   
               
               
                 Overhead 
                 Initiate 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 MESH Table Distribution 
                 WMAC (Pkt Tx/Rx) 
                 Mesh &amp; Links 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Initiate 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
       FIG. 2A  shows the WiFi Access providers server “Cloud” platform  142  and specifically server  260  for providing arbitrated access for the WiFi Service vendors to the various WLANs and transceivers shown in  FIG. 1 . The server  260  is coupled between the WiFi Service Vendors  170 A-G and the WAP and station transceivers which make up the various WLANs shown in  FIG. 1 . The server  260  couples to each WLAN via a wired or wireless connection to each WAP. Typically, the connections are wired, e.g. cable, DSL, or optical. The server includes a WiFi arbitration circuit  262 , a very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit, e.g. processor circuit  274  and non-volatile memory  276  for storing program code  278 A and asset tables  278 B. The VLSI processor circuit may itself comprise multiple processors each with multiple cores. In another embodiment of the invention the server  260  itself may comprise multiple servers each with one or more processors in an “elastic compute cloud” platform, without departing from the scope of the claimed invention. The WiFi access provider&#39;s server  260  also includes: a bus  280  coupling the processor to read-only memory  288 , main memory  286 , a network interface  284 , and input\output device (I/O) interface  282  for interfacing with a keyboard and display for example. 
     The WiFi Arbitration circuit  262  may be instantiated in whole or in part via the microprocessor&#39;s  274  execution of the arbitration program code  278 A, or in whole or in part via the dedicated electronic circuits shown in  FIGS. 2B-2D . In an embodiment of the invention the WiFi arbitration circuit  262  includes: a WiFi service vendor-to-transceiver routing circuit  264 , a vendor account setup circuit  266 , a WiFi asset discovery circuit  268 , an Application Programming Interface (API) transcoder circuit  270 , and an access arbitration circuit  272 .  FIG. 2B  shows the WiFi asset discovery circuit  268  in greater detail.  FIG. 2C  shows the access arbitration circuit  272  in greater detail.  FIG. 2D  shows the vendor-to-transceiver routing circuit  264  in greater detail. 
     The vendor account setup circuit  266  identifies wireless transceivers and access privileges in terms of information feeds and control sockets requested by each of a plurality of WiFi service vendors. Wireless transceivers are identified by: type, manufacturer and location for example. 
     The WiFi asset discovery circuit  268  shown in  FIG. 2A  and in greater detail in  FIG. 2B  discovers all WiFi transceiver assets on the WLANs accessible to the WiFi Access provider. The information discovered for these assets includes: make, model manufacturer, location, capabilities, and address, protocol, e.g. transmission control protocol (TCP), or user datagram protocol (UDP), and port. The WiFi asset discovery circuit several interoperative circuits for collaborating in this discovery process, including: a capabilities determination circuit  268 A, an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) circuit  268 B, a Telco Internet Subscriber database interface circuit  268 C, a Remote Control (RC) agent injection circuit  268 D, a transceiver location determination circuit  268 E, and a transceiver fingerprinting circuit  268 F. The capabilities determination circuit  268 A determining the capabilities of transceivers from the information feeds of the WLAN capabilities exchange, e.g. an IEEE 802.11 compliant capabilities exchange. The EDI circuit  268 B determines additional capabilities and locations of transceivers from information feeds of the manufacturers of the WiFi transceivers. The Telco Internet Subscriber database interface circuit  268 C determines capabilities and locations of transceivers from the Telco&#39;s subscriber database including address, and any WiFi transceiver&#39;s, e.g. set-top boxes purchased directly from the Telco/ISP. The RC agent injection circuit  268 D injects firmware upgrades into compatible WiFi transceivers which in turn enhance the information feeds from and control sockets accepted by those transceivers devices, including make, model and manufacturer information feeds. The transceiver location determination circuit  268 E obtains location information for WiFi transceivers either directly via a GPS feed from the transceiver itself or by proximity or triangulation with other neighboring transceivers which include GPS capability and corresponding information feed. The transceiver fingerprinting circuit  268 F uses the information feed corresponding to a wireless packet header inspection by the identified transceiver to determine the IP address, protocol (TCP/UDP) and port of the WiFi transceiver. The packet inspection feed may also be used to determine IP routing addresses in the packet including the last hop address, which may then be subject to a reverse lookup in a public database to determine the corresponding location of the last hop IP address. The transceiver fingerprinting circuit may also use information feeds from the identified transceiver which identify the list of any browser “cookies” present thereon, the initial ones of which may correspond to the transceiver&#39;s manufacturer IP address used by the subscriber to setup the WiFi transceiver when it was first purchased. 
