IMPROVED ACCESS POINT AND WIRELESS NETWORK CONTROLLER

摘要

In a wireless network, access points are used for monitoring radio spectrum traffic and interference thereof in a wireless network, managing control functions (access control, user management, radio management, tunnelling, etc.) A command and control center (CCC) is generally associated with the wireless network, wherein the CCC manages and controls the access points associated with the wireless network. Control frames (MMPDUs, in the case of 802.11 networks) received by the access point can be automatically transferred to the CCC, which thereafter transfers a response back to the access point, thereby granting or denying access to the wireless network to users thereof based on the response transferred from the CCC. The CCC manages radio monitoring to generate a radio mapping of the wireless network and the radio environment thereof based on data received from the access points. A firewall is generally located between the CCC and a visitor gateway. The visitor gateway can communicate with the Internet and restrict access to the wireless network by a visiting user through or from the remote computer network. A plurality of clients can be separated into one or more client groups, with each client group possessing a shared key for accessing networks partitioned from the access point using broadcast frames and encryption. The CCC can arrange the network such that clients ignore broadcast packets for other than its subnetwork.