Proactive interference avoidance for access points

An access point configured to operate on a channel according to a first wireless technology, the access point comprising:

• a memory having computer-readable instructions stored therein;
• and
• one or more processors programed to execute the computer-readable instructions to perform operations comprising:
• predicting a second time, by an access point operating according to a first wireless technology and at a first time, that interference from signals of a second technology will occur, at a the second time that is later than the first time, on a channel on which the access point is currently operating;
• selecting, by the access point, an interference avoidance process based on a plurality of factors, comprising:
• first determining if preamble puncturing is available for the access point;
• and
• selecting, in response to a positive result to the first determining, the preamble puncturing as the interference avoidance process;
• second determining, in response to a negative result to the first determining, if there is one or more adjacent channels for the access point to switch to, the one or more adjacent channels having a same bandwidth as the channel on which the access point is currently operating;
• selecting, in response to a positive result to the second determining, one of the one or more adjacent channels for the access point to switch to if the one or more adjacent channels are available;
• third determining, in response to a negative result to the second determining if there are one or more channels having a lower bandwidth than the channel on which the access point is currently operating;
• selecting, in response to a positive result to the third determining, one of the one or more channels having the lower bandwidth for the access point to switch to;
• and
• implementing, by the access point, the interference avoidance process such that at the second time the access point is not operating on one or more sub-channels spanning the channel on which the access point is currently operating.

A non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• predicting a second time, by an access point operating according to a first wireless technology and at a first time, that interference from signals of a second technology will occur at the second time that is later than the first time, on a channel on which the access point is currently operating;
• selecting, by the access point, an interference avoidance process based on a plurality of factors, comprising:
• first determining if preamble puncturing is available for the access point;
• and
• selecting, in response to a positive result to the first determining, the preamble puncturing as the interference avoidance process;
• second determining, in response to a negative result to the first determining, if there is one or more adjacent channels for the access point to switch to, the one or more adjacent channels having a same bandwidth as the channel on which the access point is currently operating;
• selecting, in response to a positive result to the second determining, one of the one or more adjacent channels for the access point to switch to if the one or more adjacent channels are available;
• third determining, in response to a negative, result to the second determining if there are one or more channels having a lower bandwidth than the channel on which the access point is currently operating;
• selecting, in response to a positive result to the third determining, one of the one or more channels having the lower bandwidth for the access point to switch to;
• and
• implementing, by the access point, the interference avoidance process such that at the second time the access point is not operating on one or more sub-channels spanning the channel on which the access point is currently operating.