The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 31, 2012
Filed:
Feb. 14, 2006
Feng Wang, Austin, TX (US);
Rias Muhamed, Austin, TX (US);
Feng Wang, Austin, TX (US);
Rias Muhamed, Austin, TX (US);
AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P., Atlanta, GA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method () are disclosed for expanded coverage in a mesh network (). A communication device () incorporating teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a controller () managing operation of a transceiver () in communication with the mesh and programmed to acquire () a network identification from a mesh node (), transmit () the network identification and appear as another mesh node to clients, and forward traffic from wireless clients to the mesh node. The communication device can operate () as a node in the mesh using the network identification and operate () as an independent router using a separate wireless router identifier. In another embodiment, the controller can be programmed to detect a network identification of an access point within a coverage area of a communication device (), transmit a join message, and transmit authenticating information and security associations. Additional embodiments are disclosed.