Patent attributes
Methods, apparatuses and systems enabling real-time analysis of coverage and other performance attributes of distributed or networked systems, such as wireless computer network environments. In one embodiment, the present invention utilizes information obtained from monitoring wireless communications in a wireless network system from remote client elements to access elements in relation to at least one attribute, such as signal strength and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Although the present invention has application to a variety of wireless network architectures, in one embodiment, the present invention is implemented in a wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system having a hierarchical architecture comprising a central control element associated with at least one access element. The access element encapsulates data packets received from remote client elements including protocol and other information (such as attributes of the detected signal associated with the data packets), and tunnels the encapsulated data packets to the central control element. The central control element maintains and analyzes the information contained in the packets to analyze the coverage of the wireless network environment.
