System and method of communication protocols in communication systems

• US 8,654,780 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2012
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AirHop Communications, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AirHop Communications, Inc.
• Inventors: On, Hanson, Hui, Yan
• Primary Examiner(s): ABELSON, RONALD B
• Application Number:
  US13/433,566
• Publication Number:
  US 20120243548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 691 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/328, 370/419
• US Class Current: 370/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00

Abstract

Systems and methods for implementing and designing protocols in such communications systems which can be wireless or wired. The systems and methods can include fundamental changes in the traditional protocol design approaches with their constraints of one-to-one mapping in protocols. By doing so, embodiments of the present invention enable an efficient way to design and implement a system to support single or multiple protocols.

Claims

1. A multiple physical layer communication system comprising:

a network layer providing a communication interface to at least one application;

a data link layer in communication with the network layer and transmitting data to and from the network layer and routing said data between adjacent nodes on the network according to a data link layer protocol;

an entity management module comprising;

a network unified application program interface (Network UAPI) to provide communication between the network layer and the data link layer,

a data link layer unified application program interface (DLL UAPI) providing communication between the data link layer and a first physical layer and a second physical layer,

a physical layer unified application program interface (PHY UAPI) providing communication between the first physical layer and the second physical layer and the data link layer;

wherein the entity management module is configured to request an amount of network data from the network layer via the Network UAPI for the first physical layer and the second physical layer;

wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver data received from the network layer to the data link layer through a plurality of input/output ports of the data link layer;

wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver data received from the plurality of input/output ports of the data link layer to the first physical layer and the second physical layer via the DLL UAPI;

wherein the entity management module is further configured to receive data from the first physical layer and the second physical layer and deliver the received data to the data link layer;

wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver data received from the network layer to the data link layer via the Network UAPI;

wherein the first physical layer is using a different physical layer standard from the second physical layer;

wherein the data link layer receives the data from the first physical layer and the second physical layer at a same time;

wherein a number of layers of the data link layer is less than a number of layers of the first and the second physical layers;

wherein maximum data throughput of the network layer is greater than maximum data throughput of each of the first physical layer or the second physical layer; and

wherein the entity management module is further configured to open and close the plurality of input/output ports of the data link layer and map the plurality of input/output ports to the first physical layer and the second physical layer.

2. The multiple physical layer communication system of claim 1, wherein the first physical layer and the second physical layer initiate data transmission by sending a request to the data link layer.

3. The multiple physical layer communication system of claim 1, wherein during transmission, the entity management module performs a protocol compliant function on each input/output port independently, the protocol compliant function being multiplexing or ciphering.

4. A multiple data link layer communication system comprising:

a network layer providing a communication interface to at least one application;

a first data link layer in communication with the network layer and transmitting data to and from the network layer and routing said data between adjacent nodes on the network according to a first data link layer protocol;

a second data link layer in communication with the network layer and transmitting data to and from the network layer and routing said data between adjacent nodes on the network according to a second data link layer protocol;

an entity management module, wherein the entity module comprises;

a network unified application program interface (Network UAPI) to provide communication between the network layer and the first data link layer via a data link layer unified application program interface (DLL UAPI) and to provide communication between the network layer and the second data link layer via the DLL UAPI;

the data link layer unified application program interface (DLL UAPI) to provide communication between the network layer via the Network UAPI and the first data link layer and the second data link layer and to provide communication between the first data link layer and the second data link layer and the physical layer via a physical layer unified application program interface (PHY UAPI); and

the physical layer unified application program interface (PHY UAPI) providing communication between the first data link layer and a physical layer and the second data link layer and the physical layer via the DLL UAPI,

wherein the entity management module is configured to determine, for a first set of data received from the network layer, which data link layer to deliver the first set of data to;

wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver data received from the first data link layer and the second data link layer to the physical layer via the PHY UAPI;

wherein the entity management module is further configured to determine, for a second set of data received from the physical layer, which data link layer to deliver the second set of data to;

wherein the first data link layer protocol is different from the second data link layer protocol;

wherein a number of layers of the physical layer is less than a number of layers of the first and the second data link layers;

wherein maximum data throughput of the physical layer is greater than maximum data throughput of the first data link layer or the second data link layer; and

wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver the data received from the first data link layer and the second data link layer to the physical layer via a protocol compliant function, the protocol compliant function being multiplexing or ciphering.

5. The multiple data link layer communication system of claim 4, wherein during reception, the physical layer delivers received data to the entity management module via the PHY UAPI.

6. The multiple data link layer communication system of claim 4, wherein the entity management module is further configured to deliver the data received from the physical layer to the first data link layer and the second data link layer via another protocol compliant function, the other protocol compliant function being demultiplexing or deciphering.