Wireless access using preexisting data connection

• US 8,818,913 B1
• Filed: 01/14/2004
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Witec Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Junkin Holdings, LLC
• Inventors: Junkin, William W., Meyer, Steven C., Livingston, R. Lynn
• Primary Examiner(s): WILSON, CANDICE D C
• Application Number:
  US10/756,261
• Time in Patent Office: 3,877 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/1.1, 705/347, 709/227
• US Class Current: 705/347
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Wireless data access is provided for customers using a preexisting merchant data connection. An access point is used to communicate wirelessly with customer-owned or merchant-provided computing devices. The preexisting data communication link includes merchant-generated traffic, such as credit card authorization transactions or corporate electronic mail. A router is configured to combine customer-generated wireless traffic with the merchant-generated traffic and to transport the combined data over the preexisting data communication link. Further features, such as protocol conversion, are also provided.

Claims

1. A method implemented on at least one computing device each of which has one or more processors, storage, and communication platform connected to a network for providing network access to a customer at a place of business operated by a merchant, comprising:

setting up a data communication link between the merchant and a wide area network to provide a service having a subscribed data transport capacity dedicated to the merchant at the place of business;

facilitating a customer of the merchant present at the place of business to utilize the dedicated service for the merchant to access, via a network access point installed at the place of business, the Internet via the data communication link;

integrating, by a router coupled to the merchant and the network access point, a first data traffic, received from the merchant, and a second data traffic, received from the customer via the network access point, to generate an integrated outgoing data traffic;

receiving, at the router, the first data traffic from the merchant;

receiving, at the router via the network access point, the second data traffic from the customer, where the first data traffic is independent of the second data traffic and the second data traffic includes data from the customer for desired content from the Internet;

assigning the first data traffic and the second data traffic with a corresponding priority based on whether data traffic is from the merchant or the customer;

combining, by the router, both the first and second data traffic to generate the integrated outgoing data traffic that is in compliant with the subscribed data transport capacity;

transmitting the integrated outgoing data traffic to the wide area network through the data communication link;

receiving, by the router, from the wide area network via the data communication link, incoming data traffic;

forwarding, by the router, a third data traffic, if present in the incoming data traffic and intended for the merchant, to the merchant; and

forwarding, by the router, a fourth data traffic, is present in the incoming data traffic and intended for the customer, to the customer via the network access point and the fourth data traffic includes the desired content for the customer, wherein

the customer and the merchant share the subscribed data transport capacity of the data communication link initially intended for the dedicated use of the merchant.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting commercial advertising content based on the second data traffic via the data communication link for the customer; and

displaying the commercial advertising data to the customer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the displaying further comprises:

arranging the advertising content on a portal user interface in accordance with some pre-determined criteria.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

transferring, through a first firewall, the first data traffic created behind the first firewall by the merchant, to the router via a merchant local network, wherein

the first firewall protects the merchant local network and the first data traffic.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the first data traffic from a merchant sub-network; and

handling the first data traffic in a manner so as to prevent customer intrusion into the merchant sub-network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

designating a first priority to the first data traffic; and

designating a second priority to the second data traffic.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first priority corresponds to greater data throughput than the second priority.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data traffic includes credit card authorization transactions.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein a device operated by the customer is behind a second firewall in a customer local network and the desired content is forwarded to the customer via the customer local network behind the second firewall.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

denying access to the Internet via the data communication link to a customer who has not been provided an access credential issued by the merchant.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

requesting commercial advertising data based on the customer desired content.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting commercial advertising data based on an amount of time the customer has been using the data communication link.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein

the user is not charged a fee for use of the service dedicated to the merchant.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

blending, by the router, the customer desired content with the commercial data to produce blended content data to be displayed to the customer.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein

the customer communicates with the network access point via a wireless networking link;

and the customer desired content is a web page.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the network access point is separate from the router and is accessible only by the customer.

