Abstract: A method for automated testing of a device (e.g., a router, switch, mobile terminal, barcode reader, or the like) includes creating a metafile, establishing a network connection to the device, parsing the metafile to determine a device command and an expected result, issuing the device command to the command line interface of the device via the network connection; receiving a response from the command line interface of the device via the network connection; comparing the response to the expected result, then logging, to a test summary file, a test result based on said comparing step. The metafile language has a relatively simple vocabulary and syntax, and is thus easy to learn and implement.

Abstract: A graphical management system includes a web browser application communicatively coupled to a web service and a graphical management module over a network and a plurality of wireless devices (e.g., RFID readers, access ports, etc.) coupled to the network and having one or more associated antennae. The wireless devices are configured to process data received from a plurality of RF elements (mobile units, 802.11 devices, RF tags, etc.) within range of the antennae. An RF switch coupled to the network is configured to receive the data and transmit the data to the graphical management module, which provides to the web service graphical information relating to the state of the RF elements (e.g., location information, heat maps, intrusion detection, self-healing status, etc.

Abstract: A consolidated RF switch includes a cell controller configured to process data packets received from an access port communicatively coupled to a plurality of mobile units via a wireless network, and an RFID network controller configured to process tag information received from an RFID reader communicatively coupled to a plurality of RFID tags. The cell controller and the RFID network controller are configured to transmit the tag information and the data packets to one or more enterprise applications.

Abstract: An RFID system includes a central RF network controller that processes tag data from preconfigured read point zones that span multiple antennas and RFID readers. The system includes a first RFID reader coupled to a first antenna, the first antenna having a first read point; a second RFID reader coupled to a second antenna, the second antenna having a second read point; and a controller coupled to the first RFID reader and the second RFID reader, the controller configured to group the first and second RFID readers in a read point zone and to receive tag data from the first and second RFID reader and assign the tag data to the read point zone.

Abstract: An RFID system includes a central RF network controller and a failover antenna within a read point zone that spans multiple antennas and RFID readers. The system includes a first RFID antenna configured to read RF tag data within a first read point, a second RFID antenna configured to read the RF tag data within a second read point, and a failover RFID antenna. A controller communicatively coupled to the failover RFID antenna, the first RFID antenna, and the second RFID antenna is configured to group the first, second, and failover RFID antennas in a read point zone and to receive RF tag data from the first, second, and failover RFID antennas and assign the tag data to the read point zone. The controller is further configured to receive a failure notification associated with failure of one of the first and second RFID antennas and activate the failover RFID antenna upon receipt of the failure notification.

Abstract: Wireless switches in a cluster are managed by providing a configuration server for storing common configuration files and a DHCP server for storing cluster-specific configuration files corresponding to each cluster. A method for configuring the wireless switches then includes requesting, from the DHCP server, an IP address for the wireless switch; receiving, from the DHCP server, the IP address and the cluster-specific configuration file; receiving, from the configuration server, the common configuration file; and executing, at the wireless switch, the cluster-specific configuration file and the common configuration file.

Abstract: A wireless data communication system includes an access port configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of mobile units within multiple basic service sets (BSS), and a wireless switch having multiple predefined wireless local area networks (WLANs). The wireless switch is configured to automatically map the WLANs to the basic service sets and transmit to the access port a configuration template depending upon the type of access port. In one embodiment, there are n basic service sets, each having a corresponding basic service set identifier (BSSID), and m WLANs, each having a corresponding WLAN index, wherein the m WLAN indices are uniformly mapped to the n BSSIDs such that each BSSID has substantially the same number of WLAN indices mapped thereto. In a particular embodiment, there are n=4 BSSIDs per access port and m=16 pre-mapped WLANs.

Abstract: A wireless access port within a WLAN is capable of self-healing by re-performing auto-channel selection (e.g., auto-channel selection in accordance with the 802.11 family of standards) if particular conditions are met, wherein the conditions are indicative of a signal degradation between a mobile unit and the access port. Auto-channel selection may be initiated in the event that the number of retries (i.e., retries to establish a connection between the mobile unit and the access port) exceeds a threshold retry value within a certain timeframe.

Abstract: Wireless switch licenses are assigned on a cluster basis rather than being limited to individual switches. A switch cluster is made up of two or more wireless switches that each having an assigned number of licenses. Each of the wireless switches is configured to establish the switch cluster with the other wireless switches, and to verify the identity of each other wireless switch in the switch cluster during operation. License restrictions are enforced based upon a total number of licenses for the switch cluster so that the sum of the numbers of licenses assigned to the wireless switches in the cluster are available for use even if one or more of the other wireless switches in the cluster become unavailable.

Abstract: In response to a component management function call by a remote client application, the component management application programming interface (API) generates a message that identifies the called function and the version of the component management API. The component management API calls a local message transfer RPC command to send the message to a RPC command module. The RPC command module processes the local message transfer RPC command, and packages the message for transfer as a RPC over the heterogenous network. The RPC command module sends the packaged RPC to a network stack which in turn transmits the packaged RPC over the heterogenous network to a network stack in the server computer. The server network stack provides the packaged RPC to a server RPC command module that unpacks the RPC in a conventional manner to obtain the original message. The message is passed to a server component management API.