Dual mode unit for short range, high rate and long range, lower rate data communications
First Claim
1. A wireless data communication interface comprising:
- a) a first electronics circuit, for communicating data by way of a first wireless data communication path;
b) a second electronics circuit, for communicating data by way of a second wireless data communication path, the second wireless data communication path providing wider coverage and a slower communication rate than the first wireless data communication path;
c) a detector, for determining if a selected one of the first wireless data communication path or the second wireless data communication path is not an available wireless data communication path, and for determining that the other one of the first wireless data communication path or the second wireless data communication path is an available wireless data communication path; and
d) a controller, for controlling the available wireless data communication path to appear as though bandwidth is continuously available to a data communication session, irrespective of the need to transport data, and such that, in the absence of said need to transport data, the bandwidth is made available for wireless data communication by another apparatus.
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Abstract
A technique for communicating with a local area network (LAN) via a wireless connection determines whether a first short-range, high-speed, wireless communication path is available and connects to the LAN using a longer range, lower speed wireless communication path if the short-range, high-speed wireless communication path is not available. The low-range, high-speed wireless communication path is a wireless LAN connection such as an IEEE 802.11-compliant wireless LAN and the long-range, low-speed wireless communication mode is a cellular CDMA-type connection. Determining whether the first IEEE 802.11 mode is available can be done by detecting a beacon signal, or by transmitting a probe request message and detecting a probe response message in response to the probe request, indicating the presence or availability of the short-range, high-speed wireless communication path. Alternatively, the availability of short-range, high-speed wireless communication path can be detected by simply detecting activity on it.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A wireless data communication interface comprising:
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a) a first electronics circuit, for communicating data by way of a first wireless data communication path;
b) a second electronics circuit, for communicating data by way of a second wireless data communication path, the second wireless data communication path providing wider coverage and a slower communication rate than the first wireless data communication path;
c) a detector, for determining if a selected one of the first wireless data communication path or the second wireless data communication path is not an available wireless data communication path, and for determining that the other one of the first wireless data communication path or the second wireless data communication path is an available wireless data communication path; and
d) a controller, for controlling the available wireless data communication path to appear as though bandwidth is continuously available to a data communication session, irrespective of the need to transport data, and such that, in the absence of said need to transport data, the bandwidth is made available for wireless data communication by another apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification