ENABLING INTERFACE AGGREGATION OF MOBILE BROADBAND NETWORK INTERFACES

• US 20120077483A1
• Filed: 09/29/2010
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: ABRAHAM, SUBIL M., THOMAS, MATHEWS, BIJLANI, VINOD A.
• Granted Patent: US 11,405,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/422.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/00 Interfaces specially adapted for wireless communication networks

Abstract

A network traffic associated with a communication request within a computing device can be identified. The device can comprise of a first and second communication stack which can addresses a first and a second network interface within the computing device. The first network interface can be associated with a mobile broadband network and the second network interface can be associated with a computing network. A first and second portion of the network traffic associated with the communication request can be programmatically determined to be conveyed to the first and second network interfaces. The first and second portions of network traffic can be conveyed simultaneously to the mobile broadband network associated with the first network interface and the computing network associated with the second network interface.

Claims

1. A method for mobile broadband interface aggregation comprising:

identifying a network traffic associated with a communication request within a computing device, wherein the computing device comprises of a first communication stack and a second communication stack each with different network access protocols, wherein the first communication stack addresses a first network interface and the second communication stack addresses a second network interface within the computing device, wherein the first network interface is associated with a mobile broadband network and the second network interface is associated with a computing network, wherein the mobile broadband network is associated with a mobile phone network;

programmatically determining a first portion of the network traffic associated with the communication request to be conveyed to the first network interface and a second portion of the network traffic associated with the communication request to be conveyed to second network interface; and

simultaneously conveying the first portion of network traffic to the mobile broadband network associated with the first network interface and the second portion of the network traffic associated with the second network interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile phone network conforms to at least one of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) network, 802.11 network, 802.16 network, 802.20 network, and a Wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB) network and the computing network is a network conforming to at least one of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) network, 802.11 network, 802.16 network, 802.20 network, and a Wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB) network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network interface is a wireless mobile modem associated with a mobile computing device, wherein the mobile computing device is at least one of a mobile phone, a laptop, a netbook, a tablet computer, a portable multi-media device, and a portable digital assistant (PDA).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed by at least one of a load balancing algorithm and a multi-path routing algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the second networks is associated with a first and second encryption technologies, wherein the first portion of the network traffic is encrypted with a first encryption technology associated with the first network and the second portion of the network traffic is encrypted with a second encryption technology associated with the second network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting a metric associated with the first and second networks;

analyzing the metric to determine a preferred network between the first and second networks; and

prioritizing the preferred network for conveying network traffic responsive to the analyzing.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network traffic is network traffic received from a proximate computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second network interface is a fourth generation (4G) and third generation (3G) network interface and the network traffic is at least one of a plurality of data traffic generated by a mobile application executing within the computing device.

9. A method for mobile broadband interface aggregation comprising:

identifying a plurality of network interfaces within a computing device, wherein the plurality of network interfaces comprises of at least one mobile broadband network interface, wherein the plurality of network interfaces are physically distinct network interfaces, wherein the mobile broadband network is associated with a mobile phone network, wherein at least two of the plurality of network interfaces is associated with a different network access protocol;

aggregating the plurality of network interfaces into a logical network interface, wherein the logical interface is associated with at least a network layer, wherein the network layer permits communication with a data link layer and an application layer, wherein the network layer, data link layer, and application layer are layers conforming to an Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) communication model; and

conveying a networking traffic to the logical network interface, wherein the logical network interface transmits at least a portion of the network traffic to the at least two network interfaces comprising the plurality of network interfaces.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a state change of a network interface comprising the plurality of network interfaces;

when the state change results in the network interface becoming unresponsive, automatically disassociating the network interface from the logical network interface; and

when the state change results in a network interface becoming responsive, automatically associating the network interface to the logical network interface.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of network interfaces comprises of a mobile broadband network interface and at least one of a wireless broadband network interface and a wired broadband network interface.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

encoding a communication request with a network access protocol destined to an interface having a different network access protocol;

translating the communication request into the different network access protocol; and

conveying the communication request over the interface via the different network access protocol.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the different access protocol is at least one of a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and a Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

