Patent ID: 8036161

Claim:
A wireless local area network, comprising: a plurality of access ports, comprising: a first group of access ports and a second group of access ports; a wireless switch device comprising a plurality of virtual wireless switch modules (VWSMs), and a plurality of wired Ethernet interfaces, comprising: a first VWSM, coupled to the first group of access ports, via a first group of the wired Ethernet interfaces allocated to the first VWSM, wherein the first VWSM controls the first group of access ports, associated with the first VWSM; a second VWSM, coupled to the second group of access ports via a second group of the wired Ethernet interfaces allocated to the second VWSM, wherein the second VWSM controls the second group of access ports associated with the second VWSM; and a management module designed to individually manage the plurality of VWSMs independently of each other, wherein the management module comprises: an access port configuration sub-module designed to configure the plurality of access ports; an access port management sub-module designed to manage the plurality of access ports; and a wireless client device management sub-module designed to manage wireless client devices communicating via any of the VWSMs.