Gateway device for machine-to-machine communication with dual cellular interfaces

• US 9,307,344 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2014
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Systech Corporation
• Original Assignee: Systech Corporation
• Inventors: Rucker, Jeff, Armerding, Donald G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US14/255,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20140313882A1
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Gateway devices can use dual cellular interfaces to provide reliable communications for client machines. A gateway device can use one of the dual cellular interfaces as a primary interface and the other as a hot backup interface. The backup interface remains connected to a cellular network while communications are routed on the primary interface. Accordingly, the gateway device can rapidly switch communications between from the primary interface to the backup interface. Applications, for example, for ATM payment processing, vending machine telemetry, point of sale payment processing, kiosk internet connectivity, remote monitoring and control, mobile or electronic health, and remote information displays, may run on the gateway devices, on servers, on user devices, or a combination of these devices.

Claims

1. A gateway device, comprising:

a first cellular communication module configured to communicate with a first cellular network;

a second cellular communication module configured to communicate with a second cellular network;

at least one local communication module configured to communicate with one or more client machines; and

a processor coupled to the first cellular communication module, the second cellular communication module, and the at least one local communication module, the processor arranged for operating one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a primary interface and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a hot backup interface to route communications with at least one of the client machines, the processor being further arranged to;

route the communications with the at least one of the client machines over the primary interface while maintaining the hot backup interface actively connected to its respective cellular network,

monitor communications on the primary interface,

determine whether communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface, and

route communication, after determining that communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface, with the at least one of the client machines over the backup interface,

wherein the gateway device is located in an automatic teller machine and the communications with the at least one of the client machines include automatic teller machine transactions.

2. A gateway device, comprising:

a first cellular communication module configured to communicate with a first cellular network;

a second cellular communication module configured to communicate with a second cellular network;

at least one local communication module configured to communicate with one or more client machines;

a processor coupled to the first cellular communication module, the second cellular communication module, and the at least one local communication module, the processor arranged for operating one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a primary interface and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a hot backup interface to route communications with at least one of the client machines, the processor being further arranged to;

route the communications with the at least one of the client machines over the primary interface while maintaining the hot backup interface actively connected to its respective cellular network,

monitor communications on the primary interface,

determine whether communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface, and

route communication, after determining that communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface, with the at least one of the client machines over the backup interface; and

dual subscriber identification module (SIM) cards, a first one of the dual SIM cards providing identification for the first cellular communication module and a second one of the SIM cards providing identification for the second cellular communication module.

3. A gateway device, comprising:

a first cellular communication module configured to communicate with a first cellular network;

a second cellular communication module configured to communicate with a second cellular network;

at least one local communication module configured to communicate with one or more client machines; and

a processor coupled to the first cellular communication module, the second cellular communication module, and the at least one local communication module, the processor arranged for operating one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a primary interface and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a hot backup interface to route communications with at least one of the client machines,

wherein operating one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a primary interface and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a hot backup interface to route communications with at least one of the client machines includes

selecting one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as the primary interface and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as the backup interface,

routing communication with the at least one of the client machines over the primary interface while maintaining the backup interface actively connected to its respective cellular network,

monitoring communications on the primary interface,

determining whether communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface, and

routing communication, after determining that communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface, with the at least one of the client machines over the backup interface.

4. The gateway device of claim 3, wherein operating one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a primary interface and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as hot backup interface to route communications with at least one of the client machines further includes:

monitoring, after routing communication with the client machine over the backup interface communications, communications on the primary interface;

determining whether communication with the client machine should switch to the primary interface;

routing communication, after determining that communication with the client machine should switch to the primary interface, with the client machine over the primary interface.

5. The gateway device of claim 3, wherein determining whether communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface is based on weighted results of a plurality of connection tests.

6. The gateway device of claim 4, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface includes counting receive and transmit packets on the primary interface.

7. The gateway device of claim 6, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface further includes pinging a domain name server on the primary interface when the count of transmit packets is much greater than the count of receive packets.

8. The gateway device of claim 7, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface further includes pinging the domain name server on the primary interface when the count of transmit packets and the count of receive packets are zero.

9. The gateway device of claim 7, wherein determining that communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface is based at least in part on failure of pinging the domain name server on the primary interface.

10. The gateway device of claim 4, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface includes monitoring attempted connections to one or more external servers.

11. The gateway device of claim 10, wherein monitoring attempted connections to one or more external servers includes monitoring transmission control protocol handshakes.

12. The gateway device of claim 10, wherein monitoring attempted connections to one or more external servers is performed for one or more internet protocol addresses.

