Patent ID: 8305951

Claim:
A communication system, comprising: a processor; a memory storing information associating a first media access control (MAC) address to a first application type; a radio transceiver that receives a first multicast message containing a first source media access control address and a first destination media access control address, and receives a second multicast message containing a second source media access control address and a second destination media access control address, wherein the first multicast message invokes the first application type, wherein the second multicast message invokes the first application type, and wherein the first destination media access control address is associated with a first member of a physical wireless local area network and the second destination media access control address is associated with a second member of the physical wireless local area network; and a filtering application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, receives the first multicast message from the radio transceiver, analyzes the first multicast message to determine that the first multicast message invokes the first application type, accesses the memory to confirm that the first source media access control address is associated with and authorized to send messages that invoke the first application type, and based on the confirmation sending the first multicast message to the radio transceiver to transmit to the first destination media access control address, and receives the second multicast message from the radio transceiver, analyzes the second multicast message to determine that the second multicast message invokes the first application type, determines by accessing the memory that the second source media access control address is not associated with and not authorized to send messages that invoke the first application type, and based on the negative determination not forwarding the second multicast message to the radio transceiver to transmit.