Patent ID: 8391169

Claim:
A method for locating a mobile device in an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN), the mobile device being initially in a sleep mode, the mobile device being associated with a first WLAN access device on a first WLAN channel, the method comprising: configuring at least one other WLAN access device operable on other respective WLAN channels for receiving data on the first WLAN channel by having the at least one other WLAN access device send a Clear To Send message to mobile devices being served by that at least one other WLAN access device on the other respective WLAN channels and switching the at least one other WLAN access device to operate on the first WLAN channel; waking the mobile device from the sleep mode by transmitting a beacon that falsely indicates that there is pending data for the mobile device, wherein the mobile device transmits a beacon response frame on the first WLAN channel in response to waking; receiving the beacon response frame by the first and at least one other WLAN access devices; and determining a location of the mobile device based on at least one respective characteristic for the beacon response frame received at the first and at least one other WLAN access devices, wherein falsely indicating pending data comprises transmitting a beacon frame from the first wireless access device, the beacon frame including a traffic information map, wherein the traffic information map associated with the mobile device is configured to falsely notify the mobile device of data awaiting delivery to the mobile device.