Patent ID: 7746868

Claim:
A method for retaining a network address for a wireless client device that roams between different access points in a LAN comprising: communicating to a LAN with a wireless client device through a first access point (AP 1 ) operably connected to a gateway to provide access to a LAN using an available network address associated with AP! and SSID of AP 1 ; providing a second access point (AP 2 ) connected to gateway within the LAN, wherein AP 2 is some distance away from said AP 1 ; communicating between the LAN and the wireless client device through AP 2 , wherein the wireless client device receives a data packet from the LAN through AP 2 while the wireless client device retains the network address associated with AP 1 , wherein the wireless client device receives the data packet from the LAN through AP 2 while the wireless client device retains the network address associated with AP 1 , comprises the gateway routing a data packet received from a WAN to the correct destination, wherein the gateway routing the data packet received from the WAN to the correct destination comprises: receiving from the gateway, the encoded data packet for AP 2 ; zeroing out a SSID-VLAN tag from the data packet, wherein the SSID-VLAN tag uses a unique identifier associated with the wireless client device other than the MAC address; and sending the data packet from AP 2 to the wireless client device.