FAST CHANNEL SWITCHING SCHEME FOR IEEE 802.11 WLANS

摘要

Disclosed is a method and system for switching at least one wireless node located within the coverage area of a basic-service set (BSS) or infrastructure-basic-service set (IBSS) in a wireless-local-area network (WLAN) from a first communication channel to a second communication channel. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of: determining whether the second communication channel to be used by at least one wireless node is needed; broadcasting by a source node a management frame to at least one of the wireless node when it is determined that the second communication channel is needed, the management frame including a channel-switch time and a second communication channel identifier; and switching, at least one wireless node receiving the management frame, from the first communication channel to a second communication channel within a countdown time corresponding to the channel switch time, wherein the channel-switch time is less than a beacon interval. In an alternate embodiment, the method includes the steps of: determining whether the second communication channel to be used by at least one wireless node is needed; broadcasting by a source node a first management frame to at least one wireless node when it is determined that the second communication channel is needed, the first management frame including a channel-switch time and a second communication channel identifier; and upon receiving the broadcasted first management frame at least one wireless node, halting all further frame exchanges in the first communication channel to quiet the first communication channel.