Federated multiprotocol communication
First Claim
1. For use in a system comprising a plurality of wireless access points that are coupled via a wide area packet switched communication network to a network server that is implemented using one or more physical server platforms and is configured to manage roaming aspects of a wireless terminal apparatus as the wireless terminal apparatus roams into coverage areas supplied by different ones of the plurality of wireless access points, wherein the network server and the wireless terminal apparatus communicate via one or more paths through the wide area packet switched communication network at a transport layer or above, a method of server-side processing comprising:
- maintaining state information including an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is currently being provided wide area packet switched communication network access via a first wireless access point;
receiving from the wireless terminal apparatus via the first wireless access point a representation of a member of the group consisting of a set of GPS coordinates indicative of a current location of the wireless terminal apparatus in the vicinity of a second wireless access point and an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point are in radio contact range;
evaluating a performance criterion in connection with the first and second wireless access points in order to determine whether the second wireless access point better optimizes the performance criterion than the first wireless access point, wherein the performance criterion involves at least one user-preference parameter; and
in response to a determination that the performance criterion is better optimized by the second wireless access point, sending to at least one member of the group consisting of the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is to switch wireless access connectivity to the second wireless access point, to thereby facilitate a roam operation.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, apparatus, and business techniques are disclosed for use in distributed communication systems comprising a plurality of communication protocols. In one embodiment a first air interface is used to initiate communication between a wireless client and a remote server at least partially using a first wireless access point. The server sends the wireless client a stub of a distributed object. The stub is used to instantiate an object class. The object class defines an interface that the remote client can use to communicate with the remote server using an upper layer interface. The distributed object stub also provides an implementation of a software radio configuration for a set of lower protocol layers in a second air interface. The wireless client can thereby communicate with a second wireless access point using said second air interface protocol. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are disclosed that focus on toll-tag and electronic-commerce related highway systems, distributed federated wireless access systems, and wide area wireless system capacity augmentation.
87 Citations
32 Claims
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1. For use in a system comprising a plurality of wireless access points that are coupled via a wide area packet switched communication network to a network server that is implemented using one or more physical server platforms and is configured to manage roaming aspects of a wireless terminal apparatus as the wireless terminal apparatus roams into coverage areas supplied by different ones of the plurality of wireless access points, wherein the network server and the wireless terminal apparatus communicate via one or more paths through the wide area packet switched communication network at a transport layer or above, a method of server-side processing comprising:
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maintaining state information including an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is currently being provided wide area packet switched communication network access via a first wireless access point; receiving from the wireless terminal apparatus via the first wireless access point a representation of a member of the group consisting of a set of GPS coordinates indicative of a current location of the wireless terminal apparatus in the vicinity of a second wireless access point and an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point are in radio contact range; evaluating a performance criterion in connection with the first and second wireless access points in order to determine whether the second wireless access point better optimizes the performance criterion than the first wireless access point, wherein the performance criterion involves at least one user-preference parameter; and in response to a determination that the performance criterion is better optimized by the second wireless access point, sending to at least one member of the group consisting of the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is to switch wireless access connectivity to the second wireless access point, to thereby facilitate a roam operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. For use in a system comprising a plurality of wireless access points that are coupled via an Internet to an Internet server and a voice over Internet call setup server that are implemented using one or more physical server platforms distributed across one or more locations, and the Internet server is configured to manage roaming of a wireless terminal apparatus between coverage areas supplied by different ones of the plurality of wireless access points, wherein the Internet server and the wireless terminal apparatus communicate via one or more paths through the Internet at a transport layer or above, a method of server-side processing comprising:
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maintaining state information including an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is currently being provided Internet access via a first wireless access point; receiving from the wireless terminal apparatus via the first wireless access point a representation of a member of the group consisting of a set of GPS coordinates indicative of a current location of the wireless terminal apparatus in the vicinity of a second wireless access point and an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point are in radio contact range; evaluating a performance criterion in connection with the first and second wireless access points in order to determine whether the second wireless access point better optimizes the performance criterion than the first wireless access point, wherein the performance criterion involves at least one user-preference parameter; in response to a determination that the performance criterion is better optimized by the second wireless access point, sending to at least one member of the group consisting of the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is to switch wireless access connectivity to the second wireless access point, to thereby facilitate a handoff operation; and controlling the handoff operation to switch a voice telephony call from a cellular telephony call path to a voice-over-Internet call path; wherein the first wireless access point is a part of a cellular telephony communication system, the second wireless access point includes a gateway connection to the Internet and a wireless local area network air interface used to locally wirelessly communicate with the wireless terminal apparatus, and the wireless terminal is an endpoint of the voice telephony call. