Patent ID: 7239632

Claim:
In a wide area wireless network operated by a service provider and comprising at least one node of a first type that routes traffic to and from the wide area wireless network into the public Internet, and one or more nodes of a second type each of which manage mobility of a wireless client device in the wide area wireless network, and wherein a given node of the second type authenticates a wireless client device by accessing a database associated with the wide area network, wherein the improvement comprises: a gateway to which an access device of a wireless local area network is connectable, the gateway being associated with the wide area wireless network and being either (a) connectable to a node of the first type to enable the wireless local area network access device to appear to the node of the first type as a node of the second type, or (b) connectable to a node of the second type to enable the wireless local area network access device to appear to the node of the second type as a base station/packet control unit of the wide area wireless network; and client software program having computer executable instructions in a given wireless client device to enable the given wireless client device, while operating within the wireless local area network, to use the gateway to access the database and thereby obtain a given authentication, wherein the gateway accesses the database by (a) emulating the node of the second type when the gateway is connected to the node of the first type, or (b) emulating the base station/packet control unit when the gateway is connected to the node of the second type.