Method and apparatus for adaptive wireless information handling system bridging

• US 7,145,892 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2002
• Issued: 12/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Mehta, Pratik Mukundray, Quinn, William Bernard, Sicher, Alan Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chau
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rose, Kerri M.
• Application Number:
  US10/090,966
• Publication Number:
  US 20030169696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,736 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/315, 370/351, 370/401, 370/328, 370/338, 455/11.1, 455/500
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for creating a wireless communication bridge. In one embodiment, the method includes identifying a first group of information handling systems that can establish a wireless connection with a network, selecting a first information handling system from the first group of information handling systems, establishing a first connection with the first information handling system, establishing a second connection between the first information handling system and the network, and communicating with the network via the first and second connections. In one embodiment, the first group of information handling systems is ranked according to a group of communication-related parameters, and the first information handling system is selected based on the group of communication-related parameters.

Claims

1. A method of adaptive wireless bridging for bridging a mobile information handling system to a stationary (WLAN) network, comprising:

using programming of the information handling system to;

identify one or more bridging-peer systems that can establish a wireless communication connection with the network;

select a bridging-peer system from the one or more bridging-peer systems;

wherein the selecting step is performed by giving preference to a wired bridging-peer system, if any;

establish a first communication connection between the selected bridging-peer system and said information handling system;

using programming of the selected bridging-peer system to establish a second communication connection between said selected bridging-peer system and said network; and

using programming of the information handling system to communicate with the network via the first and second wireless communication connections;

wherein if the selected bridging-peer system is to go off line of the first connection, using programming of the selected bridging-peer system to send a message to the information handling system that the selected bridging-peer system will go off line; and

using programming of the information handling system to identify a second bridging-peer system from said first plurality of information handling systems, and to establish a third communication connection between the information handling system and said second bridging-peer system, and

using programming of the second bridging-peer system to establish a fourth communication connection between said second bridging-peer system and said network;

using programming of the information handling system to communicate with the network via the third and fourth communication connections.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said bridging-peer system is selected based on a plurality of communication-related parameters.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said one or more bridging-peer systems are ranked according to said plurality of communication-related parameters.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein one of said plurality of communication-related parameters is a radio signal quality of said first communication connection.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein one of said plurality of communication-related parameters is a data throughput rate of the first communication connection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said second communication connection with said network comprises a plurality of individual communication connections between a plurality of bridging-peer systems.

7. An information handling system comprising:

a processor;

a memory system coupled to said processor, wherein said memory stores instructions executable by the processor to perform a method, the method comprising;

identifying one or more bridging-peer systems that can establish a communication connection with the network;

selecting a bridging-peer system from the one or more bridging-peer systems;

wherein the selecting step is performed by giving preference to a wired bridging-peer system, if any;

establishing a first communication connection between the selected bridging-peer system and said information handling system;

communicating with the network via the first communication connection and a second communication connection between the selected bridging-peer system and the network;

wherein if the selected bridging-peer system is to go off line of the first connection, receiving a message from the selected bridging-peer system informing the information handling system that the selected bridging-peer system will go off line;

identifying a second bridging-peer system from said one or more bridging-peer systems, and establishing a third communication connection between the information handling system and said second bridging-peer system, and

communicating with the network via the third communication connection and a fourth communication connection between the second bridging-peer system and the network.

8. The information handling system of claim 7, wherein the method further includes selecting bridging-peer system based on a plurality of communication communication-related parameters.

9. The information handling system of claim 7, wherein one of said plurality of communication communication-related parameters is radio signal quality of a wireless communication connection.

10. The information handling system of claim 7, wherein one of said plurality of communication-related parameters is data throughput rate of a wireless communication connection.

11. The information handling system of claim 7, wherein said second connection with said network comprises a plurality of individual connections between a plurality of bridging-peer systems.

12. A computer readable medium storing a set of instructions executable on a computer system to implement a method, the method comprising:

identifying one or more bridging-peer systems that can establish a communication connection with the network;

selecting a bridging-peer system from the one or more bridging-peer systems;

wherein the selecting step is performed by giving preference to a wired bridging-peer system, if any;

establishing a first communication connection between the selected bridging-peer system and said computer system;

communicating with the network via the first communication connection and a second communication connection between the selected bridging-peer system and the network;

wherein if the selected bridging-peer system is to go off line of the first connection, receiving a message from the selected bridging-peer system informing the information handling system that the selected bridging-peer system will go off line;

identifying a second bridging-peer system from said one or more bridging-peer systems, and establishing a third communication connection between the information handling system and said second bridging-peer system, and

communicating with the network via the third communication connection and a fourth communication connection between the second bridging-peer system and the network.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises monitoring said first communication connection with said bridging-peer system.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein said set of instructions is further configured to:

if said first communication connection with said selected bridging-peer system does not conform to a plurality of communication-related parameters,

identifying another bridging-peer system from said one or more bridging-peer systems;

establishing a second connection between said information handling system and said another bridging-peer system;

communicating with the network via the first information handling system and the second connection.