Communication terminal apparatus and method of performing communication by using plurality of network interfaces mounted on the communication terminal apparatus

• US 8,825,899 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2008
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Min-ho, Park, Soo-hong, Hwang, Cheol-ju, Kim, Pyoung-yun
• Primary Examiner(s): KIM, TAE K
• Application Number:
  US12/246,723
• Publication Number:
  US 20090187674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,156 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/213, 709/245, 709/230, 709/232, 709/238, 709/240, 709242-244, 370/230, 370/389, 370/464, 370/465, 370/468, 370/470, 370/472, 713/176
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/677 Multiple interfaces, e.g. multihomed nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols

Abstract

Provided is a method of performing communication by using a plurality of network interfaces mounted on a communication terminal apparatus. The method includes allocating different Internet protocol (IP) addresses corresponding to the plurality of network interfaces to a plurality of applications of the communication terminal apparatus, relaying data transmitted or received between the plurality of applications and the plurality of network interfaces based on the allocated IP addresses, and simultaneously performing communication with an external network by the plurality of network interfaces through the relaying of the data.

Claims

1. A method of performing communication by using a plurality of network interfaces mounted on a communication terminal apparatus, the method comprising:

allocating different Internet protocol (IP) addresses of the plurality of network interfaces to a plurality of applications of the communication terminal apparatus, each network interface having an assigned and dedicated corresponding different IP address;

relaying data transmitted or received between the plurality of applications and the plurality of network interfaces based on the allocated IP addresses, each application assigned to one of the assigned and dedicated corresponding different IP addresses; and

simultaneously performing communication with at least one external network via the plurality of network interfaces with relayed data,

wherein the performing of the communication comprises dividing the data into a plurality of data parts, such that a size of a respective data part of the plurality of data parts corresponds to a bandwidth of a respective network interface of the plurality of network interfaces, and respectively allocating the divided data parts to the plurality of network interfaces,

wherein the plurality of network interfaces transmit or receive the allocated data parts based on the allocation in order to perform the communication,

wherein the division of the data into the plurality of data parts comprises determining at least one of a position for starting the division and a position for finishing the division of the data based on a bandwidth of each of the plurality of network interfaces.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocating of the different IP addresses comprises allocating the different IP addresses to the plurality of applications based on respective functions executed by the plurality of applications.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the allocating further comprises allocating one of the IP addresses corresponding to a one of the constant network interface to one of the applications that executes a function of constantly transmitting or receiving data from among the plurality of applications.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the allocating further comprises allocating one of the IP addresses corresponding to one of the high-security network interfaces to one of the applications that executes a function of transmitting or receiving data with security guaranteed from among the plurality of applications.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the allocating further comprises allocating one of the IP addresses corresponding to one of the network interfaces that supports a high bandwidth to one of the applications that executes a function of transmitting or receiving a large amount of data from among the plurality of applications.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising preventing a degradation of transmission control protocol (TCP) transmission by allocating the different IP addresses to the plurality of applications so that user datagram protocol (UDP) data and TCP data are transmitted or received via different network interfaces when the UDP data and the TCP data exist among the data transmitted or received by the communication terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the division of the data into the plurality of data parts comprises determining a position for starting the division and a position for finishing the division of the data based on a bandwidth of each of the plurality of network interfaces.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the communication comprises transmitting or receiving a plurality of different-type data via different network interfaces when the plurality of different-type data have to be simultaneously transmitted or received.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the size of the respective data part corresponds to a bandwidth of a network interface with which the respective data part is associated, and

wherein each data part is respectively associated with a network interface different from the other data parts.

9. A communication terminal apparatus, comprising:

a computer, including;

a plurality of network interfaces, each having an assigned and dedicated corresponding different Internet protocol (IP) address for communication between the communication terminal apparatus and an external network;

an address allocation unit to allocate the different IP addresses corresponding to the plurality of network interfaces to a plurality of applications of the communication terminal apparatus, each application assigned to one of the assigned and dedicated corresponding different IP addresses;

a relay unit to relay data transmitted or received between the plurality of applications and the plurality of network interfaces based on the allocated IP addresses; and

a transmission/reception control unit to divide the data into a plurality of data parts, such that a size of a respective data part of the plurality of data parts corresponds to a bandwidth of a respective network interface of the plurality of network interfaces, and to respectively allocate the divided data parts to the plurality of network interfaces,

wherein the plurality of network interfaces simultaneously performs communication with the external network through the data relayed through the relay unit,

wherein the plurality of network interfaces transmit or receive the allocated data parts based on the allocation of the transmission/reception control unit in order to perform the communication, and

wherein the transmission/reception control unit determines at least one of a position for starting the division and a position for finishing the division of the data based on a bandwidth of each of the plurality of network interfaces.

10. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 9, wherein the address allocation unit allocates the different IP addresses to the plurality of applications based on functions executed by the plurality of applications.

11. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 10, wherein the address allocation unit allocates an IP address that corresponds to a constant network interface to an application that executes a function that constantly transmits or receives data from among the plurality of applications.

12. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 10, wherein the address allocation unit allocates an IP address corresponding to a high-security network interface to an application from among the plurality of application wherein the application executes a function of transmitting or receiving data with security guaranteed.

13. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 10, wherein the address allocation unit allocates an IP address corresponding to a network interface that supports a wide bandwidth to an application that executes a function of transmitting or receiving data of a large size from among the plurality of applications.

14. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 9, wherein the address allocation unit prevents a degradation of transmission control protocol (TCP) transmission by allocating the different IP addresses to the plurality of applications so that user datagram protocol (UDP) data and TCP data are transmitted or received via different network interfaces when the UDP data and the TCP data exist among the transmitted or received data.

15. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 9, wherein the transmission/reception control unit determines a position for starting the division and a position for finishing the division of the data based on a bandwidth of each of the plurality of network interfaces.

16. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 9, wherein the communication is performed by transmitting or receiving a plurality of different-type data via different network interfaces when the plurality of different-type data have to be simultaneously transmitted or received.

17. A communication terminal apparatus, comprising:

a computer, comprising;

a plurality of network interfaces through which data is transmitted or received in data packets with respect to at least one external network, each network interface being assigned a different dedicated Internet protocol (IP) address; and

a control unit which assigns to elements of the data a corresponding different dedicated one of the IP addresses and controls the transmission or reception of each element with respect to the network interface according to assigned IP addresses,

wherein the data is divided into a plurality of data parts, such that a size of a respective data part of the plurality of data parts corresponds to a bandwidth of a respective network interface of the plurality of network interfaces, and the divided data parts are respectively allocated to the plurality of network interfaces for transmission or reception,

wherein the plurality of network interfaces transmit or receive the allocated data parts based on the allocation in order to perform the communication, and

wherein the division of the data into the plurality of data parts comprises determining at least one of a position for starting the division and a position for finishing the division of the data based on a bandwidth of each of the plurality of network interfaces.

18. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 17, wherein the control unit comprises:

an address allocation unit to allocate the different IP addresses of the plurality of network interfaces to a plurality of applications of the communication terminal apparatus, each application being assigned a corresponding one of the different IP addresses; and

a relay unit to relay data transmitted or received between the plurality of applications and the plurality of network interfaces based on the allocated IP addresses.

19. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a socket interface with a buffer to relay the data transmitted or received between the plurality of applications and the control unit, wherein the buffer for a relay operation buffers the data transmitted or received in the buffer.

20. The communication terminal apparatus of claim 19, wherein the plurality of network interfaces simultaneously perform communication with the external network through the relay unit to relay data.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions implementing a method of performing communication by using a plurality of network interfaces mounted on a communication terminal apparatus executed by one or more computers, the method comprising:

allocating different Internet protocol (IP) addresses of the plurality of network interfaces to a plurality of applications of the communication terminal apparatus, each network interface having an assigned and dedicated corresponding different IP address;

relaying data transmitted or received between the plurality of applications and the plurality of network interfaces based on the allocated IP addresses, each application assigned to one of the assigned and dedicated corresponding different IP addresses; and

simultaneously performing communication with at least one external network via the plurality of network interfaces with relayed data,

wherein the performing of the communication comprises dividing the data into a plurality of data parts, such that a size of a respective data part of the plurality of data parts corresponds to a bandwidth of a respective network interface of the plurality of network interfaces, and respectively allocating the divided data parts to the plurality of network interfaces for transmission or reception,

wherein the plurality of network interfaces transmit or receive the allocated data parts based on the allocating in order to perform the communication, and

wherein dividing of the data into the plurality of data parts comprises determining at least one of a position for starting the division and a position for finishing the division of the data based on a bandwidth of each of the plurality of network interfaces.