Patent ID: 8687610

Claim:
A wireless local area network system comprising: a central computer; an access point configured to be associated with and communicate data packets from the central computer to one or more mobile units using a wireless data communication standard protocol, wherein the data packets each include a mobile unit destination address and a source address; and a switching hub connected to the central computer through a first wired network connection, and connected to the access point via a second wired network connection at a port of the switching hub; wherein the switching hub includes a routing list correlating the source address with the port of the data switching hub; wherein, upon association of the one or more mobile units with the access point, the hub updates the routing list to include association of the mobile unit with the port of the data switching hub to which the access point is connected; wherein the switching hub is configured to determine the destination of the packet based on the destination address and route the packet to the access point if the destination of the packet is a mobile unit associated with the access point such that the access point acts merely as a conduit sending packets received from the hub and from the mobile units; wherein the access point is connected to the switching hub via an Ethernet connection; wherein the access point receives electrical power via the Ethernet connection; wherein the switching hub includes DC power supply coupled to a cable providing the Ethernet connection; wherein the cable includes a first pair of the wire pairs coupled to the DC power supply, and a second pair of wire pairs for communicating the data packets to the access point; and wherein a choke circuit is coupled between the DC power supply and the access point.