     The WiFi service vendor-to-transceiver routing circuit  264  shown in  FIG. 2A  and in greater detail in  FIG. 2D  opens a control portal between each WiFi service vendor  170 A-G and the wireless transceivers to which they each request access. The vendor-to-transceiver routing circuit includes: vendor specific filters  264 A for feeds and sockets; and a routing circuit  264 B. The routing circuit determines for the portal for each vendor the IP Address, protocol, and port for the target devices to which a given vendor requests access. The filter circuit generates filters for each vendor&#39;s control portal with filter the information feeds from and the control sockets to the requested WiFi transceivers to conform with the feeds and sockets contractually agreed to with the WiFi service vendor. Where the contract calls for a given feed interval/frequency that too will be part of the control portal setup. Where the contract calls for information feeds only, the corresponding portal will be setup to only pass the requested information feeds to the vendor, and to block any control sockets from the vendor. 
     The Application Programming Interface (API) transcoder circuit  270  transcodes a uniform application programming interface (API) that is exposed to each vendor by the WiFi access provider into native commands supported on the corresponding identified wireless transceivers. 
     The access arbitration circuit  272  shown in  FIG. 2A  and in greater detail in  FIG. 2C  arbitrates access by each WiFi service vendor to the corresponding identified wireless transceivers to avoid interruption of the wireless user data communications on corresponding ones of the WLANs. The access arbitration circuit includes: a feed and socket consolidation circuit  272 A, a socket conflict detection circuit  272 B, a vendor billing circuit  272 C, and a subscriber WLAN health monitoring circuit  272 D. The feed and socket consolidation circuit  272 A consolidates redundant information feeds from identified ones of the wireless transceivers to the WiFi service vendors. The feed and socket consolidation circuit also consolidates redundant control sockets to the identified ones of the wireless transceivers from the WiFi service vendors. The socket conflict detection circuit  2726 , determines when two control sockets, e.g. channel control sockets, to neighboring WLANs are selecting channels that conflict with one another and resolves the conflict by terminating at least one of the control sockets, and allowing the targeted WiFi transceiver return to autonomous channel selection. The vendor billing circuit  272 C, bills WiFi service vendors based on parameters including: the number of requested wireless transceivers targeted by the vendor, and or the volume of information feeds to and the control sockets from the vendor. The subscriber WLAN health monitoring circuit  272 D monitors WLAN communications and throttles or terminates at least one of information feeds from and control sockets to the identified wireless transceivers when said feeds and sockets reduce WLAN user data throughput. 
       FIG. 3  is a process flow diagram of processes for arbitration of WiFi vendor services in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Processing begins with the identification of WiFi Vendor Requirements in the block  300  of processes  302 - 304  associated therewith. In process  302  the WiFi service provided by each vendor is identified, as well as the access privileges required to enable the WiFi service. Vendor services such as home security may only require read only access to a limited set of any given transceivers&#39; operational functions, e.g. sounding matrices. Other vendor services such as inter WLAN network optimization may require actual control of a portion of the given transceivers&#39; operational functions, e.g. transmit power level. Next in process  304  the WiFi transceivers to which the WiFi vendor requests access are identified. Identification may include for example one or more of: transceiver type, manufacturer and location, e.g. Atlanta Ga. 
