Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for selecting an access point in a wireless network, including initializing a channel index, recording a received signal power and information contained in one of a beacon message and a probe request response message, calculating an access link metric for each candidate access point, the access link 13 metric being between an end device and each candidate access point on the channel indexed by the channel index responsive to the received signal power and information receiving a path metric between each candidate access point and a gateway, estimating a function using the access link metric and the path metric, selecting one of the candidate access points based on the function and establishing a connection with the selected access point. Also described is a method and apparatus for maintaining a connection with an access point.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described including receiving, by a transmitter, a report from an associated client, setting and using a downlink transmit power level responsive to the report for data transmissions to the associated client, determining a downlink data loss rate and adjusting the downlink transmit power level responsive to the downlink data loss rate, wherein said report includes received signal strength, client transmit power level and one of link margin and receiver sensitivity. Also described are a method and apparatus including receiving, by a receiver, a request for a report, transmitting the requested report, receiving an instruction to use an uplink transmit power level, setting and using the uplink transmit power level, determining an uplink data loss rate and adjusting the uplink transmit power level responsive to the uplink data loss rate, wherein said report includes said received signal strength, client transmit power level and one of said link margin and said receiver sensitivity.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described including determining address using an access point address and a multicast group address, transmitting a recovery request message to a recovery server to request recovery data using the address and receiving the recovery data from the recovery server. Also described are a method and apparatus including receiving a registration message, transmitting a reply to the registration message, receiving a recovery request message, transmitting recovery data responsive to the recovery request message and transmitting a message to a recovery multicast group to determine status of the recovery multicast group.

Abstract: A method is described including receiving multiple requests for a multicast service, generating parameters associated with binding paths to a multicast tree to provide the requested multicast service and binding the paths to the multicast tree. Also described is a method including receiving a request for multicast service with a multicast tree identification, binding the multicast tree identification to paths satisfying a quality of service level for the multicast tree identification and transmitting a first message to a multi-hop relay base station. A method is described including receiving requests to delete multicast service from client devices served by multiple paths, generating parameters associated with unbinding paths from a multicast tree to delete the multicast service and unbinding the paths from the multicast tree. Also described is a method for unbinding of paths from the perspective of the relay station.

Abstract: Because packets dropped due to network congestion cannot reach the intended receiver whereas corrupted packets can still be received, the reception status of multiple packets is different for congested and non-congested paths. This difference reflects a spatial variation in the received data stream that is indicative of congestion. Network congestion detection is described that treats the reception status of sequences of multiple packets as patterns and converts the problem of congestion detection into a two-class pattern classification problem. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is trained to classify the reception status of sequences of packets as being indicative or not of network congestion. If network congestion is detected, congestion control measures can then be taken. Extensive simulations demonstrate high detection accuracy under different network parameters.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described including collecting network information, determining an association, bandwidth allocation and routing scheme based on the collected network information, notifying a mesh access point of the association, the bandwidth allocation and the routing scheme and notifying a client node of its association information. Also described are a method and apparatus including measuring link quality and channel conditions, reporting results of the measuring act to a controller, receiving a routing decision and data forwarding instructions from the controller and forwarding the routing decision and the data forwarding instructions to a client node. Further described are a method and apparatus including measuring link quality and channel conditions, reporting results of the measuring act to a controller, receiving association instructions from the centralized controller and updating previously stored association instructions with the received association instructions.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for increasing multicasting reliability, including receiving content and a first layer of a plurality of a forward error correction coded packets from a first multicast group and joining an additional multicast group in order to receive one of additional layers of forward error correction coded packets and the content along with a further additional layer of the plurality of forward error correction coded packets.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for selecting an access point in a wireless network, including initializing a channel index, recording a received signal power and information contained in one of a beacon message and a probe request response message, calculating an access link metric for each candidate access point, the access link metric being between an end device and each candidate access point on the channel indexed by the channel index responsive to the received signal power and information receiving a path metric between each candidate access point and a gateway, estimating a function using the access link metric and the path metric, selecting one of the candidate access points based on the function and establishing a connection with the selected access point. Also described is a method and apparatus for maintaining a connection with an access point.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for multicast communications in a multi-hop relay network are described including sending an extended request message, wherein the request message includes a multicast connection identification, multicast distribution tree information and a path identification and receiving an extended response message. Correspondingly, a method and apparatus for multicast communications in a multi-hop relay network are described including receiving an extended request message, wherein said request message includes a multicast connection identification, multicast distribution tree information and a path identification and sending an extended response message.

Abstract: A method and system for transmitting data are described including packetizing the data, performing forward error correction (FEC) encoding on the packetized data in order to generate a parity packet, appending FEC information as padding to the end of payload data of the packetized data and transmitting the packetized data and the at least one parity packet. Also described are a method and system for recovering from loss of a packet including receiving a data packet, receiving a parity packet, buffering the received data packet, detecting packet loss, forward error correction decoding the parity packet to recover from packet loss using forward error correction information extracted from the data packet and from the parity packet and forwarding the recovered packet via an internal socket. Also described is a method for staggercasting.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for protecting real time media including receiving media packets, generating media bit strings from the media packets, applying a forward error correcting code across the generated media bit strings to generate at least one forward error correcting bit string and generating at least one forward error correcting packet from the at least one forward error correcting bit string. Also described are a method and apparatus for recovering from losses of real time media packets including forming media bit strings from received media packets, forming forward error correcting bit strings from received forward error correcting packets, decoding the formed media bit strings and forward error correcting bit strings to obtain recovered media bit strings and recover lost media packets from the recovered media bit strings. Further described is a data structure for a forward error correcting header on computer readable media.

Abstract: A multicast packet video system includes a codec placement module placing codecs in nodes of a multicasting network. In some aspects, the placement includes receiving, at a parent node of the network, feedback from its child nodes indicating a number of the child nodes unable to decode FEC blocks, and placing a codec at the parent node if the number exceeds a threshold. In alternative or additional aspects, the placement includes placing codecs in nodes of a multicasting tree of the network by recursively performing a search of a network topology T to find an optimum node c at which to place a codec in order to obtain a maximum improvement in average video-packet throughput over nodes of the tree as a result of the codec recovering lost video and parity packets and transmitting them downstream.