The conditions of a radio link under which a wireless communication system operates may change at any time. Since a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) is mobile, the WTRU may be out-of-range, or within range of one or more APs depending upon the position of the WTRU.
The capacity of a communication system is sometimes limited due to bandwidth considerations. The bandwidth capacity of the communication channel, or channels, available to the communication system to communicate data is finite, and must be shared among a plurality of APs and portable WTRUs.
There are several current schemes that are employed in order to increase the capacity of a wireless communication system. Channel, i.e., frequency, selection is one of such schemes, whereby one or more APs in a network select one or more channels to communicate with their associated WTRUs. Coordination of AP channel selection is usually performed manually. However, it is very impractical to manually coordinate channel selection in response to every small change in the network configuration since it may cause a redesign and reconfiguration of all APs. Unlicensed spectra and external sources of interference also raise problems that are not adequately addressed by manual coordination. Moreover, it is difficult for manual channel selection to assign channels such that the traffic loads of neighboring APs are shared among the available channels in a way that maximizes overall system capacity.
Another problem with prior art schemes is encountered when a multiple APs attempt to power-up simultaneously. When this occurs within a network, all of the APs try to make a channel selection at the same time. Thus, the channel selection by the APs would not be optimal since each AP does not take into account the channel selection of neighboring APs.
A method and apparatus which automatically optimizes channel selection to avoid the above-mentioned problems associated with known manual channel selection processes would be greatly beneficial.