Short range RF network with roaming terminals
First Claim
1. A short-range RF network, the network comprising:
- a plurality of nodes connected wirelessly to each other, and to at least one resource;
at least one mobile device wirelessly communicating with at least one of the plurality of nodes, and capable of roaming out of one node'"'"'s coverage area into another node'"'"'s coverage area; and
a periodically updated first database for maintaining information concerning the at least one mobile device currently in communication with at least one of the plurality of nodes for each node of the short-range RF network;
the at least one resource having a periodically updated second database including information concerning the plurality of nodes of the short-range RF network and relative information concerning the first databases of each node of the short-range RF network;
the at least one mobile device capable of sending a user-initiated request for data using the short-range RF network, the network being arranged to forward said request to the at least one resource;
the at least one resource being arranged to provide the requested data via the network to a node communicating with the at least one mobile device according to the periodically updated relative information concerning the first databases stored at the second database of the at least one resource.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A short-range RF network deployed at a site larger than the coverage area of a single short-range RF transceiver includes a plurality of short-range RF transceivers deployed with overlapping coverage areas and accessible through a gateway, and accommodates terminal devices to establish communication through any transceivers with the gateway or with other of the terminal devices. The system further includes a WAP/Web server in communication with the Internet and in communication with the gateway. Terminal devices may establish Internet sessions through a node, the gateway, the WAP/Web server, and the Internet with remote Web servers or with remote users, and are assigned PPP IP numbers for such sessions. A terminal device which roams from the coverage area of one node to the coverage area of another node, and which is accordingly assigned a new PPP IP number, may continue in an Internet session by virtue of a shared database associated with the WAP/Web server and updated by the gateway. The shared database enables correlation of the terminal device'"'"'s current location in the network with the PPP IP number by which Internet communications refer to it.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A short-range RF network, the network comprising:
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a plurality of nodes connected wirelessly to each other, and to at least one resource;
at least one mobile device wirelessly communicating with at least one of the plurality of nodes, and capable of roaming out of one node'"'"'s coverage area into another node'"'"'s coverage area; and
a periodically updated first database for maintaining information concerning the at least one mobile device currently in communication with at least one of the plurality of nodes for each node of the short-range RF network;
the at least one resource having a periodically updated second database including information concerning the plurality of nodes of the short-range RF network and relative information concerning the first databases of each node of the short-range RF network;
the at least one mobile device capable of sending a user-initiated request for data using the short-range RF network, the network being arranged to forward said request to the at least one resource;
the at least one resource being arranged to provide the requested data via the network to a node communicating with the at least one mobile device according to the periodically updated relative information concerning the first databases stored at the second database of the at least one resource. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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24. A method of operating a short-range RF network, the network comprising:
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a plurality of nodes connected wirelessly to each other, and to at least one resource; and
at least one mobile device wirelessly communicating with at least one of the plurality of nodes, and capable of roaming out of one node'"'"'s coverage area into another node'"'"'s coverage area;
and the method comprising the steps of;
periodically updating a first database for maintaining information concerning the at least one mobile device currently in communication with at least one of the plurality of nodes for each node of the short-range RF network;
in the at least one resource, periodically updating a second database including information concerning the plurality of nodes of the short-range RF network and relative information concerning the first databases of each node of the short-range RF network;
sending a request for data using the short-range RF network, the request initiated by a user of the at least one mobile device and forwarding the request to the at least one resource; and
providing the requested data to a node communicating with the at least one mobile device according to the periodically updated relative information concerning the first databases stored at the second database of the at least one resource.
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Specification