VLAN tagging in WLANs
First Claim
1. A wireless access point that supports communication by an associated mobile client via a communications path authenticated by an authentication device, comprising:
- processing logic operable to create a mapping between;
a client identifier that uniquely identifies the associated mobile client relative to the access point, andan identifier indicative of the authenticated communications path; and
processing logic operable to modify a data unit received from the mobile client by identifying the authenticated communications path from the client identifier and adding the authenticated communications path identifier to the data unit before transmitting the modified data unit from the access point.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless access point is operable to tag packets received from mobile clients. For example, a VLAN tag or Layer-3 tunnel tag for a packet is determined based at least in-part on a mapping between a mobile client and tag maintained by the access point. In one embodiment the access point uses Association IDs (“AIDs”) to uniquely identify mobile clients in the BSS. Hence, the mapping is between A/Ds and VLAN tags/Layer-3 tunnel tags. The mapping may be generated by snooping authentication related communications or from information maintained by a switch, such as a MAC address to tag mapping.
73 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A wireless access point that supports communication by an associated mobile client via a communications path authenticated by an authentication device, comprising:
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processing logic operable to create a mapping between; a client identifier that uniquely identifies the associated mobile client relative to the access point, and an identifier indicative of the authenticated communications path; and processing logic operable to modify a data unit received from the mobile client by identifying the authenticated communications path from the client identifier and adding the authenticated communications path identifier to the data unit before transmitting the modified data unit from the access point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method executed by an access point for supporting communication by an associated mobile client via a communications path authenticated by an authentication device, comprising the steps of:
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creating a mapping between; a client identifier that uniquely identifies the associated mobile client relative to the access point, and an identifier indicative of the authenticated communications path; and modifying a data unit received from the mobile client by; identifying the authenticated communications path from the client identifier, and adding the authenticated communications path identifier to the data unit before transmitting the modified data unit from the access point. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification