Hybrid wired and wireless communication system and a communication method thereof

• US 20040258051A1
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HP Printing Korea Co., Ltd. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Jin-taek
• Granted Patent: US 8,406,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40052 High-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus bus transfer protocol on a daisy chain bus using an embedded synchronisation G06F13/426
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A communication method for a hybrid wired and wireless communication system includes registering an entry comprising a physical address of a source transmitting a received packet and an identifier indicating a wired or wireless network interface linked to the physical address in a predetermined management list; receiving a transmission packet from an upper layer and determining whether a physical address identical with a destination physical address of the transmission packet is present in the management list; and when the destination physical address is present in the management list, transmitting the transmission packet through either of the wired network interface and the wireless network interface according to the identifier.

Claims

1. A communication method for a hybrid wired and wireless communication system capable of communicating by wire and wirelessly in a local area network, the communication method comprising:

registering an entry comprising a source physical address of a source transmitting a received packet and an identifier indicating and distinguishing between a wired network interface and a wireless network interface linked to the physical address in a predetermined management list;

receiving a transmission packet from an upper layer of the system and determining whether a registered physical address that is identical with a destination physical address of the received transmission packet is present in the management list; and

when the destination physical address is present in the management list, selectively transmitting the transmission packet through the indicated one of the wired network interface and the wireless network interface according to the identifier.

2. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the entry further comprises a timer indicating a duration from a generation of the entry in the management list to a removal of the entry from the management list.

3. The communication method of claim 2, wherein the registering of the entry comprises:

periodically checking a value of the timer to determine the duration until the timer expires; and

removing the entry from the management list if the timer expires.

4. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the registering of the entry comprises:

determining whether the source physical address of the received packet is present in the management list;

when the source physical address is not present in the management list, registering the source physical address and the identifier in the management list;

transmitting the received packet to the upper layer; and

determining whether a new packet has been received through either of the wired network interface and the wireless network interface and repeating the determining of whether the source physical address is present, the registering of the source physical address and the identifier, and the transmitting of the received new packet to the upper layer.

5. The communication method of claim 4, wherein the entry further comprises a timer indicating a duration from a generation of the entry in the management list to a removal of the entry from the management list, and

wherein the determining whether the source physical address is present further comprises resetting the timer to a predetermined initial value when the source physical address of the received packet is determined to be present in the management list at the time the received packet is received.

6. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the operation of receiving the transmission packet and determining whether the physical address is identical with the destination physical address of the transmission packet is present comprises:

receiving the transmission packet from the upper layer and determining whether a type of the destination physical address indicates a unicast transmission;

transmitting the transmission packet through the wired network interface and the wireless network interface, when the type of the destination physical address is determined not to indicate the unicast transmission; and

determining whether the physical address is identical with the destination physical address of the transmission packet is present in the management list, when the type of the destination physical address is determined to indicate the unicast transmission.

7. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the transmission packet comprises transmitting the transmission packet through the wired network interface and the wireless network interface when the destination physical address is not present in the management list.

8. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the registering of the entry, the operation of receiving the transmission packet and determining whether the physical address is identical with the destination physical address of the transmission packet is present, and the selectively transmitting the transmission packet through of the indicated one of the wired network interface and the wireless network interface according to the identifier are performed when a wireless communication mode of the hybrid wired and wireless communication system is an ad-hoc mode.

9. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the wireless network interface and the wired network interface have a same physical address.

10. A computer readable recording medium for storing a program code for executing in a computer a communication method for a hybrid wired and wireless communication system capable of communicating by wire and wirelessly in a local area network, the communication method comprising:

registering an entry comprising a source physical address of a source transmitting a received packet and an identifier indicating and distinguishing between a wired network interface and wireless network interface linked to the physical address in a predetermined management list;

receiving a transmission packet from an upper layer of the system and determining whether a registered physical address that is identical with a destination physical address of the transmission packet is present in the management list; and

when the destination physical address is present in the management list, selectively transmitting the transmission packet through of the indicated one of the wired network interface and the wireless network interface according to the identifier.

11. A hybrid wired and wireless communication system capable of communicating by wire and wirelessly in a local area network, the hybrid wired and wireless communication system comprising:

an upper layer;

a processor which receives and transmits packets received through the upper layer;

a storage unit which stores a management list comprising a plurality of entries, each of the entries comprising a physical address of a source transmitting a received packet and an identifier indicating and distinguishing between a wired network interface and a wireless network interface linked to the physical address;

a management module which determines whether a physical address that is identical with a source physical address included in a received packet is present in one of the entries the management list, registers the source physical address and an identifier corresponding to the physical address in a new entry of the management list when the physical address is determined to not be present in the management list, and transmitting the received packet to upper layer;

a control module receiving a transmission packet from the upper layer and selectively transmitting the transmission packet through an indicated one of the wired network interface and the wireless network interface according to an identifier corresponding to a destination physical address of the transmission packet when the destination physical address is present in the management list;

a wired network interface which transmits the received packet to the management module, and, if the control module controls the received packet to be transmitted through the wired network interface, receives the transmission packet from the control module and transmits the transmission packet to the wired network connected thereto; and

a wireless network interface which transmits the received packet to the management module, and, if the control module controls the received packet to be transmitted through the wireless network interface, receives the transmission packet from the control module and transmits the transmission packet to the wireless network connected thereto.

12. The hybrid wired and wireless communication system of claim 11, wherein each entry further comprises a timer indicating a duration from a generation of the entry to a removal of the entry in the management list.

13. The hybrid wired and wireless communication system of claim 12, wherein the storage unit periodically checks a value of the timer of each entry to determine whether the timer has expired and, if the duration indicates that the entry has expired, removes the entry having expiring timer from the management list.

14. The hybrid wired and wireless communication system of claim 12, wherein, when the source physical address is determined to be present in the management list when the received packed is received, the storage unit resets the timer of the entry corresponding to the source physical address to a predetermined initial value.

15. The hybrid wired and wireless communication system of claim 11, wherein the control module further checks a type of the destination physical address of the transmission packet received from the upper layer, transmits the transmission packet through both of the wired network interface and the wireless network interface when the type of the destination physical address does not indicate a unicast transmission, and determines whether the physical address that is identical with the destination physical address is present in the management list when the type of the destination physical address indicates the unicast transmission.

16. The hybrid wired and wireless communication system of claim 11, wherein the control module transmits the transmission packet through the wired network interface and the wireless network interface when the destination physical address is not registered in one of the entries in the management list.

17. The hybrid wired and wireless communication system of claim 11, wherein the wireless network interface and the wired network interface have a same physical address.

18. The hybrid wired and wireless communication system of claim 11, wherein the hybrid wired and wireless communication system operates when a wireless communication mode is an ad-hoc mode.

19. A communication method for a hybrid communication system capable of communicating by a first network of a first type and by a second network of a second type other than the first type, the communication method comprising:

for a transmission packet to be transmitted from the system to one of the first and second networks, determining which one of first and second interfaces is to be used to transmit the received transmission packet based on a comparison of a destination physical address of the transmission packet with a management list of the system; and

selectively transmitting the transmission packet through the determined one of the first and second interfaces while not transmitting the transmission packet through the other one of the first and second interfaces.

20. The communication method of claim 19, wherein the first type of network is a wired network, and the second type of network is a wireless network.

21. The communication method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving at the system another packet from the destination physical address, and

recording in the management list through which one of the first and second interfaces the another packet was received and the destination physical address.

22. The communication method of claim 21, wherein the determining which one of first and second interfaces is to be used to transmit the transmission packet comprises:

reviewing the destination physical address detected from the transmission packet and the management list to detect an entry of the management list that indicates through which one of the first and second interfaces the another packet was received from the destination physical address, and

determining that the one of the first and second interfaces recorded in the detected entry is the one of the first and second interfaces through which the transmission packet is to be transmitted.

23. The communication method of claim 19, wherein:

the management list comprises first and second entries,

the first entry comprises a first physical address and an indication that the first interface is to be used in transmitting to the first physical address,

the second entry comprises a second physical address and an indication that the second interface is to be used in transmitting to the second physical address, and

the determining which one of first and second interfaces is to be used to transmit the received transmission packet comprises;

determining that the first interface is to be used if the destination physical address corresponds to the first physical address, and

determining that the second interface is to be used if the destination physical address corresponds to the second physical address.

24. The communication method of claim 19, wherein:

the management list comprises a first entry comprising a first physical address, an indication indicating and distinguishing between which one of the first and second interfaces is to be used in transmitting to the first physical address, and a validity indication, and

the communication method further comprises deleting the first entry if the validity indication indicates that the first entry is not valid.

25. The communication method of claim 24, wherein the validity indication comprises a timer value which is decremented such that the system deletes the first entry a predetermined time after a time when the first entry was created.

26. The communication method of claim 25, further comprising, if another packet is received from a same physical address as the first physical address, increasing the timer value.

27. The communication method of claim 19, wherein the first and second interfaces share a common physical address such that a first packet received at the first interface through the first network is addressed to the common physical address and a second packet received at the second interface through the second network is addressed to the common physical address.

