Method and system for network-centric discovering of points of attachement to the network for mobile devices within networks having plural access points

摘要

A method of discovering surrounding access points of a legacy mobile device (4) within a network wherein the mobile device (4) has a wireless network interface, the network comprises a plurality of wireless access points (2) and a blacklist (211, 221, 231) is implemented for each of the plurality of access points (2), comprises: providing a control entity (1) being connected to each of the plurality of access points (2); recording an identifier of the mobile device (4) in the blacklist (211, 221, 231) of each of the plurality of access points (2); the mobile device (4) transmitting a request for access to at least one access point (21, 22, 23) of the plurality of access points (2) wherein the request comprises the identifier of the mobile device (4); the at least one access point (21, 22, 23) rejecting the request of the mobile device (4) and transmitting information about the rejection to the control entity (1) wherein the rejection information comprises the identifier of the mobile device (4); and the control entity (1) adapting the blacklist (211, 221, 231) of each of the access points (2) using the rejection information. In particular, by only using the blacklist technology usually implemented in common legacy access points, the method according to the invention allows for an efficient neighbour access point discovery of legacy mobile terminals and in some embodiments also of legacy access points. This means that no specific adaptation of mobile devices and/or access points is necessary in order to provide efficient neighbour access point discovery according to the invention.