Techniques for Wi-Fi acceleration in residential gateways

• US 8,804,533 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2010
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Podlyas, Yuri, Benamar, Gil, Levy, Yoav, Tal, Doron
• Primary Examiner(s): LI, GUANG W
• Application Number:
  US12/979,587
• Publication Number:
  US 20120163183A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 370/241
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels

Abstract

A method for acceleration of wireless communication in a residential gateway, the residential gateway enables communication between a plurality of subscriber devices connected in a wireless local area network (WLAN) and a passive optical network (PON). The method comprises pre-configuring a wireless controller to intercept networking functions programmed in a wireless stack of a wireless driver, wherein the wireless controller and the wireless driver are components of a kernel of an operating system executed by a host processor; monitoring system calls initiated by the wireless driver to the kernel; for each monitored system call, checking if a system call is a request for a networking function; and forwarding the system call for a network function to a packet processor.

Claims

1. A method for acceleration of wireless communication in a residential gateway, the residential gateway enabling communication between a plurality of subscriber devices connected in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the method comprising:

pre-configuring a controller to intercept a networking function programmed in a stack of a driver, wherein the controller and the driver are components of a kernel of an operating system executed by a host processor;

monitoring a system call initiated by the driver to the kernel;

checking whether the system call is a request for the networking function;

forwarding the system call for the networking function to a packet processor;

executing the networking function, only in the packet processor, to provide a processed packet;

mapping, by the controller, a media access control (MAC) address of a subscriber device from among the plurality of subscriber devices to a service set identifier (SSID) when multiple different WLANs are supported by the residential gateway; and

routing, by the driver, the processed packet to a destination WLAN based on the mapping.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing execution of the system call by the host processor when the system call is not the request for the networking function.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the networking function comprises at least one of:

bridging of a packet and routing of a packet received through a wireless network interface card (WNIC), wherein the WNIC is included in the residential gateway.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

interfacing the WNIC using an IEEE 802.11a, an IEEE 802.11b, an IEEE 802.1g, or an IEEE 802.1n communication standard.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the networking function in the packet processor using a plurality of hardware accelerators.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein routing comprises:

sending the processed packet from the packet processor to a wireless network interface card (WNIC).

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, execution of which by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

pre-configuring a controller to intercept a networking function programmed in a stack of a driver, wherein the controller and the driver are components of a kernel of an operating system executed by a host processor;

monitoring a system call initiated by the driver to the kernel;

checking whether the system call is a request for the networking function;

forwarding the system call for the networking function to a packet processor;

executing the networking function, only in the packet processor, to provide a processed packet;

mapping, by the controller, a media access control (MAC) address of a subscriber device to a service set identifier (SSID) when multiple different wireless local area networks (WLANs) are supported by the residential gateway; and

routing, by the driver, the processed packet to a destination WLAN based on the mapping.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, further comprising:

allowing execution of the system call by the host processor only when the system call is not the request for the networking function.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the networking function comprises at least one of:

bridging of a packet and routing of a packet received through a wireless network interface card (WNIC), wherein the WNIC is included in a residential gateway.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, further comprising:

executing the networking function in the packet processor using a plurality of hardware accelerators.

11. A residential gateway connected to a plurality of subscriber devices communicating through a wireless local area network (WLAN), the residential gateway comprising:

a packet processor configured to execute only a networking function; and

a host processor configured to execute an operating system, wherein a kernel of the operating system is configured to host a controller and a driver, wherein the controller is configured to;

monitor a system call initiated by the driver to the kernel;

check whether the system call is a request for the networking function;

forward the system call for the networking function to the packet processor;

allow execution of the system call by the host processor only if the system call is not a request for the networking function; and

map a media access control (MAC) address of a subscriber device from among the plurality of subscriber devices to a service set identifier (SSID) when multiple different WLANs are supported by the residential gateway;

wherein the driver is configured to route a processed packet from the packet processor or the host processor to a wireless network interface network card (WNIC) for routing onto a destination WLAN based on the mapping when a final destination of the processed packet is the WLAN.

12. The residential gateway of claim 11, further comprising:

an Ethernet MAC adapter configured to interface the plurality of subscriber devices connected in a local area network (LAN);

wherein the packet processor is further configured to monitor a packet received through the Ethernet MAC adapter from the subscriber device.

13. The residential gateway of claim 12, wherein the packet processor is further configured to determine whether the received packet is to be routed to the WLAN.

14. The residential gateway of claim 11, wherein the controller is preconfigured to intercept the networking function programmed in a stack of the driver.

15. The residential gateway of claim 14, wherein the WNIC, the stack, and the driver are compatible with an IEEE 802.11a, an IEEE 802.11b, an IEEE 802.1g, or an IEEE 802.1n communication standard.

16. The residential gateway of claim 11, wherein the networking function comprises at least one of:

bridging of a packet and routing of a packet received through the WNIC.

17. The residential gateway of claim 16, wherein the packet processor comprises:

a plurality of hardware accelerators configured to execute the networking function.

18. The residential gateway of claim 11, wherein the residential gateway is further connected to a passive optical network (PON);

and

wherein the residential gateway further comprises;

a PON medium access control (MAC) adapter configured to interface with the PON, and

wherein the packet processor is further configured to monitor a packet received through the PON MAC adapter from the PON.

19. The residential gateway of claim 18, wherein the PON is a gigabit PON (GPON).

20. The residential gateway of claim 18, wherein the packet processor is further configured to determine whether the received packet is to be routed to the WLAN.