METHOD FOR OPERATING A SMART ANTENNA IN A WLAN USING MEDIUM ACCESS CONTROL INFORMATION.

摘要

A communications device with a switched beam antenna operates in a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) that includes a plurality of transmitters. The switched beamantenna generates a plurality of antenna beams. A method for operating the communicationsdevice includes receiving signals from the plurality of transmitters operatingwithin the WLAN, identifying the received signals comprising medium accesscontrol (MAC) information, and determining a quality metric for each receivedsignal comprising MAC information (104). A transmitter is selected based onthe quality metrics. The antenna beams are scanned for receiving from the selectedtransmitter the signals comprising MAC information. A quality metric (105)associated with each scanned antenna beam is determined. One of the scanned antennabeams is then selected for communicating with the selected transmitter basedon the quality metrics.