Patent ID: 7502617

Claim:
A method for assigning transmission frequencies and transmission power levels to a plurality of access points in a wireless network, said method comprising: applying a first evaluation metric to reduce the solution space of power and frequency assignments; and applying a second evaluation metric to find a best set of power and frequency assignments, wherein applying said second evaluation metric comprises: receiving as input path loss information indicating path losses between a selected client of said wireless network and said access points; based on said path loss information, determining a capacity indicator that estimates communication impairment for said client due to contention or collision; based on said path loss information, determining a data rate indicator that estimates an achievable data rate for communication by said selected client; determining a cell loading indicator that estimates communication impairment due to overloading of a cell occupied by said selected client; based on said capacity indicator, said data rate indicator, and said cell loading indicator, determining a client throughput by multiplying said capacity indicator by said data rate indicator and said cell loading indicator; repeating said receiving, determining a capacity indicator, determining a data rate indicator, and determining a client throughput for a plurality of clients; and determining said second evaluation metric as a reciprocal of an average of reciprocals of client throughputs determined for said plurality of clients.