SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING REDUNDANT COMMUNICATION WITH MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20080125129A1
• Filed: 08/16/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WiFi Rail, Inc.
• Original Assignee: WiFi Rail, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Cooper G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,755,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/440
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/28 using the near field of leaky cables, e.g. of leaky coaxial cables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/20 Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing network access to mobile devices that travel with a vehicle, such as a train, a bus, a boat, etc. along or adjacent to a relatively fixed path that may extend over a large geographic area. Mobile devices access the network through stationary access points arranged along or adjacent to the path and communicate with a communication network. The communication network may be arranged as an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) local area network emulation (LANE) network. One of the mobile devices may be a mobile access point which can couple other mobile devices to the network and record authentication information of other mobile devices so that fast transitions can be made from one stationary access point to another as the vehicle moves along the path.

Claims

1. A communication system for communicating with a mobile device, comprising:

a plurality of antenna systems, each respective antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems being configured to communicate with the mobile device when the mobile device is within a communication range of the respective antenna system, wherein the plurality of antenna systems are disposed at spaced apart positions along a path traversed by the moving vehicle so that the mobile device is within a communication range of at least one antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems as it traverses the path and a line of sight is maintained between the mobile device and the at least one antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems.

2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a mobile access point configured to provide network access to a plurality of host devices by communicating with the at least one antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems.

3. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of host devices includes at least one of a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a cellular telephone.

4. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the mobile access point is configured to provide network access to the plurality of host devices by communicating with the at least one antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems through a wireless communication network.

5. The communication system of claim 4, wherein the wireless communication network includes a wireless network using an IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein a subset of the plurality of antenna systems is configured as an antenna group that includes an antenna group controller to facilitate low latency movement of the mobile device from communication with a first antenna system of the subset of antenna systems to communication with a second antenna system of the subset of antenna systems.

7. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the subset of antenna systems is arranged along an external portion of a curve in the path.

8. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the antenna group controller facilitates movement of the mobile device from communication with the first antenna system of the subset of antenna systems to communication with the second antenna system of the subset of antenna systems by authenticating the mobile device to the second antenna system.

9. The communication system of claim 8, wherein the antenna group controller includes at least one WLCCP controller.

10. The communication system of claim 8, wherein the antenna group controller includes an authentication cache, and wherein authenticating the mobile device to the second antenna system includes querying the authentication cache.

11. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of antenna systems are disposed at spaced apart positions along the path traversed by the moving vehicle so that the mobile device is within the communication range of at least two antenna systems of the plurality of antenna systems as it traverses the path and a line of sight is maintained between the mobile device and the at least two antenna systems of the plurality of antenna systems.

12. A communication system for communicating with at least one mobile device, comprising:

a plurality of antenna systems, each respective antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems being configured to communicate with the mobile device when the mobile device is within a communication range of the respective antenna system;

wherein the plurality of antenna systems are disposed at spaced apart positions along a path traversed by the mobile device and positioned relative to one another so that when a first antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems that is closest to the mobile device cannot communicate with the mobile device, the mobile device can communicate with at least one working second antenna system of the plurality of antenna systems that is disposed adjacent to the first antenna system.

13. The communication system of claim 12, wherein the communication range of the first antenna system overlaps with the communication range of the at least one working second antenna system.

14. The communication system of claim 12, wherein the at least one working second antenna system includes a plurality of working second antenna systems.

15. The communication system of claim 14, wherein the communication range of each of the plurality of working second antenna systems includes a communication range overlap in which the communication range of a first of the plurality of working second antenna systems overlaps the communication range of a second of the plurality of working second antenna systems.

16. The communication system of claim 15, wherein the communication overlap includes an area in which the mobile device may complete a connection process to each of the plurality of working second antenna systems.

17. The communication system of claim 16, wherein the connection process includes an authentication process.