L2 method for a wireless station to locate and associate with a wireless network in communication with a mobile IP agent
First Claim
1. In a wireless station having a wireless network device, the device capable of providing a link-layer (L2) interface to a wireless network, a method operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer network protocol, the method comprising:
- prior to the station being associated with a wireless network via the wireless network device, wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear; and
gathering information about the received L2 data units, including L2 information and L3 information, the L3 information gathered at L2 including whether an AP is sending one or more L3 packets from one or more mobility agents, such that the station may associate with a wireless network that is in communication with a mobility agent.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless station having a wireless network device capable of providing a link-layer interface to a wireless network, a method operating at the link layer (L2) in the wireless station, and a carrier medium carrying computer readable code segments that when executed on a processor in the wireless station implement the method. The method includes, prior to the station being associated with a wireless network, wirelessly receiving L2 frames transmitted from one or more wireless access point of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear. The method further includes gathering information about the received L2 frames, including L2 information and L3 information. The L3 information includes whether an AP is sending an IP packet from a mobility agent, such that the station may associate with a wireless network that is in communication with the mobility agent. The method further includes storing information about the wireless networks that the station can hear in a database. The information stored about each wireless network includes one or more of an identifier of the wireless network, the L3 information in the L2 frame received from the AP of the wireless network, a time stamp of when the L2 frame was received from the AP, and an indication of the signal strength of the L2 frame from the AP.
131 Citations
143 Claims
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1. In a wireless station having a wireless network device, the device capable of providing a link-layer (L2) interface to a wireless network, a method operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer network protocol, the method comprising:
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prior to the station being associated with a wireless network via the wireless network device, wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear; and
gathering information about the received L2 data units, including L2 information and L3 information, the L3 information gathered at L2 including whether an AP is sending one or more L3 packets from one or more mobility agents, such that the station may associate with a wireless network that is in communication with a mobility agent. - 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, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method in a wireless station having a wireless network device, the method operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer communication protocol that includes the link layer and a network layer (L3), the method comprising:
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prior to the station being associated with a wireless network, wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks;
prior to the station being associated with a wireless network, analyzing said received L2 data units to identify the AP and to ascertain whether any of said L2 data units contains an L3 advertisement from a mobility agent, prior to the station being associated with a wireless network, if it is ascertained that an L2 data unit contains an advertisement from a mobility agent, reporting the advertisement to L3 at the station as if the station was associated with the network of the AP that transmitted the L2 data unit containing the L3 advertisement;
in the case that L3 at the station responds to the L3 advertisement by passing to the station'"'"'s L2 an L3 response to the L3 advertisement addressed to the mobility agent that sent the L3 advertisement, accepting the L3 response from L3 at the station prior to the station being associated with a wireless network, and after said analyzing L2-data units, reporting to L3, and accepting the L3 response, associating the station to the AP that transmitted the L2 data unit containing the L3 advertisement, such that the wireless station associates with an AP that is in communication with a mobility agent. - View Dependent Claims (40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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41. A method as recited in 40, wherein the analyzing includes:
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ascertaining whether that said L2 data unit contains an IP packet whose protocol field identifies it as an ICMP packet; and
if it is ascertained that the L2 data unit includes an ICMP packet, verifying that the ICMP packet contains an ICMP extension with a TYPE field identifying said IP packet as a router advertisement.
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42. A method as recited in 41, wherein the mobility agent is a foreign agent conforming to IPv4, and wherein the analyzing includes:
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verifying that the IP packet is an IPv4 packet, and if it is ascertained that the IP packet is a router advertisement, ascertaining whether the ICMP packet contains an ICMP extensions with a TYPE field identifying the router advertisement as a foreign agent advertisement.
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43. A method as recited in 41, wherein the mobility agent is an access router conforming to IPv6, and wherein the analyzing includes:
verifying that said IP packet is an IPv6 packet.
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49. In a wireless station registered with a first mobility agent and associated with a first wireless network that is in communication with the first mobility agent, the station having a first wireless network device providing a link-layer (L2) interface to the first wireless network, a method operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer network protocol, a method comprising:
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determining that a re-association is necessary;
selecting for re-associating a wireless network that the station could hear, the selecting according to one or more re-association criteria at least one of which uses L3 information, the L3 information provided in a stored database of information gathered at the station by an L2 data gathering process; and
re-associating with the selected wireless network, wherein the L2 data gathering process includes;
wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear while the station is not necessarily associated with any wireless network; and
examining the received L2 data units. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A carrier medium carrying computer readable code segments to instruct one or more processors to implement a method operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer network protocol, the one or more processors in a wireless station, the station having a wireless network device, the device capable of providing a link-layer (L2) interface to a wireless network, the method comprising:
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wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear, the receiving being prior to the station being associated with a wireless network via the wireless network device; and
gathering information about the received L2 data units, including L2 information and L3 information, wherein the L3 information gathered at L2 including whether an AP is sending one or more L3 packets from one or more mobility agents, such that the station may associate with a wireless network that is in communication with a mobility agent. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A carrier medium carrying computer readable code segments to instruct one or more processors to implement a method operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer network protocol, the one or more processors in a wireless station, the station registered with a first mobility agent and associated with a first wireless network that is in communication with the first mobility agent, the station having a first wireless network device providing a link-layer (L2) interface to the first wireless network having a wireless network device, the device capable of providing a link-layer (L2) interface to a wireless network, the method comprising:
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determining that a re-association is necessary;
selecting for re-associating a wireless network that the station could hear, the selecting according to one or more re-association criteria at least one of which uses L3 information, the L3 information provided in a stored database of information gathered at the station by an L2 data gathering process; and
re-associating with the selected wireless network, wherein the L2 data gathering process includes;
wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear while the station is not necessarily associated with any wireless network; and
examining the received L2 data units. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
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96. In a wireless station having a wireless network device, the device capable of providing a link-layer (L2) interface to a wireless network, an apparatus operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer network protocol, the apparatus comprising:
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means for wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear, the receiving being prior to the station being associated with a wireless network via the wireless network device; and
means for gathering information about the received L2 data units, including L2 information and L3 information, the L3 information gathered at L2 including whether an AP is sending one or more L3 packets from one or more mobility agents, such that the station may associate with a wireless network that is in communication with a mobility agent. - View Dependent Claims (97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118)
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119. In a wireless station registered with a first mobility agent and associated with a first wireless network that is in communication with the first mobility agent, the station having a first wireless network device providing a link-layer (L2) interface to the first wireless network, an apparatus operating at the link layer (L2) of a multi-layer network protocol, an apparatus comprising:
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means for determining that a re-association is necessary;
means for selecting for re-associating a wireless network that the station could hear, the selecting means selecting according to one or more re-association criteria at least one of which uses L3 information, the L3 information provided in a stored database of information gathered at the station by an L2 data gathering process; and
means for re-associating with the selected wireless network, wherein the L2 data gathering process includes;
wirelessly receiving L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear while the station is not necessarily associated with any wireless network; and
examining the received L2 data units. - View Dependent Claims (120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130)
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131. A wireless station comprising:
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a wireless network device capable of providing a link-layer (L2) interface to a wireless network, the wireless network device to wirelessly receive L2 data units transmitted from one or more wireless access point (APs) of one or more wireless networks that the station can hear, the receiving being prior to the station being associated with a wireless network via the wireless network device; and
a processor coupled to the wireless network device to gather information about the received L2 data units, including L2 information and L3 information;
the L3 information gathered at L2 including whether an AP is sending one or more L3 packets from one or more mobility agents,such that the station may associate with a wireless network that is in communication with a mobility agent. - View Dependent Claims (132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143)
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Specification