Cellular channel bonding for improved data transmission bandwidth

• US 20060176861A1
• Filed: 01/13/2006
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (Empire IP LLC)
• Original Assignee: Gallitzin Allegheny LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Dominik J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,684,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/337
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0005 Time-frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/16 Performing reselection for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• 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 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Systems and methods wirelessly communicate data over a plurality of cellular channels by requesting an allocation of cellular frequency channels from a mobile station to a base station; allocating available frequency channels in response to the request from the mobile station; and bonding the available frequency channels to communicate data.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method comprising:

receiving an allocation of at least two cellular frequency channels at a mobile station;

bonding the at least two cellular frequency channels with a short-range radio channel to increase transmission bandwidth; and

communicating data between the mobile station and a base station over the bonded cellular frequency and short-range radio channels.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising bonding the short-range radio channel with the at least two cellular frequency channels dynamically based on a current traffic load.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising bonding the short-range radio channel with the at least two cellular frequency channels dynamically based on priority of service.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the data comprises video information.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving from a user of the mobile station a request to increase the transmission bandwidth.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising determining in the mobile station a number of the cellular frequency channels to request based on the requested transmission bandwidth.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising deallocating the at least two cellular frequency channels after communicating the data.

28. The method of claim 21, further comprising communicating the data and voice information simultaneously over the bonded cellular frequency and short-range radio channels.

29. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a first transceiver coupled to the processor to communicate with a base station over cellular frequency channels;

a second transceiver coupled to the processor to communicate with the base station over a short-range radio channel; and

a circuit to aggregate a plurality of the cellular frequency channels and the short-range radio channel to increase transmission capacity.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the apparatus is to communicate multimedia files via the aggregated channels.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the apparatus comprises a base station.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the circuit is to aggregate the channels on demand of a user.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the processor comprises an integrated circuit having a reconfigurable processor core that includes a plurality of digital signal processors (DSPs).

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the reconfigurable processor core includes one or more reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the integrated circuit further comprises a router coupled to the reconfigurable processor core.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the router is configured to aggregate the plurality of the cellular frequency channels and the short-range wireless channel.

37. A mobile station comprising:

a processor;

a long-range transceiver coupled to the processor configured to communicate with a base station over cellular frequency channels;

a short-range transceiver coupled to the processor configured to communicate with the base station over a short-range radio channel; and

means for bonding a plurality of the cellular frequency channels and the short-range radio channel to increase data communication bandwidth between the mobile station and the base station.

38. The mobile station of claim 37, wherein the processor comprises a reconfigurable processor core including a plurality of digital signal processors (DSPs).

39. The mobile station of claim 38, wherein the reconfigurable processor core includes one or more reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors.

40. The mobile station of claim 38, wherein the means for bonding comprises a router coupled to the reconfigurable processor core.