28. A computer readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing the communication method of claim 19 performed by a computer.

29. A communication system capable of communicating packets of data across a first network of a first type and a second network of a second type other than the first type, the communication system comprising:

a first network interface which connects to the first network to transfer ones of the packets with respect to the first network;

a second network interface which connects to the second network to transfer others of the packets with respect to the second network;

a storage unit which stores a management list comprising a plurality of entries, each of the entries identifying and distinguishing between the first and second network interfaces; and

a processor which compares a transmission packet to be transmitted and the entries of the management list, determines based on the comparison which one of the first and second network interfaces is to be used for transmission of the transmission packet, and controls the transmission packet to be transmitted through the determined one of the first and second network interfaces.

30. The communication system of claim 29, wherein:

the transmission packet includes a destination physical address,

each of the entries includes a corresponding physical address and identifies and distinguishes between the first and second network interfaces, and

the processor further determines whether one of the entries includes the physical address that is identical with the destination physical address included in the transmission packet, and controls the transmission packet to be transmitted through the indicated one of the first and second network interfaces included in the one entry having the identical physical address as the destination physical address.

31. The communication system of claim 29, wherein the processor further, for a received packet having a source physical address, if the source physical address is a physical address not present in one of the entries of the management list, records a new entry in the management list including the source physical address and an identifier indicating through which one of the first and second network interfaces the received packet was received.

32. The communication system of claim 29, wherein the first type of network is a wired network, and the second type of network is a wireless network.

33. The communication system of claim 29, wherein:

one of the entries further comprises a validity indication, and

the processor further deletes the one entry if the validity indication indicates that the one entry is not valid.

34. The communication system of claim 33, wherein the validity indication comprises a timer value, and the processor decrements the timer value such that the system deletes the one entry at a predetermined time after a time when the one entry was created.

35. The communication system of claim 33, wherein:

the one entry further includes a physical address and identifies and distinguishes between the first and second network interfaces, and

the processor further adjusts the validity indication according to when the physical address in the one entry was last verified.

36. The communication system of claim 35, wherein:

if another packet is received and includes a physical address identical to the physical address indicated in the one entry, the processor verifies the validity indication to prevent deletion for an additional period of time.

37. The communication system of claim 36, wherein:

the validity indication comprises a timer value, and

the processor decrements the timer value such that the system deletes the first entry at a predetermined time after a time when the one entry was created, and increments the time value if the validity indication is verified.

38. The communication system of claim 29, wherein the first and second interfaces share a common physical address such that a first packet received at the first network interface through the first network is addressed to the common physical address and a second packet received at the second network interface through the second network is addressed to the common physical address.

39. A communication system capable of communicating packets of data across a first network of a first type of and a second network of a second type other than the first type, the communication system comprising:

a first network interface which connects to the first network to transfer ones of the packets with respect to the first network;

a second network interface which connects to the second network to transfer others of the packets with respect to the second network;

a storage unit which stores a management list comprising a plurality of entries, each of the entries identifying and distinguishing between the first and second network interfaces; and

a processor which compares a received packet received through one of the first and second network interfaces and the entries of the management list, and, if the received packet is from a source physical address not included in the entries of the management list, records a new entry including the source physical address and an indication which indicates which one of the first and second network interfaces received the received packet.

40. The communication system of claim 39, wherein the processor further controls a transmission packet to be transmitted through the first and second network interfaces according to the indication in the management list.

41. The communication system of claim 39, wherein:

one of the entries further comprises a validity indication, and

the processor further deletes the one entry if the validity indication indicates that the one entry is not valid.

42. The communication system of claim 41, wherein the validity indication comprises a timer value, and the processor decrements the timer value such that the system deletes the one entry at a predetermined time after a time when the one entry was created.

43. The communication system of claim 41, wherein:

the one entry further includes a physical address and identifies and distinguishes between the first and second network interfaces, and

the processor further adjusts the validity indication according to when the physical address in the one entry was last verified.

44. The communication system of claim 43, wherein:

if another packet is received and includes a physical address identical to the physical address indicated in the one entry, the processor verifies the validity indication to prevent deletion for an additional period of time.

45. The communication system of claim 44, wherein:

the validity indication comprises a timer value, and

the processor decrements the timer value such that the system deletes the first entry at a predetermined time after a time when the one entry was created, and increments the time value if the validity indication is verified.

46. The communication system of claim 39, wherein the first and second interfaces share a common physical address such that a first packet received at the first network interface through the first network is addressed to the common physical address and a second packet received at the second network interface through the second network is addressed to the common physical address.