Mobile router device

• US 20070030857A1
• Filed: 08/02/2006
• Published: 02/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edward L. Kelley, WAAV Incorporated
• Original Assignee: WAAV Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Brian, Fulknier, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,813,314 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• 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 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 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A wireless mobile router (140) includes wireless network interfaces (202) and (218) attached to a network controller (142). The wireless network interface (202) communicates with a cellular network (110) to access cellular network services. The wireless network interface (218) and the network controller (142) comprise a WLAN (170) or PAN (180) network router hosting a plurality of client devices. Each client device may access a wide area network, WAN over the cellular network. The wireless mobile router (140) is configured to exchange various cellular network signals with various WLAN and PAN networks. The wireless mobile router (140) is particularly suitable for use in a vehicle or at locations where WAN access is not readily available.

Claims

1. A network router (140) comprising:

a network controller (142);

a first wireless network interface device (202) configured to exchange first wireless network signals of a first wireless network signal configuration between a first wireless network (116) and the network controller (142);

a second wireless network interface device (218) configured to exchange second wireless network signals of a second wireless network signal configuration between a second wireless network (170) and the network controller (142);

means operating on the network controller (142) for reconfiguring the first wireless network signal configuration to the second wireless network signal configuration and for converting the second wireless signal configuration to the first wireless signal configuration for exchanging signals between the first and second networks;

an enclosure (202) for housing the network controller (142) and each of the first and second wireless network interface devices (202, 218); and

,

an I/O interface (228) comprising a plurality of wire connectors supported with respect to the enclosure (202) for providing wire signal ports including an external antenna port and an external power input port.

2. The network router of claim 1 further comprising means operating on the network controller (142) for forming a WLAN (170) and for exchanging network signals between each of the client devices (172, 174) of the WLAN (170) and the first wireless network (110).

3. The network router of claim 1 wherein the first wireless network interface device (202) is configured to communicate with a cellular access point (112, 114, 116) and the first wireless network comprises a cellular wire network (110).

4. The network router of claim 3 further comprising an external cellular antenna (232) interfaced with the I/O interface (228).

6. The network router of claim 1 wherein the first wireless network interface device comprises a plurality of substantially identical first wireless network interface devices (202, 204, 206) in communication with the network controller (142), further comprising:

means operating on the network controller (142) for establishing each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices (202, 204, 206) as a client on the same first wireless network; and

,

means operating on the network controller (142) for simultaneously directing network traffic over each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices.

7. The network router of claim 1 wherein the first wireless network interface device comprises a plurality of first wireless network interface devices (202, 204, 206) in communication with the network controller (142) and each configured to operate using a different first wireless network interface standard, further comprising:

means operating on the network controller (142) for establishing each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices (202, 204, 206) as a client on a different first wireless network (110);

means operating on the network controller (142) for simultaneously directing network traffic over each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices; and

,

means operating on the network controller (142) for reconfiguring first wireless network signals from each different wireless interface standard to network signals configured according to the second wireless network signal configuration, and for reconfiguring second wireless signals to first wireless signals configured according to each different first wireless network interface standard.

8. The network router of claim 1 wherein the second wireless network interface device comprises a plurality of substantially identical second wireless network interface devices (214, 216, 218) in communication with the network controller (142), further comprising:

means operating on the network controller (142) for establishing each of the plurality of second wireless network interface devices (214, 216, 218) as a host network access point for communicating with client devices of one or more second wireless networks and,

means operating on the network controller (142) for simultaneously directing network traffic over each of the plurality of second wireless network interface devices.

9. The network router of claim 1 wherein the second wireless network interface device comprises a plurality of second wireless network interface devices (214, 216, 218) in communication with the network controller (142) and each configured to operate using a different second wireless network signal configuration, further comprising:

means operating on the network controller (142) for establishing each of the plurality of second wireless network interface devices (214, 216, 128) having a different second wireless network configuration;

means operating on the network controller (142) for simultaneously directing network traffic over each of the plurality of second wireless network interface devices; and

,

means operating on the network controller (142) for reconfiguring the first wireless network signals of the first wireless network signal configuration to any one of the plurality of second wireless network signal configurations and for configuring any one of the plurality of second wireless network signal interface standards to the first wireless network signal configuration.

10. The network router of claim 1 further comprising:

a third wireless network interface device (150) configured to exchange third wireless network signals of a third wireless network signal configuration between a third wireless network (130) and the network controller (142);

means operating on the network controller (142) to reconfigure each of the first and the third wireless network signal configurations to the second wireless network signal configuration for delivering the first and the third wireless network signals to the second wireless network (170); and

,

means operating on the network controller (142) to reconfigure the second wireless network signal configuration to each of the first and the third wireless network signal configurations for delivering the second network signals to each of the first and third wireless networks.

11. The network router of claim 10 further comprising:

a fourth wireless network interface device (152) configured to exchange fourth wireless network signals of a fourth wireless network signal configuration between a fourth wireless network (190) and the network controller (142);

means operating on the network controller (142) to reconfigure the fourth wireless network signal configuration to the second wireless network signal configuration for delivering the fourth wireless network signals to the second wireless network; and

,

means operating on the network controller (142) to reconfigure the second wireless network signal configuration to the fourth wireless network signal configuration for delivering the second network signals to the fourth wireless network (190).

12. The network router of claim 1, further comprising a GPS signal receiver in communication with the network controller (142) for receiving GPS signals;

and,

means operating on the network controller (142) for determining GPS coordinates of the network router (140).

13. The network router of claim 1 further comprising:

a network interface device (208, 210, 212) configured to access audio and video broadcast signals at selected frequencies; and

,

means operating on the network controller (142) for reconfiguring the audio and video broadcast signals to the second wireless network signal configuration for delivering the audio and video broadcast signals to client devices of the second network.

14. The network router of claim 1 wherein the second wireless network second wireless network signal configuration comprises one of Wi-Fi, (IEEE 802.11), WiMAx, IEEE 802.16, Bluetooth, (IEEE 802.15.1), ZigBee, (IEEE 802.15.4) and UMB, (IEEE.802.15.3a).

15. The network router of claim 1 further comprising an external antenna (246) interfaced with the I/O interface (228) and interconnected with the second wireless interface device (218) to increase the usable range of the second wireless network (170).

5. The network router of claim wherein the first wireless network interface device (202) is configured for communicating according to EVDO cellular communications standards.

16. A method for operating a wireless network router (140) to exchange signals between wireless networks of different network configurations comprising the steps of:

exchanging first wireless network signals between a first wireless network of a first network configuration and the network controller (142) over a first wireless network interface device (202);

exchanging second wireless network signals between a second wireless network of a second network configuration and the network controller (142) over a second wireless network interface device (218);

converting the first wireless network signals to the configuration of second wireless network signals;

converting second wireless network signals to the configuration of first wireless network signals; and

,

directing wireless network traffic between the first wireless network and the second wireless network.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first wireless network (110) includes a plurality of first network access points further comprising the step of simultaneously exchanging first wireless network signals over a plurality of first network access points.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the wireless router (140) includes a plurality of first wireless network interface devices (202, 204, 206) each configured with the same first wireless network configuration, further comprising the step of simultaneously exchanging first wireless network signals over each of the plurality of first network interface devices.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the wireless router (140) includes a plurality of first wireless network interface devices (202, 204, 206) each configured with a different first wireless network configuration, further comprising the steps of:

simultaneously exchanging first wireless network signals over each of the plurality of first network interface devices;

converting each of the first wireless network signals of different configurations to the configuration of second wireless network signals;

converting second wireless network signals to each of the first wireless network signals of different configurations.