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. For use in a system comprising a plurality of wireless access points that are coupled via an Internet to a session initiation protocol (SIP) server and an Internet server that is implemented using one or more physical server platforms, the Internet server being configured to manage roaming of a wireless terminal apparatus between coverage areas supplied by different ones of the plurality of wireless access points, wherein the Internet server and the wireless terminal apparatus communicate via one or more paths through the Internet at a transport layer or above, a method of server-side processing comprising:
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maintaining state information including an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is currently being provided Internet access via a first wireless access point; receiving from the wireless terminal apparatus via the first wireless access point a representation of a member of the group consisting of a set of GPS coordinates indicative of a current location of the wireless terminal apparatus in the vicinity of a second wireless access point and an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point are in radio contact range; evaluating a performance criterion in connection with the first and second wireless access points in order to determine whether the second wireless access point better optimizes the performance criterion than the first wireless access point, wherein the performance criterion involves at least one user-preference parameter; in response to a determination that the performance criterion is better optimized by the second wireless access point, sending to at least one member of the group consisting of the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is to switch wireless access connectivity to the second wireless access point, to thereby facilitate a roam operation; and implementing at least a portion of the SIP protocol to set up an Internet telephony connection to be used by the wireless terminal apparatus in support of a voice telephony call over the Internet via the second wireless access point; wherein the first wireless access point is a part of a cellular telephony communication system and the second wireless access point comprises a gateway connection to the Internet and a wireless local area network air interface used to locally wirelessly communicate with the wireless terminal apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. For use in a system comprising a plurality of wireless access points that are coupled via a wide area packet switched communication network to a mobile internet protocol (mobile IP) server and a network server that is implemented using one or more physical server platforms and is configured to manage roaming of a wireless terminal apparatus between coverage areas supplied by different ones of the plurality of wireless access points, wherein the network server and the wireless terminal apparatus communicate via one or more paths through the wide area packet switched communication network at a transport layer or above, a method of processing in the network server comprising:
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maintaining state information including an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is currently being provided wide area packet switched communication network access via a first wireless access point; receiving from the wireless terminal apparatus via the first wireless access point a representation of a member of the group consisting of a set of GPS coordinates indicative of a current location of the wireless terminal apparatus in the vicinity of a second wireless access point and an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point are in radio contact range; evaluating a performance criterion in connection with the first and second wireless access points in order to determine whether the second wireless access point better optimizes the performance criterion than the first wireless access point, wherein the performance criterion involves at least one user-preference parameter; in response to a determination that the performance criterion is better optimized by the second wireless access point, sending to at least one member of the group consisting of the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus is to switch wireless access connectivity to the second wireless access point, to thereby facilitate a roam operation; and implementing at least a portion of a mobile IP addressing protocol and causing packet network traffic to be redirected to the wireless terminal apparatus via the second wireless access point after the roam operation is executed; wherein the first wireless access point is a part of a cellular telephony communication system, the second wireless access point includes a wireless local area network air interface used to locally wirelessly communicate with the wireless terminal apparatus and a gateway connection to the wide area packet switched communication network, and the second wireless access point supports mobile IP addressing. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. For use in a system comprising a plurality of wireless access points coupled to an Internet, wherein a wireless terminal apparatus communicates via the Internet at a transport layer or above with a roam management server system, a method comprising:
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receiving from the wireless terminal apparatus via a first wireless access point an indication that the wireless terminal apparatus and a second wireless access point are in radio contact range; determining whether a connection between the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point is superior to a connection between the wireless terminal apparatus and the first wireless access point, in accordance with one or more user specified criteria; and sending from the roam management server system to at least one of the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point an indication to switch from the connection between the wireless terminal apparatus and the first wireless access point to the connection between the wireless terminal apparatus and the second wireless access point in the event that it is determined that the connection to the second wireless access point is superior, to thereby facilitate a roam operation. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification