Shared Wi-Fi / wireless broadband access

• US 8,385,224 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2010
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Pasko, Douglas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): HYUN, SOON D
• Application Number:
  US12/888,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20120076009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 887 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A subscriber device detects a potential node for providing supplemental bandwidth to the subscriber device. The subscriber device sends, to a control server, an indication of the potential node. The subscriber device requests, via a primary data path, data from a content server and detects high bandwidth usage of the primary data path. The subscriber device sends, to the control server and based on the detected high bandwidth usage, a request for supplemental bandwidth. The subscriber device receives a portion of the data via the primary data path and another portion of the data from the potential node via a secondary data path that differs from the primary data path.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, by a subscriber device, one or more potential boost nodes for providing supplemental bandwidth to the subscriber device;

sending, by the subscriber device and to a control server, a list of the one or more potential boost nodes;

requesting, by the subscriber device and via a primary data path, data from a content server;

sending, by the subscriber device and to the control server, a request for supplemental bandwidth; and

receiving, by the subscriber device, a portion of the requested data via the primary data path and another portion of the data from one of the one or more potential boost nodes via a secondary data path that differs from the primary data path.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the subscriber device, high bandwidth usage of the primary data path, where sending the request is based on the detecting the high bandwidth usage.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

merging the portion of the data received via the primary data path with the other portion of the data received via the secondary data path.

4. The method of claim 1, where the primary data path is a digital subscriber line (DSL) path, and where the secondary data path is a wireless path.

5. The method of claim 1, where the one or more potential boost nodes comprise one or more of:

a dedicated wireless access point for providing supplemental bandwidth,

another subscriber device, or

a portable wireless device.

6. The method of claim 5, where the one or more potential boost nodes provide the supplemental bandwidth via a wireless network connection.

7. The method of claim 6, where the wireless network connection is a downlink connection.

8. The method of claim 1, where the other portion of the data received via the secondary data path is encrypted, and where a decryption key for the encrypted data is received via the primary data path.

9. The method of claim 1, where the request for supplemental bandwidth includes one or more of:

an identifier for the subscriber device,

an identifier for the content server,

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) session information,

an estimated duration for the request for supplemental bandwidth,

a requested supplemental bandwidth amount, or

information about the requested data from the content server.

10. A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by the computing device and from a subscriber device, a list of potential boost nodes for providing supplemental bandwidth to the subscriber device;

monitoring, by the computing device, availability of the potential boost nodes;

receiving, by the computing device and from the subscriber device, a request for supplemental bandwidth;

selecting, by the computing device and based on the monitoring, an available node from the list of potential boost nodes; and

sending, by the computing device and to a network device, split-path instructions to;

route a portion of data from a content server to the subscriber device via a primary data path associated with the subscriber device, and

route a different portion of the data from the content server to the subscriber device via the selected available node via a secondary data path that differs from the primary data path.

11. The computing device-implemented method of claim 10, where monitoring the availability of the potential boost nodes includes identifying real-time bandwidth usage of each of the potential boost nodes.

12. The computing device-implemented method of claim 10, where selecting an available boost node from the list of potential boost nodes includes:

ranking the potential boost nodes, from the list of potential boost nodes, based on one or more of;

a type of the potential boost node,

an available bandwidth capacity of the potential boost node,

a total bandwidth capacity of the potential boost node, or

network usage costs for the subscriber device; and

selecting a highest ranked potential boost node.

13. The computing device-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

sending, by the computing device and via the primary data path, a decryption key to enable the subscriber device to decrypt the different portion of the data from the selected available node.

14. The computing device-implemented method of claim 10, where the request for supplemental bandwidth includes one or more of:

an identifier for the subscriber device,

an identifier for the content server,

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) session information,

an estimated duration for the request for supplemental bandwidth,

a requested supplemental bandwidth amount, or

information about the requested data from the content server.

15. A subscriber device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

detect a potential boost node for providing supplemental bandwidth to the subscriber device,

send, to a control server, an indication of the potential boost node,

request, via a primary data path, data from a content server,

detect high bandwidth usage of the primary data path,

send, to the control server and based on the detected high bandwidth usage, a request for supplemental bandwidth, and

receive a portion of the data via the primary data path and another portion of the data from the potential boost node via a secondary data path that differs from the primary data path.

16. The subscriber device of claim 15, where the primary data path is a digital subscriber line (DSL) and where the secondary data path is a wireless data path.

17. The subscriber device of claim 16, where the other portion of the data is encrypted, and where the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

receive, via the primary data path, a decryption key for the encrypted data, and

decrypt the other portion of the data received from the potential boost node.

18. The subscriber device of claim 15, where the subscriber device includes one of:

a home router,

a personal computer,

a laptop computer,

a Voice over IP (VoIP) device,

a personal communications system (PCS) terminal,

a personal digital assistant (PDA),

a smart phone, or

a gaming system.

19. A server device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

receive, from a subscriber device, a list of potential boost nodes for providing supplemental bandwidth to the subscriber device,

monitor availability of the potential boost nodes,

receive, from the subscriber device, a request for supplemental bandwidth,

select, based on the monitoring, an available node from the list of potential boost nodes; and

send, to a network device, a split-path instruction to;

route a portion of data from a content server to the subscriber device via a wired data path associated with the subscriber device, and

route a different portion of the data from the content server to the subscriber device via the selected available node along a wireless data path.

20. The device of claim 19, where the available node is one of:

a WiFi router,

a wireless access point,

a wireless adapter,

a base station, or

a wireless broadband unit.

21. The device of claim 19, where the other portion of the data is encrypted, and where the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

send, to the subscriber device and via the primary data path, a decryption key for the encrypted data.

22. The device of claim 19, where, when selecting the available node from the list of potential boost nodes, the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

rank the available nodes, and

select a highest ranked available node from the list of potential boost nodes.