A method of scanning for beacon transmissions from a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (120, 124) by a wireless station (110, 112, 114, 116), comprising: performing a procedure, including: waking up a WLAN radio subsystem (270, 292) of the wireless station at a target beacon time; receiving a beacon transmission (302, 304) on a presently associated channel, the beacon transmission including beacon data including a received access point identifier; passing the beacon data to a host processor of the wireless station; placing the WLAN radio subsystem (270, 292) into a low power state after the end of a timed window interval or after receiving and passing; comparing (812, 818) the received access point identifier with a presently associated access point identifier, performed by the host processor; if the received access point identifier is the same as the presently associated access point identifier using a scan and shut down procedure (806, 826) for receiving a next beacon transmission, where the scan and shut down procedure includes placing the WLAN radio subsystem into a low power state after receiving a beacon transmission and passing beacon data; and if the received access point identifier is not the same as the presently associated access point identifier, discarding the beacon data and using a timed window scanning procedure for receiving the next beacon transmission, where the timed window scanning procedure includes receiving a beacon transmission, passing beacon data, and placing the WLAN radio subsystem into a low power state after the end of a timed window interval. performing a procedure, including: waking up a WLAN radio subsystem (270, 292) of the wireless station at a target beacon time; receiving a beacon transmission (302, 304) on a presently associated channel, the beacon transmission including beacon data including a received access point identifier; passing the beacon data to a host processor of the wireless station; placing the WLAN radio subsystem (270, 292) into a low power state after the end of a timed window interval or after receiving and passing; comparing (812, 818) the received access point identifier with a presently associated access point identifier, performed by the host processor; if the received access point identifier is the same as the presently associated access point identifier using a scan and shut down procedure (806, 826) for receiving a next beacon transmission, where the scan and shut down procedure includes placing the WLAN radio subsystem into a low power state after receiving a beacon transmission and passing beacon data; and if the received access point identifier is not the same as the presently associated access point identifier, discarding the beacon data and using a timed window scanning procedure for receiving the next beacon transmission, where the timed window scanning procedure includes receiving a beacon transmission, passing beacon data, and placing the WLAN radio subsystem into a low power state after the end of a timed window interval. waking up a WLAN radio subsystem (270, 292) of the wireless station at a target beacon time; receiving a beacon transmission (302, 304) on a presently associated channel, the beacon transmission including beacon data including a received access point identifier; passing the beacon data to a host processor of the wireless station; placing the WLAN radio subsystem (270, 292) into a low power state after the end of a timed window interval or after receiving and passing; comparing (812, 818) the received access point identifier with a presently associated access point identifier, performed by the host processor; if the received access point identifier is the same as the presently associated access point identifier using a scan and shut down procedure (806, 826) for receiving a next beacon transmission, where the scan and shut down procedure includes placing the WLAN radio subsystem into a low power state after receiving a beacon transmission and passing beacon data; and if the received access point identifier is not the same as the presently associated access point identifier, discarding the beacon data and using a timed window scanning procedure for receiving the next beacon transmission, where the timed window scanning procedure includes receiving a beacon transmission, passing beacon data, and placing the WLAN radio subsystem into a low power state after the end of a timed window interval.