Multi-access terminal with capability for simultaneous connectivity to multiple communication channels

• US 7,539,175 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2005
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Trustees of The Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens Institute Of Technology)
• Original Assignee: The Trustees of The Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens Institute Of Technology)
• Inventors: Girard, Nicolas, White, Patrick E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Karikari; Kwasi
• Application Number:
  US11/283,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20060193295A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.2, 370/329, 370/352, 370/469, 370/338, 370/350
• US Class Current: 370/350
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• 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 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

An apparatus is disclosed for permitting a mobile terminal having multiple, heterogeneous network connections (e.g., multiple wired or wireless transceivers of various types) to set up and maintain virtual connections over multiple networks to either the same or to multiple destinations. The mobile terminal can “load-share” traffic, i.e., it can distribute segments of traffic over a full set of heterogeneous networks, significantly improving the reliability and availability of communications. In a first embodiment, a mobile terminal is configured with multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers. Operating system software is provided for dynamically establishing and maintaining traffic flow for user applications over multiple communications paths, and for automatically adapting to variations in the networking environment, application traffic flow requirements, end user preferences, or mobility. In a second embodiment, a software-defined radio is used to implement the physical layer protocols for each desired network, eliminating the need for multiple transceivers.

Claims

1. A multi-access system adapted for allowing communication between a first system and a second system, said multi-access system comprising:

first means for receiving and transmitting data using a plurality of communications protocols; and

second means for establishing a plurality of communications paths with the use of said first means, each of said communications paths having an available network capacity, and at least some of said communications paths forming an aggregated communications pipe over which the first system can communicate with the second system, said second means being configured to allow communication between the first system and the second system through the simultaneous use of at least two of said at least some of said communications paths such that data streams can be transmitted simultaneously over said at least two communications paths and such that the overall network capacity available for the transmission of the data streams is thereby greater than the network capacity of any one of said at least two communications paths,

wherein said second means is configured to simultaneously transmit a first one of the data streams over one of said at least two communications paths and a second one of the data streams over another of said at least two communications paths, the first one of the data streams and the second one of the data streams being associated with a single application.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an application awareness layer module for extracting traffic flow requirements from the first system.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a profile and policy manager module for storing theoretical and real-time application profiles, theoretical and real-time information about networks connected to said multi-access system, and mobility triggering events.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said second means includes a decision engine for distributing traffic across said at least some of said communications paths.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said decision engine. aggregates and prioritizes said at least some of said communications paths, monitors communications performance across said at least some of said communications paths, adjusts traffic across said at least some of said communications paths in response to a mobility trigger event, performs multi-path routing of traffic across said at least some of said communications paths, and implements an optimal path graph for selecting an optimal communications path from said at least some of said communications paths.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein said second means includes a connection management module for establishing and maintaining said communications paths, and for establishing a new communications path through the use of said first means.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said connection management module generates a trigger event in response to a status change in one of said at least some of said communications paths.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said status change further includes an onset of congestion, a link failure, channel interference, and degradation in quality of service (QoS).

9. The system of claim 7, wherein said second means includes a virtual routing support subsystem for routing traffic flows across said at least some of said communications paths.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said second means includes a multi-homing protocol for communicating across said at least some of said communications paths, said multi-homing protocol including Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and a TCP-to-SCTP proxy module for translating TCP application traffic into SCTP traffic for transmission across said at least some of said communications paths.

11. The multi-access system of claim 1, further comprising an analog radio connected to said multi-access system for communicating voice information to a second analog radio at a remote location.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said first means includes a plurality of wireless network transceivers, each of which is configured for receiving and transmitting data using one of said communications protocols.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said plurality of wireless network transceivers includes a transceiver selected from the group consisting of an Ethernet transceiver, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) transceiver, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) transceiver, a 1XRTT transceiver, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) transceiver, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UTMS) transceiver, a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) transceiver, a High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSPDA) transceiver, a satellite transceiver, an Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) transceiver, and a cellular telephone transceiver.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said first means includes a software defined radio.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein said second means includes an application flow detection and profiling module for detecting and profiling traffic flow requirements.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the network capacity of each of said communications oaths includes at least one of a bandwidth, a quality of service, a latency, a jitter and an error rate.

17. A method adapted in a multi-access system for providing communication between a first system and a second system, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from the first system for communication with the second system;

operating a plurality of communications protocols to establish a plurality of communications paths, each of the communications paths having an available network capacity;

using at least some of the communications paths to form an aggregated communications pipe over which the first communication system can communicate with the second system;

allowing communication between the first system and the second system through the simultaneous use of at least two of the at least some of the communications paths such that data streams can be transmitted simultaneously over the at least two communications oaths and such that the overall network capacity available for the transmission of the data streams is thereby greater than the network capacity of any one of the at least two communications paths,

wherein said allowing step includes the step of simultaneously transmitting a first one of the data streams over one of the at least two communications oaths and a second one of the data streams over another of the at least two communications oaths the first one of the data streams and the second one of the data streams being associated with a single application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said using step includes the step of establishing a virtual link to said second system using a multi-homing protocol across a plurality of wireless network transceivers, said method further comprising the step of establishing a new communications path to the second system when one or more of the plurality of wireless network transceivers is suitable for communications.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said multi-homing protocol further includes a Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and a multi-streaming protocol.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of encapsulating TCP/IP packets into SCTP packets for transmission across the at least two of the at least some of the communications paths, detecting and profiling traffic flow requirements, extracting traffic flow requirements using an Application Programming Interface (API), storing theoretical and real-time application profiles in a database, storing theoretical and real-time information about connected networks, distributing traffic across the at least some of the communications paths, aggregating and prioritizing the at least some of the communications paths, monitoring communications performance across the at least some of the communications paths, and adjusting traffic across the at least some of the communications paths in response to a trigger event.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said trigger event further includes a decision to switch traffic from one of said communications paths to another, an onset of congestion, a link failure, channel interference, and degradation in quality of service (QoS).

22. The method of claim 17, the network capacity of each of said communications paths includes at least one of a bandwidth, a quality of service, a latency, a jitter and an error rate.

23. A multi-access system adapted for allowing communication between a first system and a second system, said multi-access system comprising:

a receiving and transmitting system for receiving and transmitting data using a plurality of communications protocols; and

a controller for establishing a plurality of communications paths with the use of said receiving and transmitting system, each of said communications paths having an available network capacity, and at least some of said communications paths forming an aggregated communications pipe over which the first system can communicate with the second system, said controller being configured to allow communication between the first system and the second system through the simultaneous use of at least two of said at least some of said communications paths such that data streams can be transmitted simultaneously over said at least two communications paths and such that the overall network capacity available for the transmission of the data streams is thereby greater than the network capacity of any one of said at least two communications paths,

wherein said controller is configured to simultaneously transmit a first one of the data streams over one of said at least two communications paths and a second one of the data streams over another of said at least two communications paths, the first one of the data streams and the second one of the data streams being associated with a single application.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the network capacity of each of said communications paths includes at least one of a bandwidth, a quality of service, a latency, a jitter and an error rate.