Fortinet, Inc.
OVER-THE-AIR (OTA) WI-FI OFFLOADING

Abstract:

Systems and methods for OTA Wi-Fi offloading are provided. According to one embodiment, a first AP of a private network provides connectivity between one or more wireless client devices and a wired network portion of the private network. The first AP is coupled to a switch via a first wired link. The first AP determines whether the traffic being transmitted on the first wired link exceeds a configurable or predefined threshold. When the determination is affirmative, the first AP offloads a portion of the traffic to a second AP of the private network by: (i) dynamically establishing a mesh like link with the second AP; and causing the traffic to be delivered to the wired portion of the private network via a second wired link, coupling the second AP to the switch, by transmitting the portion of the traffic via the mesh like link to the second AP.