Scheduler for upgrading access point devices efficiently

US10374888B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. · US
• The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System · US

Inventors

• Ajay Mahimkar · Woodbridge, US
• Zihui Ge · Madison, US
• Weiyi Zhang · New Brunswick, US
• Lili Qiu · Austin, US
• Mubashir Adnan Qureshi · Austin, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 14, 2016
• Grant date: Aug 6, 2019
• Expiry date: Aug 28, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04L41/145
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Communication networks go through frequent upgrades, whereby access point (AP) devices that serve network client devices are brought offline to effectuate the upgrade. Concurrently upgrading too many AP devices within a given geographic area can lead to coverage holes where no service is available, congestion where data cannot be sufficiently communicated, or other service degradation. On the other hand, upgrading too few AP devices within the area can result in a network-wide upgrade time that is too great. An architecture is presented that can efficiently generate a schedule for upgrading AP devices of a communication network.