Patent ID: 8619728

Claim:
A method for providing bandwidth management in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network, the method comprising: receiving, by a network switch, at least a first messaging protocol message for establishing a communication session within the hybrid wired/wireless local area network, wherein said first messaging protocol message is initiated by at least one of a first access point which is a wireless portion of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network or a first switch which is a wired portion of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network on behalf of a client access device; responsive to said first messaging protocol message, determining, by the network switch, an available communication bandwidth for at least a portion of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network by initiating a query to one or more access points of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network; allocating, by the network switch, a portion of the communication bandwidth to accommodate said communication session based on one or more query responses from said one or more access points; and notifying, by the network switch, said first access point of said allocated bandwidth using at least a second messaging protocol message, wherein said first access point is denied access to the hybrid wired/wireless local area network due to a determination of insufficient bandwidth capacity for the hybrid wired/wireless network, wherein said first access point is subsequently notified, by the network switch, to reattempt establishment of said communication session when sufficient channel capacity is determined to be currently available.