IEEE 802.11 standard and infrastructured mode

[matalla]

Hi, i'm currently studying IEEE 802.11 standard (bluetooth too) and my question is :
does the standard define a way to make AP capable of forwarding packets not addressed to itself ? I mean, a STA is sending a packet with TODS=1, FROMDS=0 and BSSID (MAC of the AP), SA (its own MAC address) and DA ( the MAC of another STA, not AP). The AP ,from the standard IEEE point of view (no proprietary implementation) is capable of forwarding the packet and how ?

In other words: in infrastructured mode, traffic MUST always flows through AP or not ? Maybe it's dumb..but for me it's not clear in the standard.

Thanks for all the support u could give me.

Maurizio Tallarico
Pisa, Italy

[JimGeier]

Yes, in infrastructure mode, the AP forwards the 802.11 frames as you've described above. The frames flow through the AP. In ad hoc mode, there is no AP, and the frames would go directly to the receiving station.