A wireless local area network (WLAN) includes mobile devices that are
allowed to transfer wireless connections between WLAN subnets or channels
having different access points. The access points connect to a central
controller or roaming server that supports seamless hand-offs of mobile
devices from one access point to another access point. The roaming server
supports the reassignment of session data parameters from one access
point to another (e.g., access point address spoofing) so that the mobile
device can use the same parameters for communicating to a new access
point. The roaming server also supports the seamless handoff of a mobile
device from one access point to another by using a master-slave switch
technique across two piconets. The roaming server also facilitates the
control of access points by establishing a host controller interface and
wireless protocol stack in the roaming server and another, complementary
wireless protocol stack in the access point. The roaming server then
encapsulates host controller commands in a packet based network protocol
used for communication between the roaming server and the access points.