Roam prevention for stationary client devices in areas of access point coverage overlap

A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions that are to, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:

• monitor one or more client devices, including a first client device, in a network including a plurality of wireless access points (APs), the plurality of APs operating jointly as a virtual controller for the plurality of APs;
• determine by the plurality of APs that the first client device is stationary and is located in an AP-overlap area in which there is an overlap between coverage areas of two or more of the plurality of APs, wherein determining by the plurality of APs whether the first client device is in the AP-overlap area is based at least in part on a comparison of AP-to-client signal-strength values to a threshold;
• in response to the detection that the first client device is stationary and is located in the AP-overlap area, the plurality of APs further to:
• assign a first AP of the two or more APs to be a preferred AP for the client device;
• and
• prevent roaming by the first client device, including directing any AP of the plurality of APs other than the first AP to avoid connecting with the client device while the client device is stationary;
• and
• in response to a detection that the first client device is no longer stationary, the plurality of APs further to:
• clear the assignment of the first AP as the preferred AP for the first client device, and
• allow roaming by the first client device to resume, including allowing APs of the plurality of APs in addition to the first AP to connect with the first client device.

A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions that are to, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:

• monitor one or more client devices, including a first client device, in a network including a plurality of wireless access points (APs), the plurality of APs operating jointly as a virtual controller for the plurality of APs;
• determine by the plurality of APs that the first client device is stationary and in response determine by the plurality of APs whether the first client device is in an AP-overlap area in which there is an overlap between coverage areas of the two or more APs by the following:
• determine a set of AP-to-client signal-strength values for the two or more APs,
• compare a largest one of the AP-to-client signal-strength values (first value) to another one of the AP-to-client signal-strength values (second value) and test a result of the comparison against a threshold, and
• in response to a result of the comparison satisfying the threshold, determine that the first client device is located in the AP-overlap area;
• and
• in response to the determination that the first client device is stationary and is located in the AP-overlap area, the plurality of APs to:
• assign a first AP of the two or more APs to be a preferred AP for the client device;
• and
• prevent roaming by the first client device, including directing any AP of the plurality of APs other than the first AP to avoid connecting with the client device while the client device is stationary;
• and
• in response to a detection that the first client device is no longer stationary, the plurality of APs to:
• clear the assignment of the first AP as the preferred AP for the first client device, and
• allow roaming by the first client device to resume, including allowing APs of the plurality of APs in addition to the first AP to connect with the first client device.