Address resolution protocol-based wireless access point method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method for routing data comprising:
- determining a need to support at least one communication need of a mobile station;
acquiring, by a first wireless access point of a subnet that comprises a plurality of wireless access points, a first Internet Protocol address used in association with the mobile station by a second wireless access point of the plurality of wireless access points;
automatically transmitting, by the first wireless access point, a gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol message to a router that shares the 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 first wireless access point;
automatically transmitting a registration request to a network element that is remote to the subnet, wherein the registration request presents a second Internet Protocol address as a home address for the mobile station and the first Internet Protocol address as a care-of-address for the mobile station for use by the network element to route data to the mobile station;
receiving, by the first wireless access point from the router and using the Medium Access Control address, data intended for eventual delivery to the mobile station.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
69 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for routing data comprising:
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determining a need to support at least one communication need of a mobile station; acquiring, by a first wireless access point of a subnet that comprises a plurality of wireless access points, a first Internet Protocol address used in association with the mobile station by a second wireless access point of the plurality of wireless access points; automatically transmitting, by the first wireless access point, a gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol message to a router that shares the 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 first wireless access point; automatically transmitting a registration request to a network element that is remote to the subnet, wherein the registration request presents a second Internet Protocol address as a home address for the mobile station and the first Internet Protocol address as a care-of-address for the mobile station for use by the network element to route data to the mobile station; receiving, by the first wireless access point from the router and using the Medium Access Control address, data intended for eventual delivery to the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A wireless access point comprising:
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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 and was used in association with the given mobile station by another wireless access point of the same subnet as the wireless access point, which second Internet Protocol address the wireless access point associates with the given mobile station; 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 and to receive, from router and intended for the given mobile station, data routed using the Medium Access Control address; means for transmitting a registration request to a network element that is remote to the subnet, wherein the registration request presents the Internet Protocol address as a home address for the mobile station and the second Internet Protocol address as a care-of-address for the mobile station; and wherein the wireless access point forwards the data received from the router to the given mobile station via the mobile station interface and using the Internet Protocol address that corresponds to the given mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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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:
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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, wherein the local Internet Protocol address is used in association with the mobile station by a second wireless access point of the plurality of wireless access points; 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; transmitting a registration request to a network element that is remote to the subnet, wherein the registration request presents the another Internet Protocol address as a home address for the mobile station and the local Internet Protocol address as a care-of-address for the mobile station; 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, from the network element that is remote to the subnet, a communication intended for the mobile station and 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. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification