Configurable quality-of-service support per virtual access point (VAP) in a wireless LAN (WLAN) access device

摘要

A wireless network access device includes a radio and support for virtual access points. According to the invention, each virtual access point has an independently configurable quality-of-service profile. The per-VAP QoS support enables multiple services to be delivered from a single physical access point. A plurality of transmit/receive queues are associated with each virtual access point (VAP) configured on the access device. Each queue in the plurality of queues is associated with a given quality-of-service level, such as (in decreasing order of priority): voice, video, best effort data, and background data. The access device further includes a data transfer mechanism in the form of a data packet forwarding engine that, for each VAP, transfers data from the plurality of queues to enforce the per-VAP QoS policy.

主权项

1. An apparatus for coupling a wireless network to a wired network and that includes a radio configurable to support virtual access points, comprising:
a plurality of queues associated with each virtual access point (VAP) configured, wherein each queue in the plurality of queues is associated with a given quality-of-service level; a data transfer mechanism for each VAP that transfers data from the plurality of queues to enforce a per VAP quality-of-service policy; and a mechanism to guarantee a given minimum service level to a device requesting to be added to a given VAP QoS level.