Patent ID: 7734760

Claim:
A method comprising: establishing communication between a network client and a Local Area Network (LAN), the LAN having a plurality of infrastructure nodes, each of the plurality of infrastructure nodes having a globally unique media access control (MAC) address; associating the MAC addresses with the network client upon establishment of a connection between the network client and the LAN, wherein the MAC addresses are provided via, the plurality of infrastructure nodes, the plurality of infrastructure nodes including a wireless access point, a switch, wired access point, and a router, wherein the wireless access point communicates broadcast signals containing the MAC addresses; detecting, via a hardware processor in the network client, the MAC addresses in the broadcast signals; and estimating a location of the network client via the detection of the MAC addresses, wherein the location is estimated via querying a database, wherein the network client associates the MAC addresses of the plurality of infrastructure nodes queried from the database, the database includes location of coordinates and communication range of the plurality of infrastructure nodes, wherein the coordinates include a latitude, a longitude, and an altitude of the plurality of infrastructure nodes; wherein the location includes a plurality of floors of a building serviced by the router; and wherein the communication range includes an area covered by the plurality of infrastructure nodes that is accessible by the network client, wherein the database further comprising switch port of a LAN switch, a wireless access point-related MAC address of the wireless access point, and a router-related MAC address associated with the router, wherein the switch port containing location of a network drop coupled to the switch port, wherein the location is estimated by the network client using a MAC address burned on a network interface card (NIC) of the network client.