ENHANCED CONNECTIVITY TO END DEVICES VIA ACCESS POINTS OF WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (WLAN)

摘要

A wireless node of a wireless network maintains link information for a set of layer-2 addresses, each of the layer-2 addresses corresponding to a medium access control (MAC) address of a corresponding device that transmits packets on the wireless network. The link information indicates whether the corresponding device is in an uplink direction or a downlink direction with respect to the wireless node. The wireless node receives a layer-2 packet in one of the uplink direction and downlink directions, the layer-2 packet containing a layer-2 address specifying a destination system, with no layer-2 address in the layer-2 packet indicating that the packet is destined to the wireless node. The wireless node forwards the layer-2 packet to a next wireless device in one of the uplink direction and downlink direction.

主权项

1. A method implemented in a wireless node of a wireless network, said method comprising:
maintaining link information for a set of layer-2 addresses, each layer-2 address corresponding to a medium access control (MAC) address of a corresponding device transmitting packets on said wireless network, said link information indicating whether the corresponding device is in an uplink direction or a downlink direction; receiving, by said wireless node, a first layer-2 packet on a wireless medium in one of said uplink direction and said downlink direction, said first layer-2 packet containing a first layer-2 address specifying a destination system, with no layer-2 address in said first layer-2 packet indicating that the packet is destined to said wireless node; and forwarding, by said wireless node, said first layer-2 packet on said wireless medium to a next wireless device in said one of said uplink direction and said downlink direction.