Patent ID: 8289948

Claim:
A method for processing signals in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving a medium access control (MAC) layer data packet at a wireless network interface subsystem within a multipart communication system, wherein said multipart communication system comprises said wireless network interface subsystem, a wired network interface subsystem and a processor that is external to said wireless network interface subsystem and said wired network interface subsystem, said processor being used to perform transcoding of information communicated between said wireless network interface subsystem and said wired network interface subsystem; determining based on information received from said processor, whether at least a portion of said received medium access control (MAC) layer data packet is to be communicated via a wired network, wherein said received information is generated from a database compiled by said processor based on one or more routing and/or bridging protocols supported by said processor; transcoding based on said received information, within said wireless network interface subsystem, said at least a portion of said received medium access control (MAC) layer data packet based on said determining, to offload said performing of said transcoding from said processor; and transferring said transcoded at least a portion of said received medium access control (MAC) layer data packet from said wireless network interface subsystem to said wired network interface subsystem communicatively coupled thereto by direct access of memory buffers of the wired network interface subsystem by the wireless network interface subsystem, wherein said transcoded at least a portion of said received medium access control (MAC) layer data packet is compliant with a format utilized by said wired network interface subsystem.