Patent ID: 7835328

Claim:
A system, comprising: a plurality of distributed access points each being divided into two or more groups of components distributed through corresponding two or more nodes of a plurality of nodes of a communication network in said system, each of said two or more groups comprising one or more components, wherein one of said two or more groups comprises a radio frequency layer component and another of said two or more groups comprises an access point software layer component, said two or more nodes being remotely located relative to each other, such that each of said two or more nodes is configured to establish a remote communication link with one or more other nodes of said two or more nodes to provide communications between said two or more groups of components in order to provide an intended functionality of said distributed access points, wherein at least one component of one group of said two or more groups of components located in one node of said plurality of nodes is a part of two or more distributed access points of said plurality of distributed access points, such that said at least one component is configured to establish a remote communication link with corresponding further components, each of said corresponding further components comprised in a further group of said two or more groups of components and located in one of two or more different further nodes of said plurality of nodes, said further components being parts of corresponding said two or more distributed access points, in order to provide said intended functionality of said two or more distributed access points, wherein a number of components needed to provide said plurality of the distributed access points in said communication network is reduced compared to a number of components needed to provide the same plurality of access points implemented as stand-alone units.