13. The gateway device of claim 10, wherein determining that communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface is based at least in part on failure of attempted connections to the one or more external servers.

14. A method for use in providing machine-to-machine communications for a client machine using a gateway device having a first cellular communication module operable to communicate with a first cellular network and second cellular communication module operable to communicate with a second cellular network, the method comprising:

selecting one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a primary interface and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second cellular communication module as a backup interface;

routing communication with the client machine over the primary interface while maintaining the backup interface actively connected to its respective cellular network;

monitoring communications on the primary interface;

determining whether communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface;

routing communication, after determining that communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface, with the client machine over the backup interface.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

monitoring, after routing communication with the client machine over the backup interface communications, communications on the primary interface;

determining whether communication with the client machine should switch to the primary interface;

routing communication, after determining that communication with the client machine should switch to the primary interface, with the client machine over the primary interface.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface includes periodically testing the primary interface to validate network traffic is occurring.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein determining whether communication with the client machine should switch to the primary interface is based at least in part on establishing a connection to a server using the primary interface.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein routing communication, after determining that communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface, with the client machine over the backup interface is performed concurrently with monitoring communications on the primary interface.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface is based on weighted results of a plurality of connection tests.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface includes counting receive and transmit packets on the primary interface.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface further includes pinging a domain name server on the primary interface when the count of transmit packets is much greater than the count of receive packets.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface further includes pinging the domain name server on the primary interface when the count of transmit packets and the count of receive packets are zero.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein determining that communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface is based at least in part on failure of pinging the domain name server on the primary interface.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein monitoring communications on the primary interface includes monitoring attempted connections to one or more external servers.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein monitoring attempted connections to one or more external servers includes monitoring transmission control protocol handshakes.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein monitoring attempted connections to one or more external servers is performed for one or more internet protocol addresses.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein determining that communication with the client machine should switch to the primary interface is based at least in part on failure of attempted connections to one or more external servers.

28. A gateway device, comprising:

a first network communication module configured to communicate with a first network;

a second network communication module configured to communicate with a second network, wherein one of the first network communication module or the second network communication module is selected as a primary interface to route communications and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second network communication module is selected as a backup interface and is maintained actively connected to its respective network;

at least one local communication module configured to communicate with one or more client machines;

a route switch module configured to route communications with at least one of the client machines over the one of the first network communication module or the second network communication module that is selected as the primary interface while maintaining the backup interface actively connected to its respective network; and

a session monitor module configured to monitor the communications routed over the primary interface by;

counting receive and transmit packets on the primary interface,

ping a domain name server on the primary interface when the count of transmit packets is much greater than the count of receive packets or the count of transmit packets and the count of receive packets are zero,

determining that communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface based at least in part on failure of the ping of the domain name server on the primary interface, and

after determining that communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface, routing communication with the client machine over the backup interface.

29. A gateway device, comprising:

a first network communication module configured to communicate with a first network;

a second network communication module configured to communicate with a second network, wherein one of the first network communication module or the second network communication module is selected as a primary interface to route communications over its respective network and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second network communication module is selected as a backup interface that is maintained actively connected to its respective network;

at least one local communication module configured to communicate with one or more client machines;

a route switch module configured to route communications with at least one of the client machines over the first network communication module or the second network communication module that is selected as the primary interface while maintaining the backup interface actively connected to its respective network; and

a transaction monitor module configured to;

monitor attempted connections to one or more external servers on the primary interface,

determine that communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface based at least in part on failure of attempted connections to one or more external servers, and

after determining that communication with the client machine should switch from the primary interface, routing communication with the client machine over the backup interface.

30. The gateway device of claim 29, wherein in the transaction monitor module is further configured to monitor attempted connection includes monitoring transmission control protocol handshakes.

31. A gateway device, comprising:

a first network communication module configured to communicate with a first network;

a second network communication module configured to communicate with a second network, wherein one of the first network communication module or the second network communication module is selected as a primary interface to route communications and the other one of the first cellular communication module or the second network communication module is selected as a backup interface maintained actively connected to its respective network;

at least one local communication module configured to communicate with one or more client machines;

a route switch module configured to selectively route communications with at least one of the client machines over the first network communication module or the second network communication module that is selected as the primary interface while maintaining the backup interface actively connected to its respective network, and

a processor module coupled to the route switch module and arranged to;

determine, based at least in part on cost of communications over the first network and cost of communications over the second network, that the communication with the at least one of the client machines should be switched from the primary interface to the backup interface, and

after determining that communication with the at least one of the client machines should switch from the primary interface to the backup interface, controlling the route switch module to route communications with the at least one of the client machines over the backup interface.