Patent ID: 7606208

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: (a) a plurality of access points, wherein each of said access points is for performing a first non-empty set of protocol services, but not a second non-empty set of protocol services, for a respective network, and wherein the correctness of each protocol service in said first set is based on a maximum timing delay, and wherein the correctness of each protocol service in said second set is independent of said maximum timing delay; and (b) a central controller for: (i) performing said second non-empty set of protocol services, (ii) receiving an input signal from each of said plurality of access points, and (iii) transmitting to each of said plurality of access points an output signal based on the input signal from that access point and a protocol service that belongs to said second set of protocol services; wherein said first set and said second set constitute a partition of the set of protocol services of a protocol stack.