Shared media bridging
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorsVijayakumar BALASUBRAMANIAN, Abhijit Pradhan
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Abstract
A method and device are disclosed that reduce area for storing forwarding entries. For some embodiments, an access point (AP) includes a transceiver to couple the root AP to a wired network, a WLAN port to exchange wireless signals with a number of repeater devices, a number of virtual interfaces each assigned to a corresponding one of the repeater devices, a bridging engine to selectively forward data packets to the repeater devices, and a bridging table to store forwarding information for the repeater devices and for other devices coupled to the repeater devices.
Claims28
A wireless distribution system including a root access point (AP) wirelessly coupled to a number of repeater devices, wherein the root AP comprises:
- a transceiver to couple the root AP to a wired network;
- a WLAN port to exchange wireless signals with the repeater devices;
- a WLAN controller to control an operation of the WLAN port;
- a number of virtual interfaces, each assigned to a corresponding one of the repeater devices;
- a bridging engine coupled to the transceiver, to the WLAN controller, and to the virtual interfaces, wherein the bridging engine is to selectively forward data packets received from the wired network to the repeater devices;
- and
- a bridging table coupled to the bridging engine and including a plurality of first bridging entries, wherein each of the first bridging entries is to store a media access control (MAC) address of an associated repeater device and a port number of the virtual interface corresponding to the associated repeater device.
A method of operating a root access point (AP) that is wirelessly coupled to a number of repeater devices by a wireless local area network (WLAN) port, the method comprising:
- creating a number of virtual interfaces;
- assigning each of the virtual interfaces to a corresponding one of the repeater devices;
- and
- storing packet forwarding information for the repeater devices and packet forwarding information for one or more stations coupled to the repeater devices in a bridging table, wherein the bridging table is connected to a bridging engine that is to facilitate packet forwarding operations between the root AP and the repeater devices.
A computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions that, when executed by a processor of a root access point (AP) wirelessly coupled to a number of repeater devices via a wireless local area network (WLAN) port, cause the root AP to:
- create a number of virtual interfaces;
- assign each of the virtual interfaces to a corresponding one of the repeater devices;
- and
- store packet forwarding information for the repeater devices and packet forwarding information for one or more stations coupled to the repeater devices in a bridging table, wherein the bridging table is connected to a bridging engine that is to facilitate packet forwarding operations between the root AP and the repeater devices.
A root access point (AP) that is wirelessly coupled to a number of repeater devices by a wireless local area network (WLAN) port, the root AP comprising:
- means for creating a number of virtual interfaces;
- means for assigning each of the virtual interfaces to a corresponding one of the repeater devices;
- and
- means for storing packet forwarding information for the repeater devices and packet forwarding information for one or more stations coupled to the repeater devices in a bridging table, wherein the bridging table is connected to a bridging engine that is to facilitate packet forwarding operations between the root AP and the repeater devices.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.