Device and method for basic service set transition management

A station being associated with a first access point (AP) corresponding to a first network, comprising:

• a transceiver configured to establish a connection with the first AP;
• and
• a processor;
• wherein the processor and transceiver are configured to perform a roam handover from the first AP to one of at least one second AP corresponding to a respective second network by:
• determining whether a roam is to be performed, wherein the determining whether a roam is to be performed is based at least in part upon an unsolicited transition, wherein;
• the unsolicited transition includes receiving an unsolicited request by the station from the first AP;
• and
• the unsolicited request includes at least one of (i) an indication that the station has been removed from one of the basic service set (BSS) or the extended service set (ESS) of the first AP or (ii) an indication of a time remaining before the station will be removed from one of the basic service set (BSS) or the extended service set (ESS) of the first AP;
• receiving network information for the at least one second AP within a communication range of the station;
• determining a full AP of the at least one second AP, wherein the full AP has a load value indicating a full capacity;
• determining a score value for each of the at least one second AP based upon the respective network information and excluding the full AP such that the score value is not determined and the full AP is not eligible for the roaming, the score value being one of a quantitative score or a qualitative score;
• selecting one of the at least one second AP based upon the respective score value;
• and
• roaming from the first AP to the selected one of the at least one second AP.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a microprocessor to perform operations comprising:

• determining whether a roam is to be performed, the station being associated with a first access point (AP) corresponding to a first network, wherein the determining whether a roam is to be performed is based at least in part upon an unsolicited transition, wherein;
• the unsolicited transition includes receiving an unsolicited request by the station from the first AP;
• and
• the unsolicited request includes at least one of (i) an indication that the station has been removed from one of the basic service set (BSS) or the extended service set (ESS) of the first AP or (ii) an indication of a time remaining before the station will be removed from one of the basic service set (BSS) or the extended service set (ESS) of the first AP;
• receiving network information for at least one second AP within a communication range of the station;
• determining a full AP of the at least one second AP, wherein the full AP has a load value indicating a full capacity;
• determining a score value for each of the at least one second AP corresponding to a respective second network based upon the respective network information and excluding the full AP such that the score value is not determined and the full AP is not eligible for the roaming, the score value being one of a quantitative score, the quantitative score being calculated as a function of a respective received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value and a respective load value, or a qualitative score, the qualitative score being calculated for each of the at least one second AP as a function of a preference value and the RSSI value;
• selecting one of the at least one second AP based upon the respective score values;
• and
• roaming from the first AP to the selected one of the at least one second AP.