Reconfigurable access point

• US 20050207448A1
• Filed: 04/04/2005
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Aruba Networks Incorporated (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Taylor, John Richard, Iyer, Pradeep J., Melkote, Keerti G., Narasimhan, Partha
• Granted Patent: US 7,525,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/476
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

In general, one embodiment of the invention relates to a method of operation where the type of an incoming Media Access Control (MAC) frame is initially determined. Based on such determination, the MAC frame is processed locally at an access point if the MAC frame is one of a first group of MAC frames. Otherwise, the MAC frame is processed remotely at a switch communicatively coupled to the access point.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an interconnect;

a device coupled to a first end of the interconnect, the device including at least one component to recover data from an incoming wireless signal, to determine whether the data is processed at the device, and to process the data if the data is to be processed at the device or alternatively encapsulate the data into a frame for transmission over the interconnect; and

a switch coupled to a second end of the interconnect, the switch including at least one component to recover the data and subsequently process the data for transmission over a wired network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the device is an access point.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one component of the access point comprises:

a first media access control (MAC) component to analyze the data by analyzing a type field of a first MAC frame to determine whether processing is handled at the device or at the switch.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first MAC component to further analyze a subtype field of the first MAC frame in order to determine whether processing is handled at the device or at the switch.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one component of the switch comprises:

a second MAC component to process the first MAC frame upon determination by the first MAC component that the processing is to be handled at the switch.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one component of the access point further comprises:

an antenna;

a receive interface in communication with the antenna, the receive interface to produce the audio signal being a baseband analog radio signal; and

an analog-to-digital converter to sample the baseband analog radio signal to produce the digital data; and

a physical (PHY) component to demodulate the digital data to recover the first MAC frame for processing by either the first MAC component or the second MAC component.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the frame containing the data transmitted over the interconnect comprises a header having an address identifying the switch and a payload including the data being a first media access control (MAC) frame included in the wireless signal.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one component of the switch is placed on a line card coupled to a communication bus of the switch.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the switch further comprises:

a third MAC component to receive a second MAC frame having a format in accordance with a protocol supported by the wired network, to convert the second MAC frame into a third MAC frame having a format in accordance with a protocol supported by a wireless network over which the wireless signal propagated, and to encapsulate the third MAC frame into a frame for transmission over the interconnect to the device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the device further comprises:

a fourth MAC component to receive the second MAC frame and to process the second MAC frame upon determination by the third MAC component that the processing is to be handled at the device.

11. A method comprising:

providing an access point including at least one component for wireless signal transmission and reception and for Media Access Control (MAC) processing of frames having a first predetermined type and subtype;

providing a switch including at least one component responsible for MAC processing of frames having a predetermined type and subtype other than the first predetermined type and subtype; and

coupling the access point to the switch using an interconnect, the interconnect to enable the at least one component of the switch to perform MAC processing of frames having the predetermined type and subtype that are received by the access point.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the coupling of the access point and the switch further enables MAC frames received by the switch to undergo MAC processing of frames having a second predetermined type and subtype, the second predetermined type and subtype differing from the first predetermined type and subtype.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

coupling a wired network to the switch.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the providing of the access point for MAC processing comprising:

receiving a wireless signal;

sampling a recovered analog radio signal to produce digital data;

demodulating the digital data to recover a MAC frame; and

determining the MAC frame is one of the first predetermined type and subtype.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one component of the switch is part of a removable, in-line card adapted for coupling to the switch.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the switch is an Ethernet switch.

17. A system comprising:

an access point to detect a wireless signal, recover a media access control (MAC) frame, process the MAC frame if the MAC frame is one of a first group of predetermined types and subtypes, and encapsulate the MAC frame into a frame for transmission;

a switch in communication with the access point, the switch including at least one component to receive the frame, recover the MAC frame from the frame, and process the MAC frame if the MAC frame is one of a second group of predetermined types and subtypes.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one component is implemented on a line card including.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one component of the switch to process the MAC frame by conducting operations on the MAC frame, one of the operations includes converting the MAC frame into a MAC frame having a format supported by a wired network.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the access point to process the MAC frame by conducting operations on the MAC frame when the MAC frame is one of a RTS frame, a CTS frame, and an ACK frame.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the access point to further process the MAC frame by conducting operations on the MAC frame when the MAC frame is one of a CF END frame, a CF ACK frame, a CF ACK frame, a CF Poll frame, a PS-Poll frame and a Beacon.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one component of the switch to process the MAC frame by conducting operations on the MAC frame when the MAC frame is one of a PROBE REQUEST frame, a PROBE RESPONSE frame, an ASSOCIATION REQUEST frame, an ASSOCIATION RESPONSE frame, a REASSOCIATION REQUEST frame, a REASSOCIATION RESPONSE frame, a DISASSOCIATION frame, an AUTHENTICATION frame, and a DEAUTHENTICATION frame.

23. A method comprising:

determining which type of incoming Media Access Control (MAC) frame has been received;

processing the MAC frame locally at an access point if the MAC frame is one of a first group of MAC frames; and

processing the MAC frame remotely at a switch communicatively coupled to the access point if the MAC frame is not one of the first group of MAC frames.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the switch is an Ethernet switch.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the determining which type of incoming MAC frame has been received includes analyzing at least one of a type field and a subtype field of the MAC frame.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the processing the MAC frame remotely at a switch includes processing the MAC frame remotely at a switch if the MAC frame is one of a second group of MAC frames, the second group of MAC frames being different and mutually exclusive of the first group of MAC frames.