Scalable WLAN gateway

• US 10,327,228 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Maki, Lasse
• Primary Examiner(s): Acolatse, Kodzovi
• Application Number:
  US15/710,405
• Publication Number:
  US 20180014280A1
• Time in Patent Office: 636 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A technique for combining transmission bandwidths of several communication devices, such as mobile stations is disclosed. A master mobile station establishes a WLAN access point communicating with WLAN client terminals. One or more slave mobile stations may detect a predefined network identifier and join the WLAN network. The master as-signs IP addresses for the client terminals and slave mobile stations. The master also resolves DNS queries in cooperation with external DNS servers. Traffic, including internet packets, between the client terminals and various internet hosts is tunneled over multiple simultaneous transmission paths between the master and a multiplexing/demultiplexing computer. The inventive band-width combination technique is transparent to the client terminals and the internet hosts.

Claims

1. An communication device providing network access over a wireless local area network (WLAN) for a WLAN client terminal with a second mobile station, the communication device comprising a memory and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein:

the processor is configured to;

establish the WLAN;

activate the WLAN;

receive, from the WLAN client terminal via the WLAN, a first data packet including address information of an internet host;

forward the first data packet to the second mobile station via the WLAN by sending the first data packet in multicast transmission; and

instruct the second mobile station to send the first data packet to the internet host according to the address information.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, the processor further configured to:

establish a connection with a mobile network;

receive a second data packet including the address information of the internet host from the WLAN client terminal via the WLAN; and

send the second data packet to the internet host via the connection with the mobile network according to the address information.

3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the address information includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the internet host.

4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the first data packet is forwarded as a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet.

5. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a request for an Internet Protocol (IP) address over the WLAN from the WLAN client terminal;

assign an IP address to the WLAN client terminal, wherein the IP address assigned to the WLAN client terminal is derived from the second mobile station'"'"'s own IP address by setting the fourth octet to an available number;

receive another request for an IP address over the WLAN from the second mobile station; and

assign another IP address to the second mobile station, wherein the IP address assigned to the second mobile station is derived from the second mobile station'"'"'s own IP address by setting the third octet to an available number.

6. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a third data packet targeting the WLAN client terminal forwarded by the second mobile station via the WLAN;

receive a fourth data packet targeting the WLAN client terminal transmitted via the connection with a mobile network;

assemble the third data packet and the fourth data packet in a sequence; and

send the third data packet and the fourth data packet to the WLAN client terminal via the WLAN, wherein

the third data packet and the fourth data packet are from the internet host.

7. A method executed by a communication device for providing network access over a wireless local area network (WLAN) to a WLAN client terminal, the method comprising:

establishing the WLAN;

receiving, from the WLAN client terminal via the WLAN, a first data packet including address information of an internet host;

forwarding the first data packet to a second mobile station via the WLAN by sending the first data packet in multicast transmission; and

instructing the second mobile station to send the first data packet to the internet host according to the address information.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

establishing a connection with a mobile network;

receiving a second data packet including the address information of the internet host from the WLAN client terminal via the WLAN; and

sending the second data packet to the internet host via the connection with the mobile network according to the address information.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the address information includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the internet host.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first data packet is forwarded as a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a request for an Internet Protocol (IP) address over the WLAN from the WLAN client terminal;

assigning an IP address to the WLAN client terminal, wherein the IP address assigned to the WLAN client terminal is derived from the second mobile station'"'"'s own IP address by setting the fourth octet to an available number;

receiving another request for an IP address over the WLAN from the second mobile station; and

assigning another IP address to the second mobile station, wherein the IP address assigned to the second mobile station is derived from the second mobile station'"'"'s own IP address by setting the third octet to an available number.

12. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a third data packet targeting the WLAN client terminal forwarded by the second mobile station via the WLAN;

receiving a fourth data packet targeting the WLAN client terminal transmitted via the connection with a mobile network;

assembling the third data packet and the fourth data packet in a sequence; and

sending the third data packet and the fourth data packet to the WLAN client terminal via the WLAN, wherein the third data packet and the fourth data packet are from the internet host.