Method and system for dynamic determination of potential access points for propagating client information

Abstract

A method includes determining a subset, of a set of access points, that a client device is likely to roam to from a first access point in the set of access points; transmitting to each of the subset of access points, without transmitting to a second access point in the set of access points that is not included in the subset, information associated with the client device; wherein the information associated with the client device is used by the client device or by the third access point during (a) an association process for the client device associating with the third access point or (b) an authentication process for the authentication of the client device by the third access point.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processing resource; and   a memory resource storing machine readable instructions to cause the processing resource to:   determine a subset of a plurality of access points (APs) that a client device is likely to roam to from a first AP in response to a determination that an association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated; and   transmit, while the client device is associated with the first AP, a client device identifier associated with the client device to APs among the subset of the plurality of APs.   
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the client device identifier is persistent to the client device. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the client device identifier comprises an identification number assigned to the client device as part of an automatic device registration application. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the client device identifier comprises information used to derive an encryption key to encrypt data transmitted by the client device to the first AP. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the client device identifier comprises information used to derive an encryption key to encrypt data transmitted by the client device to respective APs among the subset of the plurality of APs. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to determine the subset of the plurality of APs based, at least in part, on wireless signals received by the first AP from each AP of the subset of the plurality of APs. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to cause the first AP to store identification information for a network device that has at least a portion of state information associated with the client device stored thereon. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to transmit a client device identifier associated with the client device to respective APs among the subset of the plurality of APs without transmitting to other APs that are not included in the subset. 
     
     
         29 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the machine readable instructions to cause a computer a processor to:
 determine a subset of a plurality of access points (APs) that a client device is likely to roam to from a first AP;   determine that an association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated; and   transmit information associated with the client device to each AP of the subset of APs in response to the determination that the association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated.   
     
     
         30 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to determine that the association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated based, at least in part, or determination that a load balancing operation is to be triggered. 
     
     
         31 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to determine that the association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated based, at least in part, on a determination that an AP among the subset of the plurality of APs provides an increase in signal strength of signals transmitted to the client device than the first AP. 
     
     
         32 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to detect a decrease in signal strength of signals transmitted between the client device and the first AP. 
     
     
         33 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to transmit information associated with the client device to each AP of the subset of APs while the client device is associated with the first AP. 
     
     
         34 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to determine that an association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated based on a detection that it is a particular time of day. 
     
     
         35 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processing resource to determine the subset of the plurality of APs that the client device is likely to roam to from the first AP based, at least in part, on probe requests detected by respective APs among the subset of the plurality of APs. 
     
     
         36 . A comprising:
 determining a subset of access points (APs) among a plurality of APs that a client device is likely to roam to from a first AP;   determining that an association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated;   transmitting a client device identifier associated with the client device to APs among the subset of APs without transmitting the client device identifier to other APs that are not included in the subset of APs in response to determining that the association between the client device and the first AP is to be terminated; and   associating the client device to a second AP, wherein the second AP is an AP among the subset of APs.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein associating the client device to the second AP further comprises:
 generating a hash value associated with the client device;   identifying a particular node in a distributed has table that is associated with the has value associated with the client device;   generating an encryption key for encrypting communication between the client device and the second AP; and   receiving information associated with the client device.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein generating the encryption key and receiving information associated with the client device are performed concurrently. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein receiving information associated with the client device further comprises receiving multicast information associated with the client device. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising transmitting the client device identifier associated with the client device to APs among the subset of APs while the client device is associated with the first AP.