Method and apparatus for scalable, line-rate protocol-independent switching between multiple remote access points in a wireless local area network

A method to enable the exchange of electronic signals by one or more remote wireless access points in a wireless network system including a central wireless access point in communication with the one or more remote wireless access points, wherein the central access point includes a single wireless communication interface and a plurality of physical communication interfaces, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. receiving at the wireless communication interface of the central access point a data packet from a remote wireless access point;
• b. extracting from the data packet a unique identifier associated with the remote access point;
• c. associating the unique identifier with one and only one of the physical communication interfaces;
• and
• d. directing all data packets having the unique identifier only to the one associated physical communication interface.

A method to enable the transmission of electronic signals to one or more remote wireless access points in a wireless network system including a central wireless access point in communication with the one or more remote wireless access points, wherein the central access point includes a single wireless communication interface and a plurality of physical communication interfaces, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. receiving at one of the physical communication interfaces a data packet including a destination address;
• b. inserting into a frame header of the data packet a unique remote access point identifier corresponding only to the one of the physical communication interfaces at which the data packet was received;
• and
• c. transmitting the data packet with the unique remote access point identifier to the specified remote wireless access point.