Patent · US Expired

Access point operating with a smart antenna in a WLAN and associated methods

US7366464B2 · kind B2 · utility

17Cited by
2References
47Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 3, 2005
Grant dateApr 29, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 22, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B7/088
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An access point operates in an 802.11 wireless communication network communicating with a client station, and includes a smart antenna for generating directional antenna beams and an omni-directional antenna beam. An antenna steering algorithm scans the directional antenna beams and the omni-directional antenna beam for receiving signals from the client station. The signals received via each scanned antenna beam are measured, and one of the antenna beams is selected based upon the measuring for communicating with the client station. The selected antenna beam is preferably a directional antenna beam. Once the directional antenna beam has been selected, there are several usage rules for exchanging data with the client station. The usage rules are directed to an active state of the access point, which includes a data transmission mode and a data reception mode.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.