Wireless “whooper” system for consolidating wireless communication access points and client stations and providing differentiated wireless services

• US 7,974,248 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2005
• Issued: 07/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Viavi Solutions, Inc. (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Viavi Solutions, Inc. (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: Zanaty, Farouk M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan; Huy
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEREZ, JULIO R
• Application Number:
  US11/137,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20060268793A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,231 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/208, 370/437, 370/443, 370/230, 725/105, 709/239
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/26 by agreed or negotiated communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A Wireless Whooper system for use in wireless networks is provided with a collection of wireless client stations arranged to transmit and receive wireless streams of information, and wireless Access Points (APs) arranged to wirelessly link with the wireless client stations, each supporting a group of wireless client stations; and a supervisory processing unit (SPU) arranged to monitor and dynamically switch between available wireless APs, forward and transmit streams of information through the wireless networks. Such a supervisory processing unit (SPU) can be installed as a separate control device or integrated within each wireless AP to handle the dynamic switching and routing of streams of information between available wireless APs within the system. This way the Wireless Whooper system can advantageously provide high quality differentiated wireless services and capabilities to dynamically change a single wireless traffic stream between any single source and destination to multiple streams via other existing wireless elements (e.g., wireless Access Points “APs” and client stations).

Claims

1. A Wireless Whooper system for use in wireless networks, comprising:

a plurality of wireless client stations arranged to transmit and receive wireless streams of information;

one or more wireless Access Points (APs) arranged to provide wireless links with the wireless client stations, each supporting a group of wireless client stations; and

a supervisory processing unit (SPU) arranged to monitor and dynamically switch between available wireless APs, forward and transmit streams of information through the wireless networks;

wherein the supervisory processing unit (SPU) is configured to dynamically allocate and withdraw designated client stations that receive the wireless information, set priorities and privileges on what wireless streams of information to be transmitted and at what order to and from specific sources and destinations based on differentiated services, and is provided with controllable roaming mechanisms between a particular wireless client station that has traffic to be forwarded to a next service coverage area, and is configured to check available bandwidths, nearest wireless hop among other factors based on traffic priority and direct the roaming between different coverage areas.

2. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supervisory processing unit (SPU) is provided with wireless quality of service (QoS) differentiation and traffic forwarding mechanisms to oversee all quality of service (QoS) traffic differentiation, dynamic switching and traffic forwarding between available wireless APs within the system, and is installed as a separate control device or integrated within each wireless AP to handle the dynamic switching and routing of streams of information between available wireless APs within the system.

3. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are configured to operate in an Ad-Hoc mode, where client stations exchange bi-directional traffic between each one and all others without the need of wireless APs, and to operate in an Infrastructure mode, where the client stations exchange bi-directional traffic, via the wireless APs.

4. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are arranged in various configurations, including unidirectional, partially meshed, unidirectional fully meshed, bi-directional partially meshed or bi-directionally fully meshed configurations for operation in both the Infrastructure mode and the Ad-Hoc mode.

5. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are arranged in a Star-Meshed configuration for operation in an Infrastructure mode, where designated wireless client stations send and receive wireless information to and from a single wireless AP.

6. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are arranged in a Fully-Meshed configuration for operation in both the Ad-Hoc mode and the Infrastructure mode, where wireless APs and wireless client stations send and receive wireless information to and from each other.

7. A Wireless Whooper system for use in wireless networks, comprising:

a plurality of wireless client stations arranged to transmit and receive wireless streams of information;

one or more wireless Access Points (APs) arranged to provide wireless links with the wireless client stations, each supporting a group of wireless client stations; and

a supervisory processing unit (SPU) arranged to monitor and dynamically switch between available wireless APs, forward and transmit streams of information through the wireless networks;

wherein the supervisory processing unit (SPU) is further configured to forward the wireless streams of information based on different categories of importance, including;

(1) Priority and QoS flags;

(2) Time in queue;

(3) Throughput;

(4) Latency at Throughput values;

(5) Relative hops based on current transfer point and final destination; and

(6) Handoff/Roaming to the most available wireless APs and client stations.

8. A Wireless Whooper system for use in wireless networks, comprising:

a plurality of wireless client stations arranged to transmit and receive wireless streams of information;

one or more wireless Access Points (APs) arranged to provide wireless links with the wireless client stations, each supporting a group of wireless client stations; and

a supervisory processing unit (SPU) arranged to monitor and dynamically switch between available wireless APs, forward and transmit streams of information through the wireless networks;

wherein the supervisory processing unit (SPU) is provided with a QoS Differentiating Routing Engine comprising a time-in-queue differentiator and a prioritizer configured to receive wireless streams of information from different wireless networks or from different sources within the system, and route differentiated traffic based on different methods based on;

(1) predefined priorities, and (2) an elapsed time in an internal queue which determines the priority of the wireless streams information and, consequently, the order of forwarding the wireless streams of information.

9. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the QoS Differentiating Routing Engine is further configured to switch between an Ad-Hoc mode of operation and an Infrastructure mode of operation, depending upon whether wireless client stations communicate among themselves, or via corresponding wireless APs.

10. A Wireless Whooper system for use in wireless networks, comprising:

one or more wireless Access Points (APs) arranged in communication with a distribution system, each wireless AP supporting a group of wireless client stations to transmit and receive wireless streams of information; and

a supervisory processing unit (SPU) provided in each wireless AP, to monitor and differentiate different types of wireless streams of information, to dynamically switch and forward differentiated streams of information between available wireless APs in the wireless networks;

wherein the supervisory processing unit (SPU) is configured to dynamically allocate and withdraw designated client stations that receive the wireless information, set priorities and privileges on what wireless streams of information to be transmitted and at what order to and from specific sources and destinations based on differentiated services, and is provided with controllable roaming mechanisms between a particular wireless client station that has traffic to be forwarded to a next service coverage area, and is configured to check available bandwidths, nearest wireless hop among other factors based on traffic priority and direct the roaming between different coverage areas.

11. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are configured to operate in an Ad-Hoc mode, where client stations exchange bi-directional traffic between each one and all others without the need of wireless APs, and to operate in an Infrastructure mode, where the client stations exchange bi-directional traffic, via the wireless APs.

12. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are arranged in various configurations, including unidirectional, partially meshed, unidirectional fully meshed, bi-directional partially meshed or bi-directionally fully meshed configurations for operation in both the Infrastructure mode and the Ad-Hoc mode.

13. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are arranged in a Star-Meshed configuration for operation in an Infrastructure mode, where designated wireless client stations send and receive wireless information to and from a single wireless AP.

14. The Wireless Whooper system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the wireless APs and client stations are arranged in a Fully-Meshed configuration for operation in both the Ad-Hoc mode and the Infrastructure mode, where wireless APs and wireless client stations send and receive wireless information to and from each other.

15. A Wireless Whooper system for use in wireless networks, comprising:

one or more wireless Access Points (APs) arranged in communication with a distribution system, each wireless AP supporting a group of wireless client stations to transmit and receive wireless streams of information; and

a supervisory processing unit (SPU) provided in each wireless AP, to monitor and differentiate different types of wireless streams of information, to dynamically switch and forward differentiated streams of information between available wireless APs in the wireless networks;

wherein the supervisory processing unit (SPU) is further configured to forward the wireless streams of information based on different categories of importance, including;

(1) Priority and QoS flags;

(2) Time in queue;

(3) Throughput;

(4) Latency at Throughput values;

(5) Relative hops based on current transfer point and final destination; and

(6) Handoff/Roaming to the most available wireless APs and client stations.

16. A Wireless Whooper system for use in wireless networks, comprising:

one or more wireless Access Points (APs) arranged in communication with a distribution system, each wireless AP supporting a group of wireless client stations to transmit and receive wireless streams of information; and

a supervisory processing unit (SPU) provided in each wireless AP, to monitor and differentiate different types of wireless streams of information, to dynamically switch and forward differentiated streams of information between available wireless APs in the wireless networks;

wherein the supervisory processing unit (SPU) is provided with a QoS Differentiating Routing Engine comprising a time-in-queue differentiator and a prioritizer configured to receive wireless streams of information from different wireless networks or from different sources within the system, and route differentiated traffic based on different methods based on;

(1) predefined priorities, and (2) an elapsed time in an internal queue which determines the priority of the wireless streams information and, consequently, the order of forwarding the wireless streams of information; and

wherein the QoS Differentiating Routing Engine is further configured to switch between an Ad-Hoc mode of operation and an Infrastructure mode of operation, depending upon whether wireless client stations communicate among themselves, or via corresponding wireless APs.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a wireless Access Point (AP) in a Wireless Whooper system having a collection of wireless APs and wireless client stations, cause the wireless AP to perform the steps of:

receiving an incoming wireless stream of information from different wireless networks;

differentiating the incoming wireless stream of information as a traffic type including voice, video, data and email; and

routing a differentiated traffic based on different categories that include (1) predefined priorities, and (2) an elapse time in an internal queue which determines the priority of wireless streams and the order of forwarding the wireless streams of information

wherein the predefined priorities define that a voice traffic has a highest priority, a video traffic has a next highest priority, a data traffic has a higher priority than an e-mail traffic, and the priority of each traffic type determines which wireless stream is to be forwarded to different wireless networks in a specified order.