Patent ID: 7836166

Claim:
A method to perform at a detector located in a wireless local area network (WLAN) to determine a service set identification (SSID) of an access point (AP) in the WLAN, wherein the AP suppresses a SSID in beacon frames broadcasted by the AP, the method comprising: receiving, at the detector, a beacon frame sent by the AP; determining from the beacon frame that the SSID of the AP has been suppressed; if the SSID of the AP has been suppressed and the SSID cannot be obtained from the beacon frame, receiving, at the detector, a probe request sent by a station through the WLAN to the AP that suppresses the SSID in the beacon frames; receiving, at the detector, a probe response sent by the AP to the station through the WLAN in response to the probe request sent by the station; determining, at the detector, the SSID of the AP from the received probe request that has been sent by the station to the AP, which sent the probe response; and obtaining, at the detector, the SSID of the AP from the received probe response.