Abstract: A method and system for managing power consumption in a portable computing device having a network interface module is presented. A power management module receives inputs from other modules and determines when the network interface module is to be put in a doze state for a predetermined number of beacon intervals to conserve power consumption in the network interface module. The network interface module in a device that is associated with a network is put in the doze state after an event has occurred including when a scan has been performed, after a delayed sleep timer has expired, and after a beacon transmission has been completed and no traffic is buffered for the device. The delayed sleep time is set based on the estimated round trip time of a packet.

Abstract: A method and system for managing power consumption in a portable computing device having a network interface module is presented. A power management module receives inputs from other modules and determines when the network interface module is to be put in a doze state for a predetermined number of beacon intervals to conserve power consumption in the network interface module. The network interface module in a device that is associated with a network is put in the doze state after an event has occurred including when a scan has been performed, after a delayed sleep timer has expired, and after a beacon transmission has been completed and no traffic is buffered for the device. The delayed sleep time is set based on the estimated round trip time of a packet.

Abstract: An extensible wireless framework for connecting to a wireless network is provided. The extensible wireless framework includes a network roaming service with a registration component and a network service component. The registration component registers extensible service modules and extensible drivers for providing non-standard (i.e., extensible) capabilities to the wireless network. The extensible service module provides a service not provided by a native component of the extensible wireless framework, and the extensible driver may implement a media access control sub-layer of a wireless network protocol and provide a media access control interface. The network service component identifies available wireless networks, selects to join the wireless network when available, requests the extensible driver for the wireless network via its media access control interface to connect to the selected network, and notifies the extensible service module to provide services to the extensible driver.

Abstract: The principles of the present invention provides for making roaming decisions based on association qualities between a wireless device and one or more wireless access points. From time to time, the wireless device updates a current association quality for a current wireless access point, for example, based on relative signal strength, observed error rates, and current wireless access point workload. Similarly, the wireless device updates association qualities for any other wireless access points the wireless device can communicate with. If the current association quality falls below a quality threshold, the wireless device roams to attempt to associate with another wireless access point. The wireless device ranks compatibly configured wireless access points based at least in part on corresponding association qualities. The wireless device can attempt to associate with higher ranked wireless access points before lower ranked wireless access points.

Abstract: A method and system for managing power consumption in a portable computing device having a network interface module is presented. A power management module receives inputs from other modules and determines when the network interface module is to be put in a doze state for a predetermined number of beacon intervals to conserve power consumption in the network interface module. The network interface module in a device that is associated with a network is put in the doze state after an event has occurred including when a scan has been performed, after a delayed sleep timer has expired, and after a beacon transmission has been completed and no traffic is buffered for the device. The delayed sleep-time is set based on the estimated round trip time of a packet.

Abstract: A method and system for scanning in a wireless device having a wireless network interface card (NIC) is presented. The system has a scanning history table for storing scanning results and a scanning engine that adjusts the scanning period based upon a history of scanning results and commands the NIC to scan for available networks after the period has expired. The engine receives scan results from the NIC, stores the scan results in the scanning history table, determines a scanning period based upon a history of scan results, sets the scanning period, and commands the NIC to scan for available networks after the scanning period has expired. The engine is programmed to set the scanning period using an exponential function and to reset the scanning period to a default period if the scan results are different from a prior scan result or if a triggering event is received.

Abstract: A software based wireless infrastructure system is provided. The system has a driver that communicates with the network stack and a network interface card (NIC), a station server in communication with the station driver and an 802.1X supplicant or an 802.1X authenticator. Each NIC provides station and/or access point functionality support. The driver drops packets that have been received if the packet has not been authenticated and associated. Packets that have been fragmented or encrypted are unfragmented and decrypted. An association manager is used in conjunction with a configuration table manager to associate stations and access points via management packets. A manager receives 802.1X data packets from the packet processor and sends them up to a station server that communicates with user mode applications and an 802.1X supplicant or an 802.1X authenticator that are used to authenticate and deauthenticate stations and access,points. APIs are provided to enable communication between the components.