Patent ID: 8787300

Claim:
A method of facilitating a fast handoff for a first wireless communication device in a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), the method comprising: at the first wireless communication device: establishing a first hard association with a first entity by sending a hard association request to the first entity and receiving a hard association response in response to the hard association request; establishing a plurality of pending associations with a plurality of second entities by sending a pending association request to each of the plurality of second entities and receiving a pending association response from each of the plurality of second entities, prior to determining a need for handoff of the first wireless communication device to one of the plurality of second entities; selecting a pending association associated with one of the plurality of second entities when the need for handoff of the first wireless communication device to one of the plurality of second entities is determined; converting the selected pending association into a second hard association; converting the first hard association into one of the plurality of pending associations, after converting the selected pending association into the second hard association; wherein the first entity is one of a second wireless communication device and a first access point, and wherein each of the plurality of second entities is one of a third wireless communication device and a second access point.