System and method for failure recovery of high-speed modems

• US 20040054804A1
• Filed: 08/30/2002
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Actiontec Electronics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Actiontec Electronics Incorporated
• Inventors: Li, Chuang
• Application Number:
  US10/234,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20040054804A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data

Abstract

A system and method for providing uninterrupted Internet access to users in a local area network is described. The system and method provide failure recovery of a high-speed modem through dial-up modem access without requiring additional hardware in the router. The system and method enable the router to automatically switch from a high-speed modem to a dial-up modem so that the switch is transparent to all the users in the local area network.

Claims

1. A method for providing uninterrupted Internet access to users connected in a local area network through a router, the method comprising:

providing high-speed Internet access through a high-speed modem connected to the router;

monitoring a status of the high-speed modem; and

launching a dial-up Internet connection application on a gateway in the local area network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area network comprises a plurality of Internet appliances.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of Internet appliances comprise at least one of:

a personal computer;

a notebook computer;

a wireless telephone;

a personal digital assistant; and

an entertainment system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway comprises a dial-up modem.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway comprises an Internet appliance connected in the local area network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein launching a dial-up Internet connection application comprises routing packets from the plurality of Internet appliances to the Internet through the gateway via the router when failure of the high-speed modem is detected.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein launching a dial-up Internet connection application comprises forwarding packets from the Internet to the plurality of Internet appliances through the gateway and routing the packets from the gateway through the router to the plurality of Internet appliances.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising resuming high-speed Internet access when the high-speed modem is reactivated.

9. A system for providing uninterrupted Internet access to users connected in a local area network, the system comprising:

a plurality of Internet appliances connected to the Internet through a router;

a high-speed modem connected to the router;

a dial-up modem connected to a-gateway in the local area network, wherein the gateway comprises an Internet connection sharing routine;

a software routine in the router that monitors the status of the high-speed modem and activates the dial-up modem when the high-speed modem fails; and

a software routine in the gateway, responsive to the software routine in the router, that activates the Internet connection sharing routine when failure of the high-speed modem is detected.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the gateway comprises one or more of the plurality of Internet appliances.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the Internet appliances comprise at least one of:

a personal computer;

a notebook computer;

a wireless telephone;

a personal digital assistant; and

an entertainment system.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the software routine in the router comprises:

a routine for instructing the router to route packets through the gateway when failure of the high-speed modem is detected;

a routine for instructing the gateway to cease running the Internet connection sharing routine when the high-speed modem is reactivated; and

a routine for instructing the router to route packets through the high-speed modem when the high-speed modem is reactivated.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the software routine in the gateway comprises:

a routine for activating the dial-up modem;

a routine for launching the Internet connection sharing routine;

a routine for communicating the dial-up modem activation to the router; and

a routine for instructing the gateway to cease running the Internet connection sharing routine when the high-speed modem is reactivated.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising a communications protocol for communicating between the router and the gateway.

15. A system for automatically switching between high-speed Internet access and dial-up Internet access in a local area network, the system comprising:

a plurality of Internet appliances in the local area network;

a gateway comprising an Internet connection sharing routine; and

a router comprising a routine for activating the Internet connection sharing routine when the high-speed Internet access fails.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a high-speed modem connected to the router.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising a dial-up modem.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the gateway comprises a dial-up modem.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the router comprises a dial-up modem and a high-speed modem.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the routine for activating the Internet connection sharing routine comprises:

a routine for detecting failure in the high-speed modem;

a routine for communicating the failure to the gateway;

a routine for instructing the gateway to launch the Internet connection sharing routine;

a routine for instructing the router to route packets through the gateway when the high-speed modem fails;

a routine for instructing the gateway to stop running the Internet connection sharing routine when the high-speed modem is reactivated; and

a routine for instructing the router to route packets through the high-speed modem when the high-speed modem is reactivated.