Federated multiprotocol communication
First Claim
1. For use in a system comprising at least a first wireless access point that uses a first air interface protocol and a second wireless access point that uses a second air interface protocol, wherein the first and second wireless access points are both coupled to an Internet, at least one member of the group consisting of the mobile unit, the first wireless access point and the second wireless access point communicates via the Internet at a transport layer or above with a roam management server system to facilitate a system-level handoff operation from the first wireless access point to the second wireless access point, and the mobile unit couples to the Internet using a first connection via the first wireless access point prior to the system-level handoff operation, a method comprising:
- receiving at the roam management server system an indication of an event that identifies the second wireless access point as a potential point of attachment for the mobile unit;
determining whether a second connection between the mobile unit and the second wireless access point is preferable to the first connection, wherein the determining is performed by the roam management server system in accordance with an optimization strategy; and
sending from the roam management server system to the mobile unit an indication to switch from the first connection to the second connection in the event that the roam management server system determines that the second connection is preferable.
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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. A remote server aids in roaming by downloading to the mobile unit a software module that supports a communication protocol feature for use by the mobile unit to aid in communication after the roam operation. 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.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. For use in a system comprising at least a first wireless access point that uses a first air interface protocol and a second wireless access point that uses a second air interface protocol, wherein the first and second wireless access points are both coupled to an Internet, at least one member of the group consisting of the mobile unit, the first wireless access point and the second wireless access point communicates via the Internet at a transport layer or above with a roam management server system to facilitate a system-level handoff operation from the first wireless access point to the second wireless access point, and the mobile unit couples to the Internet using a first connection via the first wireless access point prior to the system-level handoff operation, a method comprising:
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receiving at the roam management server system an indication of an event that identifies the second wireless access point as a potential point of attachment for the mobile unit; determining whether a second connection between the mobile unit and the second wireless access point is preferable to the first connection, wherein the determining is performed by the roam management server system in accordance with an optimization strategy; and sending from the roam management server system to the mobile unit an indication to switch from the first connection to the second connection in the event that the roam management server system determines that the second connection is preferable. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. For use in a system comprising at least a first wireless access point that uses a first air interface protocol and a second wireless access point that uses a second air interface protocol, wherein the first and second wireless access points are coupled to at least respective members of the group consisting of an Internet and a terrestrial cellular communications network, at least one member of the group consisting of the mobile unit, the first wireless access point and the second wireless access point communicates via the Internet at a transport layer or above with a remote server system to facilitate a system-level handoff operation from the first wireless access point to the second wireless access point, and the mobile unit couples to a remote telephony endpoint via a first connection between the mobile unit and the first wireless access point prior to the system-level handoff operation, a method comprising:
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receiving at the remote server system an indication of an event tat identifies the second wireless access point as a potential point of attachment for the mobile unit; determining whether a second connection between the mobile unit and the second wireless access point is preferable to the first connection, wherein the determining is performed by the remote server system in accordance with an optimization strategy; and sending from the remote server system at the transport layer or above an indication for the mobile unit to perform the inter-system handoff operation from the first connection to the second connection in the event that the remote server system determines that the second connection is preferable. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. For use in a system comprising at least a first wireless access point that uses a first air interface protocol and a second wireless access point that uses a second air interface protocol, wherein the first and second wireless access points are coupled to at least respective members of the group consisting of an Internet and a terrestrial cellular communications network, at least one member of the group consisting of the mobile unit, the first wireless access point and the second wireless access point communicates via the Internet at a transport layer or above with a remote server system to facilitate a system-level handoff operation from the first wireless access point to the second wireless access point, and the mobile unit couples to a remote telephony endpoint via a first connection between the mobile unit and the first wireless access point prior to the system-level handoff operation, a method comprising:
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receiving at the remote server system an indication that the second wireless access point is a potential point of attachment for the mobile unit; determining whether a second connection between the mobile unit and the second wireless access point is preferable to the first connection, wherein the determining is performed in accordance with an optimization strategy; and the mobile unit, in response to an indication from the remote server system, switching a wireless access call leg from the first connection to the second connection; wherein the switching includes reconfiguring a protocol stack in the mobile unit by changing between at least one first protocol-stack lower layer that implements at least a portion of the first air interface protocol and at least one second protocol-stack lower layer that implements at least a portion of the second air interface protocol, and by changing between at least one first upper layer function that implements at least a portion of a circuit switched voice telephony audio processing function and at least one second upper layer that implements at least a portion of a packet switched voice-over-Internet (VoIP) telephony audio processing function; wherein one of the first and second air interface protocols is a circuit-switched terrestrial cellular voice telephony air interface protocol and the other one of the first and second air interface protocols is a packet-switched wireless local area network air interface protocol that supports the transmission of VoIP packets; and wherein the switching from the first connection to the second connection is performed while substantially maintaining voice connectivity of a voice call between the mobile unit and the remote telephony endpoint, and the voice call passes through the wireless access call leg both before and after the switching, to thereby provide a seamless call handoff of the voice call. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification