British Telecommunications Public Limited Company

Simon Patrick Ringland

Francis J Scahill

Richard Joseph Evenden

David Townend

Timothy Twell

Jerome Arokkiam

Anas Al Rawi

Samuel Gavin Smyth

James Gardiner

Christopher Botham

This invention provides a method of operating a wireless local area network, the wireless local area network including a user device, a wireless access point and a wireless repeater, wherein the wireless repeater is configured to virtualise a Media Access Control, MAC, address of the user device when the user device is connected to the wireless repeater, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining data including a first plurality of records, wherein each record of the first plurality of records relates to the user device and includes a MAC address and a signal strength value; obtaining data including a second plurality of records, wherein each record of the second plurality of records includes a Basic Service Set Identifier, BSSID, and a signal strength value; for each MAC address in the first plurality of records: identifying a record of the second plurality of records having a BSSID that sufficiently matches the MAC address by determining a similarity between an Organisationally Unique Identifier, OUI, of the BSSID and the OUI of the MAC address, determining that a difference between the signal strength value associated with the identified record of the second plurality of records and the signal strength value associated with the MAC address of the first plurality of records is within a threshold, assigning a first hop repeater identifier to each record of the first plurality of records having the MAC address based on the BSSID of the identified record of the second plurality of records; and causing a reconfiguration in the wireless local area network based on the first hop repeater identifier.

Telecommunications network

This invention provides a method of operating a wireless local area network, the wireless local area network including a user device, a wireless access point and a wireless repeater, wherein the wireless repeater is configured to virtualise a Media Access Control, MAC, address of the user device when the user device is connected to the wireless repeater by changing the Organisationally Unique Identifier, OUI, of the MAC address, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining data including a plurality of records, wherein each record of the plurality of records relates to the user device and includes a MAC address and a device label of the user device, wherein at least one record of the plurality of records includes a MAC address that has been virtualised by the wireless repeater; processing each record of the plurality of records by: determining that the MAC address of the processed record is a local MAC address, and, if so, identifying another record of the plurality of records that is uniquely associated with the user device based on the MAC address of the processed record by determining a Network Interface Controller, NIC, value of the MAC address of the processed record, determining that the determined NIC value is uniquely associated with a device label in the plurality of records, and identifying another record of the plurality of records having the associated device label, and assigning a unique identifier to the processed record based on the MAC address of the identified other record of the plurality of records; analysing the plurality of records having the unique device identifier; and causing a reconfiguration in the wireless local area network based on the analysis.

There is herein provided a provided a method of wireless sensing that can include, at a transmitter which is a component of a transceiver device, transmitting a wireless signal such that the transmitted wireless signal is scattered by an object so as to produce a scattered signal, at a receiver which is a component of the transceiver device, receiving the scattered signal, performing processing on the wireless signal before it is transmitted and/or on the received scattered signal, the processing including an indication of self-coupling occurring at the transceiver device, following the processing, using the received signal to determine information relating to the object, the information including one or more of: a location of the object; a direction of movement of the object; or a speed of the object.

Wireless sensing method

There is herein disclosed a method of measuring the performance of a first communication channel at a first access point in a WLAN, in which the first access point is associated to a client device so that the first access point can send data to, and/or receive data from, the client device on a second communication channel, the method including disassociating the first access point to the client device and associating a second access point to the client device; switching the working channel of the first access point from the second communication channel to the first communication channel; and making one or more performance measurements in respect of the first communication channel at the first access point.

Measuring channel performance in wireless local area networks

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for processing local area network diagnostic data obtained in respect of a local area network. The method includes calculating a value for each of a plurality of data units according to a predetermined function of one or more field-values stored in the data unit; identifying a first and second data unit as being similar in dependence on a comparison of their respective values, the second data unit having at least one field-value which differs from a corresponding field-value of the first data unit; in response to such an identification, creating a third data unit containing a field-value indicative of the first data unit and an indication of the at least one field-value which differs from the corresponding field-value in the first data unit; and sending the first and third data units for performance analysis at a remote network diagnostic device outside the LAN.

Processing local area network diagnostic data

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for routing a bursty data flow comprising a series of one or more data packets over a converged network comprising a plurality of communication networks, the method comprising, for each of the series of data packets in turn: selecting which one of the plurality of communication networks to transmit that data packet over by: (i) obtaining flow statistics indicating a current flow state of the bursty data flow; and (ii) selecting the one of the plurality of communication networks in dependence on said flow statistics; then initiating transmission of the data packet over that one of the plurality of communication networks. Further aspects relate to a data processing system, a computer program, a computer-readable data carrier and a data carrier signal.

