Patent ID: 7764650

Claim:
A method for fast roaming comprising: sending, by a mobile station, a request message in accordance with a fast-roaming protocol either directly to one or more target access points or indirectly through a currently associated access point; and sending, by the mobile station when the mobile station decides to roam, a secured communication session establishment message in accordance with the fast-roaming protocol either directly to a selected one of the one or more target access points or indirectly through the currently associated access point to the selected target access point, wherein the fast-roaming protocol has a predetermined structure including an integrity check that remains unchanged within various transport-layer protocols, wherein the predetermined structure of the fast-roaming protocol comprises at least a common protocol header and a payload, wherein the secured communication session establishment message in accordance with the fast-roaming protocol includes a cryptographic message integrity code for use in source authentication and verifying the integrity of the common protocol header and the payload, and wherein the cryptographic message integrity code is calculated based on the common protocol header and the payload.