Patent ID: 8289901

Claim:
A method comprising: at a controller device configured to communicate with a plurality of wireless network access point devices operating on at least one of a plurality of channels in a wireless network, receiving from the access point devices wireless activity data representing activity in each of the channels; generating at least one metric derived from the wireless activity data corresponding to one or more physical metrics measured by the access point devices representing activity in each of the channels associated with signals of devices operating in the wireless network and associated with signals and energy from devices that are not operating in the wireless network, wherein the at least one metric is a mathematical conversion of the one or more physical metrics; during a channel plan evaluation session, evaluating the at least one metric for multiple ones of the access point devices to determine whether a channel on which at least one access point device operates should be changed such that a decision to change the channel on which the at least one access point device operates is limited to a localized region of the wireless network and does not affect a channel change decision for access points outside of the localized region of the wireless network; and changing the channel on which the at least one access point device operates based on said evaluating.