METHOD FOR ALLOCATING COMMUNICATION CHANNELS TO ACCESS POINTS IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

摘要

A method for allocating communication channels to access points in a communications network comprising: identifying, amongst the access points, one or more interference-prone pairs of access points, wherein each interference-prone pair comprises a first access point and a second access point that are currently using the same or overlapping communication channels to communicate with their respective client user devices, determining the number N of non-overlapping channels that are available for allocating to the access points; allocating the N non-overlapping channels between the access points in such a way as minimise the number of interference-prone pairs of access points; and where an access point cannot be allocated any one of the N channels without it comprising part of an interference-prone pair, selecting a particular one of the N channels to allocate to the access point based on a selection criterion.

主权项

1. A method for allocating communication channels to access points in a communications network, each access point serving as a port for connecting one or more client user devices to the communications network and being configured to communicate with its respective client user devices using one of the communications channels, the method comprising:
(i) identifying, amongst the access points, one or more interference-prone pairs of access points, wherein each interference-prone pair comprises a first access point and a second access point that are currently using the same or overlapping communication channels to communicate with their respective client user devices, wherein communications sent between the first access point in the pair and the first access point's client user devices are a source of interference for the second access point in the pair and/or the second access point's client user devices; (ii) determining the number N of non-overlapping channels that are available for allocating to the access points; and (iii) allocating the N non-overlapping channels between the access points in such a way as minimise the number of interference-prone pairs of access points; and where an access point cannot be allocated any one of the N channels without it comprising part of an interference-prone pair, selecting a particular one of the N channels to allocate to the access point based on a selection criterion.