The MAC Service and the Internal Sublayer Service (ISS) are defined in this standard. This standard specifies media-dependent convergence functions that map IEEE 802(R) MAC interfaces to the ISS. The MAC Service is derived from the ISS.

The scope of this standard is to define the Media Access Control (MAC) Service provided by all IEEE 802® MACs, and the Internal Sublayer Service (ISS) provided within MAC Bridges, in abstract terms of the following: a) Their semantics, primitive actions, and events; and b) The parameters of, interrelationship between, and valid sequences of these actions and events.