Address Resolution Protocol-Based Wireless Access Point Method and Apparatus

• US 20080205362A1
• Filed: 06/19/2006
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Agrawal, Rajeev, Kalyanasundaram, Suresh, Bedekar, Anand S., Gopikanth, Venkat, Ram OV, Vishnu
• Granted Patent: US 8,160,067 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A wireless access point (200), upon determining (101) that a need exists to support a communication need of a mobile station, acquires (102) a first Internet Protocol (IP) address and automatically transmits (103) a gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol message to a local router to thereby cause the latter to correlate the first IP address to a Medium Access Control address for the wireless access point. In a preferred embodiment the wireless access point can also automatically transmit a registration request to a remote network element (such as a Home Agent) that presents this first IP address as a care-of address to use in conjunction with another IP address that serves as a home address for the mobile station.

Claims

1. A method for use by a wireless access point comprising:

determining a need to support at least one communication need of a mobile station;

acquiring a first Internet Protocol address;

automatically transmitting a gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol message to a router that shares a same subnet as the wireless access point to thereby cause the router to correlate the first Internet Protocol address to a Medium Access Control address for the wireless access point; and

using the first Internet Protocol address to facilitate effecting a redirection of data intended for eventual delivery to the mobile station to the first Internet Protocol address.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein using the first Internet Protocol address to facilitate effecting a redirection of data intended for eventual delivery to the mobile station to the first Internet Protocol address comprises automatically transmitting a registration request to a network element that is remote to the subnet via the router, which registration request presents a second Internet Protocol address as a home address and the first Internet Protocol address as a care-of-address to thereby facilitate effecting the redirection of data intended for eventual delivery to the mobile station to the first Internet Protocol address.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving via the subnet a communication bearing the second Internet Protocol address;

forwarding at least a portion of the communication to the mobile station.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

determining a need to support at least one communication need of a mobile station comprises detecting a mobility management event for the mobile station with respect to the wireless access point; and

acquiring a first Internet Protocol address comprises receiving the first Internet Protocol address from another wireless access point.

5. A wireless access point comprising:

a mobile station interface;

an Internet Protocol address that corresponds to a given mobile station that interfaces with the wireless access point via the mobile station interface;

a second Internet Protocol address that the wireless access point acquired via a subnet interface, which second Internet Protocol address the wireless access point associates with the given mobile station; and

a subnet interface configured and arranged to transmit to a router that shares a same subnet as the wireless access point an Address Resolution Protocol message to thereby cause the router to correlate the second Internet Protocol address to a Medium Access Control address for the wireless access point.

6. The wireless access point of claim 5 wherein the subnet interface comprises means for acquiring the second Internet Protocol address from the subnet.

7. The wireless access point of claim 5 wherein the subnet interface comprises means for acquiring the second Internet Protocol address from one or more of another wireless access point as comprises a part of the subnet and from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server.

8. The wireless access point of claim 5 wherein the subnet interface further comprises means for automatically transmitting a gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol message to the router to thereby cause the router to correlate the second Internet Protocol address to a Medium Access Control address for the wireless access point.

9. A method to facilitate communications via a communication system that comprises, in part, a subnet that itself comprises a plurality of wireless access points, the method comprising:

at a first one of the wireless access points;

detecting a mobile station;

acquiring a local Internet Protocol address from a subnet source to use in correspondence with the mobile station;

transmitting a gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol message bearing the local Medium Access Control address and another Internet Protocol address that corresponds to the mobile station to a subnet router;

at the subnet router;

receiving the gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol message;

correlating the local Internet Protocol address with a Medium Access Control address for the first one of the wireless access points;

receiving a communication bearing the local Internet Protocol address and the another Internet Protocol address;

using the local Internet Protocol address from the communication to identify the Medium Access Control address as correlates thereto;

using the identified Medium Access Control address to forward the communication to the first one of the wireless access points;

at the first one of the wireless access points;

receiving the communication as forwarded by the subnet router;

using the another Internet Protocol address to identify the mobile station; and

forwarding the communication to the mobile station.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein acquiring a local Internet Protocol address from a subnet source to use in correspondence with the mobile station comprises receiving the local Internet Protocol address from one or more of a local Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server and another wireless access point.