Patent ID: 7477632

Claim:
A method for determining wireless network service characteristics comprising: storing an array of service profiles, each profile uniquely identified by a combination of a wireless local area network (WLAN) identifier and a group identifier; receiving at an access point (AP) a request from a station (STA) for wireless network access; obtaining a first identifier specifying a wireless local area network (WLAN) to which the STA is to be connected; obtaining a second identifier from an authentication process relating to the STA upon successful authentication of the STA; selecting a service profile from the array for the STA based on the first identifier and the second identifier when the STA is successfully authenticated, wherein the service profile specifies a value for each of a plurality of service attributes; selecting a first default service profile for the STA when the STA fails to successfully authenticate; selecting a second default service profile for the STA when the STA is successfully authenticated but the second identifier is not successfully obtained, the second default service profile is non-identical to the first default service profile; and establishing a connection for wireless communications between the STA and the AP based on the selected service profile, wherein the connection is characterized by the value specified for each of the plurality of service attributes.