Patent ID: 7944925

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: an access point configured to wirelessly communicate with a mobile node enabling the mobile node to communicate with an associated network; wherein the access point is configured to group a plurality of virtual local area networks into a single multicast domain; wherein the access point is configured to streamline delivery of multicast messages in the associated network by selecting a one of the plurality of virtual local area networks as a designated multicast virtual local area network for receiving and transmitting multicast messages of the single multicast domain; wherein the access point is configured to deliver a multicast group key comprising a first key identification and a broadcast group key comprising a second key identification to each mobile node of the plurality of virtual area networks grouped in the single multicast domain; wherein the multicast group key is selectively used by a mobile node to translate the multicast messages of the single multicast domain and the first key identification to identify the access point; and, wherein the broadcast group key is selectively used by a mobile node to translate broadcast messages of a respective one of the plurality of virtual local area networks.