PARALLEL SCANNING OF WIRELESS CHANNELS

摘要

Methods, systems, and apparatus for parallel scanning of channels in communication networks are described herein. A parallel scanning device performs a scanning operation that includes parallel (i.e., simultaneous) scanning of channels that are in a common frequency band or in different frequency bands. The parallel scanning of channels results in a reduction of scan time, which reduces power consumption. Furthermore, a scanning operation may undesirably interrupt and/or delay normal communication traffic to and from the parallel scanning device, and the comparatively shorter scan time resulting from the parallel scanning operation can reduce such interruption and/or delay.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving a scan instruction indicating that a plurality of channels of a wireless network are to be scanned; and initiating a scanning operation with regard to the plurality of channels in response to receiving the scan instruction, the scanning operation comprising:
simultaneously providing a first probe request via a first channel of the plurality of channels from a first transceiver of a parallel scanning device and a second probe request via a second channel of the plurality of channels from a second transceiver of the parallel scanning device in response to receiving the scan instruction, the first probe request configured to discover one or more first access points that are available to connect with the parallel scanning device via the first channel, the second probe request configured to discover one or more second access points that are available to connect with the parallel scanning device via the second channel.