Wireless network access

• US 20050090283A1
• Filed: 10/28/2003
• Published: 04/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rodriquez, Pablo R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,702,817 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/552.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/00 Network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products for providing wireless network access are disclosed. A wireless network access device comprises at least one local communication network interface and a plurality of wireless network interfaces. Requests for resources are received over the local communication network interface, processed by the processor, and distributed among two or more of the plurality of wireless network interfaces. Algorithms for determining a number of wireless network interfaces and for selecting particular wireless network interfaces are disclosed. Received resources may be stored in a cache memory, and may be used to respond to subsequent requests for the same resource.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

activating, in response to a request for a resource, at least one of a plurality of wireless communication connections; and

transmitting a request for portions of the resource from the at least one activated wireless communication connection.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

terminating the user request for a resource; and

generating at least one corresponding request for a resource.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

terminating the user request for a resource; and

generating a plurality of corresponding requests for a resource, wherein each of the corresponding requests comprises the same source address or a different source address.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the resource from a local cache to the user if the resource resides in the local cache.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising dividing the request into a plurality of sub-requests if portions of the resource exceeds a predetermined size threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein activating at least one of a plurality of wireless communication connections comprises:

determining a characteristic of a wireless communication connection; and

activating the wireless communication connection based on the characteristic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein activating at least one of a plurality of wireless communication connections comprises:

determining a characteristic of a wireless communication connection; and

activating the wireless communication connection based on the characteristic,

wherein the characteristic is selected from the group of characteristics consisting of;

signal-to-noise ratio, available bandwidth, congestion, signal strength, connection cost, and bit error rate.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising collating received portions of the resource and making the resource available to the user.

9. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 1.

10. A method for retrieving a resource from a remote computer using a plurality of wireless network interfaces, comprising:

receiving, from a computing device, a request for the resource, wherein the resource comprises a plurality of objects;

terminating the received request;

determining a number of available wireless network interfaces;

determining a number of objects in the resource and the size of each object;

assigning each object to a specific wireless network interface; and

transmitting a request for the resource, wherein the request specifies the specific wireless network interface assigned to an object.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving a request for the resource comprises receiving a request from a computing device over a local communication network.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a number of available wireless network interfaces comprises monitoring one or more characteristics of a wireless network interface.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a number of available wireless network interfaces comprises monitoring one or more characteristics of a wireless network interface, wherein the signal characteristic is selected from the group of signal characteristics consisting of:

signal-to-noise ratio, available bandwidth, congestion, signal strength, connection cost, and bit error rate.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a number of available wireless network interfaces comprises monitoring one or more characteristics of a wireless network interface stored in a data table in memory.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a number of available wireless network interfaces comprises querying the wireless interfaces.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a number of objects in the resource and the size of each object comprises querying the remote computer.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein assigning each object to a specific wireless network interface comprises assigning an object to two or more wireless network interfaces if the size of the object exceeds a threshold.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein-assigning each object to a specific wireless network interface comprises assigning an object to two or more wireless network interfaces if the size of the object exceeds a threshold, wherein the threshold is a function of the bandwidth of available wireless network interfaces.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein assigning each object to a specific wireless network interface comprises assigning an object to two or more wireless network interfaces if the size of the object exceeds a threshold, wherein the threshold is a function of the size of an object relative to the size of other objects in the resource.

20. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving objects over the plurality of assigned wireless network interfaces; and

collating the received objects to construct the resource.

21. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting the resource to the computing device that originated the request.

22. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 10.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one local communication network interface for receiving a request for a resource;

a plurality of wireless network interfaces for transmitting resource requests over wireless communication connections;

a memory module; and

a processor executing logic instructions that configure the processor to;

terminate the received request;

determine a number of available wireless network interfaces;

determine a number of objects in the resource and the size of each object; and

assign each object to at least one available wireless network interface.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one local communication network interface comprises a wireless network interface.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the plurality of wireless network interfaces comprises a first network interface for a first wireless network service provider and a second wireless network interface for a second wireless network service provider.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor polls the wireless network interfaces to determine characteristics of the communication connections managed by the wireless network interfaces.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor polls the wireless network interfaces on a periodic basis to determine characteristics of the communication connections managed by the wireless network interfaces.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor polls the wireless network interfaces in response to a received request to determine characteristics of the communication connections managed by the wireless network interfaces.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor assigns objects to wireless network interfaces according to an algorithm that maximizes bandwidth.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor assigns multiple wireless network interfaces to objects that exceed a size threshold.

31. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor assigns multiple wireless network interfaces to objects that exceed a size threshold that is a function of the available bandwidth on one or more wireless network interfaces.

32. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor assigns multiple wireless network interfaces to objects that exceed a size threshold that is a function of the size of an object relative to other objects in a resource.

33. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to receive requested resources transmitted across a plurality of wireless interfaces.

34. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to receive requested resources transmitted across a plurality of wireless interfaces, and to store received resources in the memory module.

35. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to receive requested resources transmitted across a plurality of wireless interfaces, to store received resources in the memory module, and to transmit received resources over the local communication network interface.