13. A system for providing network access to a customer at a place of business, operated by a merchant having dedicated service via a wide area network, the system comprising:

a data communication link configured between a merchant and the wide area network to provide the dedicated service, having a subscribed data transport capacity, to the merchant at a place of business operated by the merchant;

a network access point installed at the place of business configured to facilitate a customer of the merchant present at the place of business to utilize the dedicated service for the merchant to access the Internet via the data communication link;

a router, coupled to the merchant and the network access point, configured to integrate a first data traffic received from the merchant and a second data traffic received from the customer to generate an integrated outgoing data traffic wherein the router is programmed to;

receive the first data traffic from the merchant,

receive, via the network access point, the second data traffic from the customer, where the first data traffic is independent of the second data traffic and the second data traffic includes data from the customer for desired content from the Internet,

assign the first data traffic and the second data traffic with a corresponding priority based on whether data traffic is from the merchant or the customer,

combine the first and second data traffic to generate the integrated outgoing data traffic that is in compliant with the subscribed data transport capacity,

transmit the integrated outgoing data traffic to the wide area network through the data communication link,

receive, via the data communication link, an incoming data traffic,

forward a third data traffic, if present in the incoming data traffic and intended for the merchant, to the merchant,

forward a fourth data traffic, if present in the incoming data traffic and intended for the customer, to the customer via the network access point, where the fourth data traffic includes the desired content for the customer, wherein

the customer and the merchant share the subscribed data transport capacity of the data communication link initially intended for the dedicated use of the merchant.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the router is further configured to adjust the designation of traffic generated by the customer device and traffic generated by the merchant device according to data priority.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the place of business operated by the merchant comprises a credit card processor coupled to the wide area network and configured to carry out credit card authorization transactions.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the second data traffic generated by the customer is communicated in a first data communication protocol and the first data traffic generated by the merchant is communicated in a second data communication protocol.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the router includes a protocol conversion module configured to convert the first and the second data communication protocols for transmission on the internet.

18. The system according to claim 13, further comprising:

a gateway configured to request commercial advertising data based on content contained in the second data traffic.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein

the gateway is further configured to select commercial advertising data based on an amount of time the customer has been using the network access point.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein

the commercial advertising data is blended with the customer desired content to produce blended content data to be displayed to the customer.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein the customer communicates with the network access point via a wireless networking link;

and the customer desired content is a web page.

26. A method implemented on at least one computing device each of which has one or more processors, storage, and communication platform connected to a network for providing network access to a customer at a place of business operated by a merchant, comprising:

setting up a data communication link between the merchant and a wide area network to provide a service having a subscribed data transport capacity dedicated to the merchant at the place of business;

facilitating a customer of the merchant present at the place of business to utilize the dedicated service for the merchant by providing a network access point that is separate from a router and installed at the place of business to allow the customer to access the Internet via the data communication link, wherein the network access point is accessible only by the customer;

integrating, by a router coupled to the merchant and the network access point, a first data traffic, received from the merchant, and a second data traffic, received from the customer via the network access point, to generate an integrated outgoing data traffic;

receiving, at the router, the first data traffic from the merchant;

receiving, at the router from the network access point, the second data traffic from the customer, where the first data traffic is independent of the second data traffic and the second data traffic includes data from the customer for desired content from the Internet;

assigning, by the router, the first data traffic and the second data traffic with a corresponding priority based on whether data traffic is from the merchant or the customer;

combining, by the router, both the first and second data traffic to generate the integrated outgoing data traffic that is in compliant with the subscribed data transport capacity;

transmitting the integrated outgoing data traffic to the wide area network through the data communication link;

receiving, by the router, from the wide area network via the data communication link, incoming data traffic;

forwarding, by the router, a third data traffic, if present in the incoming data traffic and intended for the merchant, to the merchant; and

forwarding, by the router, a fourth data traffic, is present in the incoming data traffic and intended for the customer, to the customer via the network access point and the fourth data traffic includes the desired content for the customer, wherein

the customer and the merchant share the subscribed data transport capacity of the data communication link initially intended for the dedicated use of the merchant.