Patent ID: 6957067

Claim:
An apparatus adapted to a wireless network, comprising; a transceiver to receive a wireless frame propagating over a prescribed signal coverage area between wireless devices of the wireless network, one of the wireless devices being an Access Point; and at least one component to process information extracted from the wireless frame and to enforce a policy followed by the wireless network even though the apparatus has no involvement in an exchange of data between the wireless devices of the wireless network, the at least one component includes a processor and a memory adapted to store a table including a plurality or entries, at least one entry of the plurality of entries including (1) a media access control (MAC) address associated with an address of the wireless frame, and (2) information to indicate whether the MAC address is a wireless MAC address or a wired MAC, the processor to classify the MAC address of the wireless frame as either the wireless MAC address or the wired MAC address based on a value of a fromDS bit and a toDS hit in a header of the wireless frame, the fromDS bit is set and the toDS bit is not set if the MAC address is a wireless MAC address.