System and method for supporting concurrent communication over multiple acces points and physical media

• US 20060067297A1
• Filed: 09/24/2004
• Published: 03/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kanevsky, Dimitri, Chaar, Jarir K., Zlatsin, Alexander, Zilca, Ran D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,480,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management

Abstract

A system and method for enabling communication concurrently over multiple access points and multiple physical media including but not limited to: cellular, network (e.g., Ethernet), broadband wireless, audio communication schemes.

Claims

1. A system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points for a single communications session, each said multiple NA points being encapsulated into a single network interface, said single network interface implemented at both a receiver device and a transmitter device for transmitting and receiving data respectively via at least one communications media, such that a communication policy is implemented to specify how to combine the use of the different available NA points via said single network interface wherein, messages may be sent and received without specifying which NA point to use.

2. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 1, wherein an implemented communication policy specifies which of said multiple NA points are implemented for security purposes.

3. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 2, wherein a transmitter and receiver device implementing said communication policy for security purposes includes the means for multiplexing and demultiplexing of data packets over said specified NA'"'"'s.

4. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 1, wherein an implemented communication policy specifies which of said multiple NA points are implemented for reliability purposes.

5. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 4, wherein a transmitter and receiver device implementing said communication policy for reliability purposes includes the transmission and reception of identical critical packets through different media.

6. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 1, wherein an implemented communication policy specifies which of said multiple NA points are implemented for high availability purposes.

7. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 6, wherein a transmitter and receiver device implementing said communication policy for high availability purposes includes the transmission and reception of high availability packets through all available communications media.

8. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 1, wherein an implemented communication policy specifies which said multiple NA points are implemented for optimizing communications quality of service.

9. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 8, wherein a transmitter and receiver device implementing said communication policy for optimizing communications quality of service optimizes the use of the different NA'"'"'s based on one or more of the following criteria selected from the group comprising:

speed, latency, Bit Error Rate, cost.

10. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 1, wherein an implemented communication policy is determined according to user profile information regarding a user at the transmitter device.

11. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 1, wherein an implemented communication policy is determined the sensed conditions of the environment at the transmitter device.

12. The system for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 1, wherein an implemented communication policy is determined according to biometric information of a user at the transmitter device.

13. A method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points for a single communications session comprising the steps of:

a. encapsulating each said multiple NA points into a single network interface, said single network interface implemented at both a receiver device and a transmitter device for respectively transmitting and receiving data via at least one communications media; and

,

b. implementing a communication policy at both said single network interfaces to specify how to combine the use of the different available NA points via said single network interface, wherein messages may be sent and received without specifying which NA point to use.

14. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 13, further including the step of:

providing a communication policy specifying which of said multiple NA points are implemented for security purposes.

15. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 14, wherein said step of providing said communication policy for security purposes includes the steps of:

multiplexing data packets from said transmitter device over said specified NA'"'"'s and, demultiplexing at said receiver device said data packets over said specified NA'"'"'s.

16. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 13, further including the step of:

providing a communication policy specifying which of said multiple NA points are implemented for reliability purposes.

17. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 16, wherein said step of providing said communication policy for reliability purposes includes the steps of:

transmitting data packets from said transmitter device over said specified NA'"'"'s corresponding to different media and receiving at said receiver device said data packets over said specified NA'"'"'s through said different media.

18. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 13, further including the step of:

providing a communication policy specifying which of said multiple NA points are implemented for high availability purposes.

19. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 18, wherein said step of providing said communication policy for high availability purposes includes the steps of:

transmitting data packets from said transmitter device over specified NA'"'"'s corresponding to all available media and receiving at said receiver device said data packets over said specified NA'"'"'s corresponding to all available media.

20. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 13, further including the step of:

providing a communication policy specifying which of said multiple NA points are implemented for optimizing communications quality of service.

21. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 20, wherein said step of providing said communication policy for optimizing communications quality of service includes the steps of:

transmitting data packets from said transmitter device over specified NA'"'"'s in accordance with one or more QoS criteria and, receiving at said receiver device said data packets over said specified NA'"'"'s in accordance with one or more QoS criteria, said QoS criteria selected from the group comprising;

speed, latency, Bit Error Rate, cost.

22. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 13, wherein said step b) of implementing a communication policy at both said single network interfaces includes accessing user profile information regarding a user at the transmitter device and implementing said communication policy according to said user profile information.

23. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 13, wherein said step b) of implementing a communication policy at both said single network interfaces includes sensing conditions of the environment at the transmitter device and implementing said communication policy according to said sensed environment conditions.

24. The method for enabling concurrent use of multiple network access (NA) points as claimed in claim 13, wherein said step b) of implementing a communication policy at both said single network interfaces includes accessing biometric information of a user at the transmitter device and implementing said communication policy according to said biometric information.