14. A system for mobile broadband interface aggregation comprising:

a processor;

a volatile memory;

a bus connecting said processor, non-volatile memory, and volatile memory to each other, wherein the volatile memory comprises computer usable program code execute-able by said processor, said computer usable program code comprising;

a fusion engine able to route a network traffic associated with a communication stack over a plurality of network links, wherein the plurality of network links comprises of a mobile broadband network associated with a first protocol and at least one of a wireless broadband network interface associated with a second protocol and a wired broadband network interface associated with a third protocol, wherein the mobile broadband network is a network associated with a mobile phone network; and

a ruleset configured to selectively convert network access protocols associated with the network traffic protocols between the plurality of network interfaces.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a network interface manager configured to manage a plurality of network interfaces associated with the plurality of network links;

a data composer able to assemble and disassemble a communication request associated with the network traffic, wherein the network traffic is associated with the plurality of network interfaces;

a session handler capable of establishing a communication session between a source and at least one destination entity associated with the network traffic, wherein the communication session comprises of the communication request;

a flow controller configured to moderate the transmission speed of the communication session associated with the network traffic transmitted over the plurality of network links; and

a routing engine able to convey at least a portion of the communication request to the source entity and the at least one destination entity utilizing the plurality of network links.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the ruleset is at least one of a user setting, a manufacturer determined setting, and an automatically determined setting.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the fusion engine is executing within a gateway routing device.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the fusion engine is a component of a hardware implemented communication stack.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the fusion engine is a network driver residing within a operating system, wherein the operating system is at least one of a software and a firmware.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the fusion engine is a component of a hardware abstraction layer.

21. A computer program product comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to identify a network traffic associated with a communication request within a computing device, wherein the computing device comprises of a first communication stack and a second communication stack each with different network access protocols, wherein the first communication stack addresses a first network interface and the second communication stack addresses a second network interface within the computing device, wherein the first network interface is associated with a mobile broadband network and the second network interface is associated with a computing network, wherein the mobile broadband network is associated with a mobile phone network;

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to determine a first portion of the network traffic associated with the communication request to be conveyed to the first network interface and a second portion of the network traffic associated with the communication request to be conveyed to second network interface; and

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to simultaneously convey the first portion of network traffic to the mobile broadband network associated with the first network interface and the second portion of the network traffic associated with the second network interface.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the first and the second networks is associated with a first and second encryption technologies, wherein the first portion of the network traffic is encrypted with a first encryption technology associated with the first network and the second portion of the network traffic is encrypted with a second encryption technology associated with the second network.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to collect a metric associated with the first and second networks;

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to analyze the metric to determine a preferred network between the first and second networks; and

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to prioritize the preferred network for conveying network traffic responsive to the analyzing.

24. A computer program product comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to identify a plurality of network interfaces within a computing device, wherein the plurality of network interfaces comprises of at least one mobile broadband network interface, wherein the plurality of network interfaces are physically distinct network interfaces, wherein the mobile broadband network is associated with a mobile phone network, wherein at least two of the plurality of network interfaces is associated with a different network access protocol;

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to aggregate the plurality of network interfaces into a logical network interface, wherein the logical interface is associated with at least a network layer, wherein the network layer permits communication with a data link layer and an application layer, wherein the network layer, data link layer, and application layer are layers conforming to an Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) communication model; and

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to convey a networking traffic to the logical network interface, wherein the logical network interface transmits at least a portion of the network traffic to the at least two network interfaces comprising the plurality of network interfaces.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, further comprising:

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to determine a state change of a network interface comprising the plurality of network interfaces;

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to, when the state change results in the network interface becoming unresponsive, automatically disassociate the network interface from the logical network interface; and

computer usable program code stored on a tangible storage medium that when executed by a processor is operable to when the state change results in a network interface becoming responsive, automatically associate the network interface to the logical network interface.