Routing of bursty data flows

The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method of operating a wireless network access point of a wireless network. The method includes wirelessly exchanging management frames with a device to attach the device to the access point, thereby establishing: a wireless downlink data communication channel from the access point to the device, and a wireless uplink data communication channel from the device to the access point. The method further includes performing a wireless link test comprising: transmitting a test frame to the device on the downlink channel, the test frame having a length greater than each of the management frames, including a sequence of test data bits, and being configured to require a mirror response comprising the sequence of test data bits; monitoring for receipt of the mirror response on the uplink; and, if the mirror response is received, determining the test is passed.

Wireless network access point and method for operation thereof

A method for the automatic pairing of a device wirelessly with a first secure WLAN provided by a pairing access point using first set of security credentials, involving: establishing automatically a connection between the device and a second WLAN provided by an available access point, and authenticating the device with the second WLAN using a second set of security credentials stored on the device; identifying the pairing access point using the second set of security credentials; creating a tunnel between the device and the pairing access point over the second WLAN; making a request from the device, via the tunnel, to a provisioning server on the pairing access point for transfer of the second set of security credentials, being the security credentials needed to pair with the first secure WLAN, from the pairing access point to the device; and using the second set of security credentials to configure the security settings for the first secure WLAN in the device.

Automatic pairing of devices to wireless networks

There is disclosed a method of processing a data packet received by a packet sniffer, the packet containing an associated identifier, the method including transmitting the packet to a recipient, determining if the identifier corresponds to a particular network, wherein if the identifier is determined to correspond to the particular network, the identifier is provided to the recipient; and if the identifier is determined to not correspond to the particular network, the identifier is withheld from the recipient.

Data processing method

There is disclosed a method of selecting a channel for wireless communication in a network, including communicating data over a first communication channel between an access point and a client device for a first time period, during the first time period, obtaining a first performance measurement indicative of the performance of the first channel, communicating data over a second communication channel between the access point and the client device for a second time period, during the second time period, obtaining a second performance measurement indicative of the performance of the second channel, ranking the first and second channels in order of performance taking the first and second performance measurements into account when doing so, selecting an operating channel using the outcome of the ranking.

Method of channel selection in a wireless network

In a system formed of user devices, a home access point routing device connected to an Internet Service Provider, performance issues such as contention and interference on the home network can be determined. The home access point is arranged to monitor IP Flow information for data sessions between user devices and remote servers over a wireless or powerline Ethernet home network and performance issues are determined by the home access point or by a management server.

Home network monitor

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for processing local area network diagnostic data obtained in respect of a local area network (LAN). The method includes identifying, from local area network diagnostic data obtained in respect of the LAN, a set of data units including a first and an associated second data unit having a predetermined relationship; updating the first data unit of the set to include an indication that the associated second data unit of the set has been identified; and sending the updated first data unit without the associated second data unit from the LAN for performance analysis at a remote network diagnostic device outside the LAN.

A method for the automatic pairing of a device () wirelessly with a user's secure WLAN provided by an access point (), the pairing access point (), that provides the secure wireless LAN and a second wireless LAN (e.g. a public Wi-Fi hotspot). A connection is established automatically between the device () and a wireless LAN provided by an available access point () using security credentials stored on the device (). If it is determined that the available access point () is also the pairing access point (), using the established connection to securely transfer second security credentials from the available access point () to the device (). The transferred second security credentials can then be used to establish a secure connection between the device () and the first secure wireless LAN provided by the pairing access point ().

The disclosure concerns automatic pairing of a user's new device wirelessly with the user's private wireless access point. An open WLAN is used to connect a wireless pairing client (WPC) in the device with a pairing initiation server (PIS) in an ISP's network. If the open WLAN uses a 'captive portal' to redirect HTTPS requests to a login page, a 'pinhole' is provided so that HTTP requests addressed to the PIS are not redirected. The device stores the SSID of a suitable open WLAN and connects automatically when powered up. The WPC makes an HTTP request, including an ID for the device, to the PIS. The PIS uses the device ID to retrieve an IP address of the user's access point. The PIS then sends instruction to WPS Pairing Initiator Clients, the device and the access point to initiate a Wi-Fi Protected Setup PBC procedure. The result is that, if they are in range of each other, the device will pair with the user's private wireless LAN using WPS PBC but without the need for the user herself needing to act beyond simply powering up the new device.

Automatic device pairing

In wireless local area networks (WLANs) having a wireless access point and a plurality of client devices, the range of the WLAN is affected by obstructions and sources of interference. This may result in coverage gaps in the WLAN. A method is described for operating a mobile wireless device to simulate the behavior of a WLAN extender to improve the coverage of the WLAN. The performance of a data link between the simulated extender device and the wireless access point, and performance of a data link between the simulated extender device and the plurality of client devices, is measured at various locations within the user premises. The results are processed to determine the benefit provided at the various locations by an extender device and a recommended location is provided to a user.

Growing community of inventors

Ipswich, United Kingdom

Simon Patrick Ringland