Patent ID: 7668140

Claim:
A method of communication in a wireless network that includes a source access point and a target access point, the method comprising: detecting an indication of roaming from the source access point to said target access point at a mobile terminal associated with said source access point; in response to detecting said indication of roaming, establishing a proxy target access point that is a logical representation of the target access point, said proxy target access point being hosted by a host access point that is different than the target access point, the host access point being configured to broadcast an indication of proxy connection for one or more neighboring access points for said mobile terminal to virtually associate with a neighboring access point of said one or more neighboring access points; establishing a proxy connection between the mobile terminal and said proxy target access point using an existing communication link between said mobile terminal and said source access point to prepare said mobile terminal for a handover event from said host access point to said target access point; and establishing a new communication link between said mobile terminal and said target access point using the proxy connection.