Systems and methods for transmitting data in a wireless communications network

• US 20050202825A1
• Filed: 03/10/2004
• Published: 09/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bell Industries Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bell Industries Incorporated
• Inventors: Oshinsky, Stephen M., Puranik, Gagan
• Application Number:
  US10/796,133
• Publication Number:
  US 20050202825A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A device transmits data via a wireless network. The device selects a wireless network from a group of wireless networks via which to transmit the data and transmits the data via the selected wireless network.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a wireless transceiver; and

logic to;

determine whether a first network is available for transmitting data,

transmit the data to the first network using the wireless transceiver when the first network is available,

determine, when the first network is unavailable, whether a second network is available, the second network being different than the first network, and

transmit the data to the second network using the wireless transceiver when the second network is available.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the first network comprises an IEEE 802.11-based network and the second network comprises a ReFLEX-based network.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the logic is further configured to:

determine, when the first network is available, whether transmission of the data through the first network was successful, and

perform the determining whether the second network is available when the transmission of the data through the first network was unsuccessful.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein the logic is further configured to:

determine, when the second network is available, whether transmission of the data through the second network was successful, and

store the data when the transmission of the data through the second network was unsuccessful.

5. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

a memory, and

wherein the logic is configured to;

store the data in the memory for later transmission when the second network is determined to be unavailable.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the wireless transceiver comprises:

a first wireless transceiver to transmit data to the first network, and

a second wireless transceiver to transmit data to the second network.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the first wireless transceiver transmits data at a different frequency than the second wireless transceiver.

8. The device of claim 6 wherein the first wireless transceiver transmits data using a different communication protocol than the second wireless transceiver.

9. The device of claim 6 wherein the first wireless transceiver transmits data using a different modulation technique than the second wireless transceiver.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the logic is further configured to:

establish a connection with an enterprise device when the first network is determined to be available.

11. The device of claim 1 wherein the logic is configured to:

determine whether the first network is available in response to the device being powered up.

12. The device of claim 1 wherein the logic is configured to:

determine whether the first network is available in response to the device having data to transmit.

13. A method for transmitting data, comprising:

selecting a wireless network from a group of wireless networks via which to transmit the data; and

transmitting the data via the selected wireless network.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

determining, prior to the transmitting, whether the selected wireless network is available; and

transmitting the data via another wireless network in the group of wireless networks when the selected wireless network is unavailable.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

storing the data when none of the wireless networks in the group of wireless networks is available.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

providing an indication of availability of each wireless network in the group of wireless networks.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the indication comprises an audio indication.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the indication comprises a visual indication.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the group of wireless networks comprises an IEEE 802.11-based network and a ReFLEX-based network.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the selecting is performed automatically.

21. A device comprising:

means for selecting a network from a group of networks via which to transmit data, the selected network utilizing a different communication protocol than another network in the group of networks; and

means for transmitting data via a selected network.

22. A device comprising:

logic to select a network from a plurality of networks, each network in the plurality of networks utilizing at least one of a different frequency and a different communication protocol; and

a transceiver to transmit data via the selected network.

23. The device of claim 22 wherein the plurality of networks comprises an IEEE 802.11-based network and a ReFLEX-based network.

24. The device of claim 23 wherein the logic is configured to:

select the IEEE 802.11-based network to transmit data over the ReFLEX-based network when both networks are available.

25. The device of claim 23 further comprising:

logic to establish a connection with an enterprise device when the IEEE 802.11-based network is available.

26. The device of claim 22 wherein the transceiver comprises:

a transceiver for each network in the plurality of networks.

27. The device of claim 22 wherein the logic is configured to select the network automatically.

28. The device of claim 22 wherein the logic is configured to select the network in response to an input from a user.

29. The device of claim 22 wherein the logic performs the selecting when data is to be transmitted from the device.

30. The device of claim 22 further comprising:

logic configured to override the selection of the network.