Back to results
US 11,122,443 B2Granted
Automated access point mapping systems and methods
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsVishal Satyendra Desai, David John Zacks
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Wireless access point locations can be determined by processing a combination of wired and wireless telemetry. Wireless telemetry can be combined with backend network management information to isolate a set of access points within a radio frequency neighborhood cluster. Wired telemetry, including time domain reflectometer operations performed by a local switch, can be used to refine location estimates of the isolated set of access points. Trilateration can be used to pinpoint the access point locations and the pinpointed locations can be overlaid on a floor plan map.
Claims20
A method for mapping access points to a building floor, the method comprising:
- identifying a switch that is communicatively coupled to a plurality of access points by a wired connection;
- generating a radio frequency cluster based on the plurality of access points using receiver messages and transmission messages between respective neighboring access points of the plurality of access points, the radio frequency cluster comprising a group of access points of the plurality of access points within a broadcast range of each other;
- determining pairwise distances between one or more pairs of access points of the group of access points of the radio frequency cluster based on a path loss model;
- determining a portion of the radio frequency cluster that is on a shared floor with the identified switch based on the wired connection;
- determining wired distances of each access point of the plurality of access points from the switch based on a wire length calculated by a message travel time over the wired connection from the access point of the plurality of access points to the switch;
- identifying respective locations of each access point of the plurality of access points relative to each other and the identified switch based on the wired distances, the pairwise distances, and respective trilateration information based on received signal strength indicators for each access point of the plurality of access points, the trilateration information generated by one or more deployed sensors;
- and
- overlaying the identified respective locations on a floor plan map.
5 more elements
A system for mapping access points to a building floor, the system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- a memory comprising instructions to:
- identify a switch that is communicatively coupled to a plurality of access points by a wired connection;
- generate a radio frequency cluster based on the plurality of access points using receiver messages and transmission messages between respective neighboring access points, the radio frequency cluster comprising a group of access points of the plurality of access points within a broadcast range of each other;
- determine pairwise distances between one or more pairs of access points of the group of access points of the radio frequency cluster based on a path loss model;
- determine a portion of the radio frequency cluster that is on a shared floor with the identified switch based on the wired connection;
- determine wired distances of each access point of the plurality of access points from the switch based on a wire length calculated by a message travel time over the wired connection from the access point of the plurality of access points to the switch;
- identify respective locations of each access point of the plurality of access points relative to each other and the identified switch based on the wired distances, the pairwise distances, and respective trilateration information based on received signal strength indicators for each access point of the plurality of access points, the trilateration information generated by one or more deployed sensors;
- and
- overlay the identified respective locations on a floor plan map.
8 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- identify a switch that is communicatively coupled to a plurality of access points by a wired connection;
- generate a radio frequency cluster based on the plurality of access points using receiver messages and transmission messages between respective neighboring access points of the plurality of access points, the radio frequency cluster comprising a group of access points of the plurality of access points within a broadcast range of each other;
- determine pairwise distances between one or more pairs of access points of the group of access points of the radio frequency cluster based on a path loss model;
- determine a portion of the radio frequency cluster that is on a shared floor with the identified switch based on the wired connection;
- determine wired distances of each access point of the plurality of access points from the switch based on a wire length calculated by a message travel time over the wired connection from the access point of the plurality of access points to the switch;
- identify respective locations of each access point of the plurality of access points relative to each other and the identified switch based on the wired distances, the pairwise distances, and respective trilateration information based on received signal strength indicators for each access point of the plurality of access points, the trilateration information generated by one or more deployed sensors;
- and
- overlay the identified respective locations on a floor plan map.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.