Patent ID: 7197315

Claim:
A method to select a channel of operation for a wireless network device from a plurality of supported channels, comprising: estimating a channel load of a first wireless network device; determining that a second wireless network device is currently using a first channel; calculating a first performance metric value to gauge the desirability of operating said first wireless network device within said first channel, wherein calculating said first performance metric value includes adding the estimated channel load of the first wireless network device to said first channel without moving an estimated channel load of said second wireless network device from said first channel to another channel; calculating a second performance metric value to gauge the desirability of operating said first wireless network device within said first channel, wherein calculating said second performance metric value includes adding the estimated channel load of the first wireless network device to said first channel and moving an estimated channel load of said second wireless network device from the first channel to another channel; and choosing a best performance metric value from a group that includes said first and second performance metric values.