Patent ID: 7200376

Claim:
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: placing the client station in a powered on state; computing a status metric indicating a status of the following events synchronization of the client station with the access point, association of the client station with the access point, and authentication of the client station by the access point; the status metric having a first value when the events are met and a second value when anyone of the events is not met; scanning the plurality of antenna beams for selecting a preferred antenna beam for exchanging data with the access point when the status metric has the first value; monitoring the status metric; and changing the preferred antenna beam to a default antenna beam when the status metric changes from the first value to the second value.