     The identified transceivers are then in process  310  located by the WiFi access provider among all the WLANs to which the provider has access. The locating process includes obtaining the IP address, protocol type, e.g. TCP/UDP, and port required to access each transceiver and the validation that each transceiver meets the identified requirements in terms of device type, manufacturer and physical location for the corresponding WiFi service vendor. Locating identified transceivers is achieved by the Provider using information gleaned from one or more of the following sources: a) an IEEE 802.11 Capability Exchange for each link on each WLAN to which the provider has access; b) an Electronic Data Interchange with one or more wireless transceiver manufacturers or resellers of the identified transceivers; c) an structured query language (SQL) or other interface to the Telco/ISP subscriber database to obtain address information for the subscriber and the corresponding WLAN, as well as any further information as to transceivers, e.g. set-top boxes the subscriber has purchased directly from the Telco/ISP; d) a native or injected code in the identified transceivers firmware or firmware upgrade which provides access to make, model, manufacturer information directly from the identified transceivers; e) a determination either directly via a GPS feed from the transceiver itself or by proximity or triangulation with other neighboring transceivers which include GPS capability and corresponding information feed; and f) transceiver fingerprinting which uses the information feed corresponding to any cookies present on the identified transceiver or an information feed derived from wireless packet header inspection of user data packets by the identified transceiver to determine the IP address, protocol (TCP/UDP) and port of the WiFi transceiver. After location of the identified transceivers for each WiFi Service Vendor control is passed to process block  320 . 
     In the portal opening process block  320 , processing continues with the opening of a control portal between each vendor and their identified transceivers in the processes  322 - 328  associated therewith. In process  322  the URL or IP Address, Protocol, e.g. TCP/UDP, and port is determined for the Identified transceivers to which each vendor is given access. Then in process  324  the routing setup between each vendor and the identified WiFi transceivers to which they have access takes place. This includes, the establishment of the intervals at which feeds and or sockets are collected from or provided to the identified transceivers. Next in process  326  specific filters for each vendor are set up. The filters govern the type, amount and intervals at which each vendor will receive information feeds from their identified transceivers. The filters also govern the type, amount and intervals at which the vendor will be able to transmit control sockets to their identified transceivers. The filters also govern the more general access privileges, e.g. Read only or Read/Write that each vendor has to the identified transceivers. In general, the filters assure that the Vendor&#39;s access to the identified WiFi transceivers complies with the terms of the contract established between them and the WiFi access provider. Then in process  328  the transcoding requirements for each vendor&#39;s identified transceivers are setup. Specifically, the uniform standard API provided to all WiFi service vendors by the Access provider is mapped for each identified transceiver to the native set of I/O commands that are supported by each of the identified transceivers. Next control is passed to the block  330  of processes. 
     In the access arbitration process block  330 , processing continues arbitration of each WiFi service vendors access to the corresponding identified transceivers. In process  332  information feeds and control sockets between multiple WiFi service vendors and their identified WiFi transceivers are consolidated to remove any redundancy present therein. Redundancy occurs where for example the identified WiFi transceivers for each of multiple Vendors overlap one another. Next in process  334  the detection of any conflicting control sockets from one or more of the WiFi service vendors is detected and resolved. Control socket conflicts can arise in many different contexts. When one or more WiFi service vendors has access to channel control sockets for neighboring WLANs, there may be instances in which channel selections of different control sockets conflict with one another, in which case a method of resolving the conflict is to terminate at least one of the control sockets, and allowing the targeted WiFi WAP transceiver to return to autonomous channel. In another instance control socket conflicts, may arise when one vendor seeks to isolate neighboring WLANs sharing the same communication channel from one another by changing the level of the transmit power while another vendor with overlapping access the same WLANs may be using a channel control socket to achieve isolation. The conflict can be resolved in many ways, including terminating either the channel or the power control sockets of one of the vendors to the identified neighboring WLANs. Next, in process  336  the WiFi Access provider monitors the health of each WLAN on which there are one or more identified transceivers being accessed by one or more of the WiFi service vendors. When the health of any such WLAN is degraded, as evidenced for example by a reduction in the amount of subscriber/user data communications thereon, then the WiFi access provider will throttle either or both the information feeds and control sockets of the effected WLAN to maintain the health of the WLAN. Thus, returning subscriber/user data throughput to its optimal level. In process  338  billing of WiFi service vendors by the WiFi access provider takes place. In an embodiment of the invention billing is based on the number of identified WiFi devices to which a given Vendor has access. In another embodiment of the invention billing is based on the volume of information feeds and control sockets available to the given vendor. 
     The components and processes disclosed herein may be implemented singly or in combination by: hardware, circuits, firmware, software, and computer program code executed by a processor; coupled to the wireless transceiver&#39;s transmit and receive path components, without departing from the scope of the Claimed Invention. 
     The foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.