METHODS OF OPERATING AN ACCESS POINT USING A PLURALITY OF DIRECTIONAL BEAMS

摘要

Multi-directional antenna apparatuses, which may include phased array antennas and/or arrays of multiple antennas, and methods for operating these directional antennas. In particular, described herein are apparatuses configured to operate as an access point (AP) for communicating with one or more station devices by assigning a particular directional beam to each access point, and communicating with each station device using the assigned directional beam at least part of the time. Methods and apparatuses configured to optimize the assignment of one or more directional beam and for communicating between different station devices using assigned directional beams are described.

主权项

1. A method of operating an access point in a wireless network, wherein the access point is configured to operate a plurality of directional beams, the method comprising:
transmitting a training packet for each of the plurality of directional beams of the access point, wherein each training packet includes an identifier specific to the directional beam transmitting the training packet; receiving at the access point, in response to the training packet, a response packet from a station device, wherein the response packet includes the identifier specific to the directional beam transmitting the training packet and a priority value associated with one or more criteria for directional beam selection; designating a directional beam from the plurality of directional beams for communicating with the station device based on the priority value received in the response packet; and transmitting data between the access point and the station device using the directional beam designated for the station device to transmit data to the station device.