INTERNET PROTOCOL AUTHENTICATION IN LAYER-3 MULTIPOINT TUNNELING FOR WIRELESS ACCESS POINTS

Enhanced tunnel communication mode creation, management and tuning in a network that includes wireless access points (APs) and user authentication. Tunnels can be dynamically managed to adapt to the changing topology of a network with APs. User devices such as mobile phones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants, or other devices can be added or dropped from an assigned AP. APs, routers, switches or other devices can also be added, removed, or modified in their network characteristics. Special control is also provided for IP multicast, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and other network features.