Patent ID: 7706345

Claim:
An access point coupled to a hierarchical wireless local area network configured to establish a session with a mobile node roaming from a prior access point to the access point, wherein the prior access point and the new access point are not on the same branch of the hierarchical network, comprising: the access point is configured to receive a message from the mobile node indicating that the mobile node is roaming to the access point; the access point is configured to determine a common ancestor node between the access point and the prior access point; the access point is configured to route a registration request from the access point to the common ancestor; the access point is configured to receive a registration reply from the common ancestor to the new access point; the access point is configured to receive a context message for the mobile node; the access point is configured to determine a timestamp for the context message; the access point is configured to discard the message responsive to the timestamp for the context message being earlier than a timestamp for a current context for the mobile node; and the access point is configured to update the context for the mobile node based on the context message responsive to the timestamp for the context message being later than the timestamp for the current context of the mobile node; wherein there is at least one other context manager on a path between the new access point and the common ancestor node, the method further comprising establishing bindings with the at least one other context manager on the path between the new access point and the common ancestor node.