Method and apparatus for providing mobile and other intermittent connectivity in a computing environment

• US 20060009213A1
• Filed: 06/10/2005
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Netmotion Wireless Holdings, Inc. (NetMotion Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Netmotion Wireless Incorporated
• Inventors: Olson, Erik, Sturniolo, Emil A., Jackson, Michael, Renouard, Julia, Savarese, Joseph T., Thompson, Dave
• Granted Patent: US 7,778,260 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/426.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks

Abstract

A seamless solution transparently addresses the characteristics of nomadic systems, and enables existing network applications to run reliably in mobile environments. A Mobility Management Server coupled to the mobile network maintains the state of each of any number of Mobile End Systems and handles the complex session management required to maintain persistent connections to the network and to other peer processes. If a Mobile End System becomes unreachable, suspends, or changes network address (e.g., due to roaming from one network interconnect to another), the Mobility Management Server maintains the connection to the associated peer task—allowing the Mobile End System to maintain a continuous connection even though it may temporarily lose contact with its network medium. An interface-based listener uses network point of attachment information supplied by a network interface to determine roaming conditions and to efficiently reestablish connection upon roaming. The Mobility Management Server can distribute lists to Mobile End Systems specifying how to contact it over disjoint networks.

Claims

1. In a mobility communications system including at least one mobile device that substantially seamlessly roams between plural IP-based point-of-presence networks, further characterized by:

said mobile device communicating over a local mobile network with at least one further node; and

said mobile device enables application data communicated to/from said at least one node to communicate with an ultimate peer(s) that may or may not be attached to the local mobile network.

2. The system of claim 1 further characterized by said mobile device comprising a mobile proxy communications service.

3. The system of claim 1 further characterized by said mobile device and at least one server also communicating with said plural IP-based point-of-presence networks having mobility functionality distributed therebetween and cooperating to provide mobility.

4. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said node comprises a device that is not mobiity aware.

5. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said node comprises a wireless communications device and said local mobile network comprises a wireless mobile private network.

6. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said node comprises any of a various IP-based wireless communications devices that can communicate over said local mobile network without regard for the particular point-of-presence networks said mobile device communications with.

7. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a gateway join agent.

8. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a ISO layer 3, layer 4 and/or layer 7 distributed firewall.

9. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said mobile device provides network address/port translation.

10. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a mobile IP foreign/home agent.

11. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said mobile device provides an interface signaling agent.

12. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a DHCP server.

13. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said mobile device provides an application layer proxy.

14. In a mobility communications method used by at least one mobile device that substantially seamlessly roams between plural IP-based point-of-presence networks, said method further characterized by:

said mobile device communicating over a local mobile network with at least one further node; and

said mobile device enabling application data communicated to/from said at least one node to communicate with an ultimate peer(s) that may or may not be attached to the local mobile network.

15. The method of claim 14 further characterized by said mobile device comprising a mobile proxy communications service.

16. The method of claim 14 further characterized by said mobile device and at least one server also communicating with said plural IP-based point-of-presence networks having mobility functionality distributed therebetween and cooperating to provide mobility.

17. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said node comprises a device that is not mobiity aware.

18. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said node comprises a wireless communications device and said local mobile network comprises a wireless mobile private network.

19. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said node comprises any of a various IP-based wireless communications devices that can communicate over said local mobile network without regard for the particular point-of-presence networks said mobile device communications with.

20. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a gateway join agent.

21. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a ISO layer 3, layer 4 and/or layer 7 distributed firewall.

22. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said mobile device provides network address/port translation.

23. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a mobile IP foreign/home agent.

24. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said mobile device provides an interface signaling agent.

25. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said mobile device provides a DHCP server.

26. The method of claim 14 further characterized in that said mobile device provides an application layer proxy.

27. The method of claim 14 wherein said mobile device comprises plural mobile devices that perform load balancing therebetween.

28. A mobility management system characterized by an automatic load balancing method and sharing method including hierarchical clustering of mobility management systems into server pools for adding capacity on-the-fly without disruption to connected systems and/or users, further characterized in that said server pools are divided into zones.

29. The mobility management system of claim 28 further characterized in that said server pools are aggregated into zones to allow for dynamic selection or preference while maintaining central control and administration.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein said zones are geographically based.

31. The system of claim 29 further characterized in that said automatic load balancing is integrated with failover to ensure appropriate distribution of large numbers of users or systems across the system.

32. The system of claim 29 further characterized in that in the event of a mobility system failure, mobile end systems including session being server by at least one mobility proxy communications service are automatically failed-over and balanced across the remaining servers in the server pool.

33. A Mobile Proxy Communications Service comprising:

at least one communications arrangement that communicates with at least one node via said locally coupled mobile network, and also communicates with a mobile end system via at least one IP-based Point-of-Presence network, wherein said node is not mobile aware; and

a processing arrangement that allows for application data communicated to/from said at least one node to communicate with an ultimate peer(s) that may or may not be attached to the mobile private network.