Patent ID: 7529203

Claim:
A wireless local area network, comprising: a plurality of clients including a first client; a plurality of access points including a first access point; and a mesh network of wireless switches each being directly coupled to an access point and each being coupled to each of the other wireless switches via an IP tunnel, wherein each of the wireless switches in the mesh network of wireless switches is configured to: monitor traffic being tunneled to and from the wireless switch, generate a traffic load record (TLR) comprising traffic load information for clients associated with that wireless switch, and transmit the TLR to the registration server; a registration server, coupled to each of the wireless switches via IP tunnels, and configured to: receive the TLRs from each of the wireless switches, generate a network load report (NLR) comprising traffic load information for each of the wireless switches, and send the NLR to each of the wireless switches, wherein the mesh network of wireless switches comprises: a plurality of candidate wireless switches each being directly coupled to at least one access point; and an initial home wireless switch directly coupled to the first access point, and being configured to support the first client such that the first client communicates with the initial home wireless switch via the first access point, wherein the initial home wireless switch is configured to determine, based on the NLR when traffic at the initial home wireless switch exceeds a predefined traffic load threshold (TLT), which of the candidate wireless switches is currently handling the least amount of traffic, and to select the one of the candidate wireless switches that is currently handling the least amount of traffic as a new home wireless switch for the first client, and to tunnel traffic generated by the first client to the new home wireless switch.