SEAMLESS HANDOFF SCHEME FOR MULTI-RADIO WIRELESS MESH NETWORK
First Claim
1. A method performed by a mobile device in a wireless mesh network, the method comprising:
- communicating with a first mesh access point (AP) via a first radio frequency (RF) interface of the mobile device over a first wireless connection, the first mesh AP being one of a plurality of mesh APs of a first mesh cell of the wireless mesh network;
detecting that signal quality of the first wireless connection drops below a predetermined threshold as the mobile device moves from the first mesh cell towards a second mesh cell; and
in response to the detection, establishing via a second RF interface of the mobile device a second wireless connection with a second mesh AP of a second mesh cell of the wireless mesh network, while concurrently maintaining the first wireless connection with the first mesh AP via the first RF interface, such that the mobile device maintains communications with the wireless mesh network via at least one of the first and second wireless connections while roaming from the first mesh cell to the second mesh cell.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile device communicates with a first mesh access point (AP) via a first radio frequency (RF) interface of the mobile device over a first wireless connection, where the first mesh AP is one of mesh APs of a first mesh cell of the wireless mesh network. It is detected that signal quality of the first wireless connection drops below a predetermined threshold as the mobile device moves from the first mesh cell towards a second mesh cell. In response to the detection, it is established via a second RF interface of the mobile device a second wireless connection with a second mesh AP of a second mesh cell of the wireless mesh network, while concurrently maintaining the first wireless connection with the first mesh AP via the first RF interface.
152 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method performed by a mobile device in a wireless mesh network, the method comprising:
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communicating with a first mesh access point (AP) via a first radio frequency (RF) interface of the mobile device over a first wireless connection, the first mesh AP being one of a plurality of mesh APs of a first mesh cell of the wireless mesh network; detecting that signal quality of the first wireless connection drops below a predetermined threshold as the mobile device moves from the first mesh cell towards a second mesh cell; and in response to the detection, establishing via a second RF interface of the mobile device a second wireless connection with a second mesh AP of a second mesh cell of the wireless mesh network, while concurrently maintaining the first wireless connection with the first mesh AP via the first RF interface, such that the mobile device maintains communications with the wireless mesh network via at least one of the first and second wireless connections while roaming from the first mesh cell to the second mesh cell. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A mobile device, comprising:
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a processor; a first radio frequency (RF) interface card having a first network address to communicate with a mesh access point (AP) of a first mesh cell over a first wireless connection that has been established based on the first network address, the first mesh AP being one of a plurality of mesh APs in the first mesh cell of a wireless mesh network; and a second RF interface card having a second network address that is different than the first network address, wherein the processor is configured to detect that signal quality of the first wireless connection drops below a predetermined threshold as the mobile device moves from the first mesh cell towards to a second mesh cell of the wireless mesh network, wherein in response to the detection, the processor is configured to establish a second wireless connection with a second mesh AP of the second mesh cell via the second RF interface card based on the second network address, while concurrently maintaining the first wireless connection with the first mesh AP via the first RF interface card, the second mesh AP being one of a plurality of mesh APs in the second mesh cell, such that the mobile device maintains communications with the wireless mesh network via at least one of the first and second wireless connections while roaming from the first mesh cell to the second mesh cell - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method performed by a mesh access point (AP) of a wireless mesh network, comprising:
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receive a first packet originated from a mobile device via a downlink interface of the mesh AP, the first packet being destined to a destination node of an external network, which is communicatively coupled to the wireless mesh network via a mobile mesh server (MMS), wherein the first packet is received via layer-2 routing from the mobile device based on a media access control (MAC) address of the mobile device and a MAC address of the mesh AP; examining the first packet to determine whether the packet contains a predetermined virtual local area network (VLAN) ID; generating within the mesh AP a second packet by encapsulating the first packet as a payload of the second packet if the first packet contains the predetermined VLAN ID, wherein the second packet includes an IP address of the mesh AP as a source IP address and an IP address of the MMS as a destination IP address; and transmitting the second packet from the mesh AP to the MMS over a layer-3 tunnel that has been established based on the IP address of the mesh AP and the IP address of the MMS, in order to access the destination node of the external network, wherein when the MMS receives the second packet, the MMS is configured to strip off a layer-3 header from the second packet to reveal the first packet as part of the payload and to route the first packet to the external network. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A wireless mesh network system, comprising:
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a mobile mesh server (MMS) having a first Ethernet interface and a second Ethernet interface, the first Ethernet interface to be coupled to the Internet; a first mesh cell communicatively coupled to the second Ethernet interface of the MMS over a first layer-3 tunnel, the first mesh cell having a plurality of first mesh access points (APs) and a first mobile mesh manager (MMM) managing the first mesh APs, wherein in response to packets received from at least one of the first mesh APs, the first MMM is configured to transmit the packets via the first layer-3 tunnel to the MMS which routes the packets to the Internet; a second mesh cell communicatively coupled to the second Ethernet interface of the MMS over a second layer-3 tunnel, the second mesh cell having a plurality of second APs and a second MMM managing the second mesh APs, wherein in response to packets received from at least one of the second mesh APs, the second MMM is configured to transmit the packets via the second layer-3 tunnel to the MMS which routes the packets to the Internet; and a mobile device having a first radio frequency (RF) interface card having a first media access control (MAC) address and a second RF interface card having a second MAC address that is different than the first MAC address, the mobile device being communicatively coupled to the first mesh cell via at least one of the first mesh APs over a first wireless connection established via the first RF interface card based on the first MAC address, wherein when the mobile device detects that signal quality of the first wireless connection drops below a predetermined threshold as the mobile device roams from the first mesh cell to the second mesh cell, the mobile device is configured to establish, via the second RF interface card, a second wireless connection with at least one of the second mesh APs based on the second MAC address, while currently maintaining the first wireless connection via the first RF interface card, such that the mobile device maintains communications with the MMS via at least one of the first and second wireless connections while roaming from the first mesh cell to the second mesh cell. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification