HANDHELD DEVICE CAPABLE OF PROVIDING DATA TETHERING SERVICES WHILE MAINTAINING SUITE OF HANDHELD SERVICE FUNCTIONS

• US 20100267368A1
• Filed: 04/20/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Masputra, Cahya
• Granted Patent: US 9,398,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• 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 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

An improved tethering system is described in which a handheld device can be used by a user to reach the same network that the handheld device also provides access to for a tethering machine. Specifically, as described herein, a handheld device provides a tethering machine with access to a remote network (e.g., the Internet) through a wireless network that the handheld device is communicatively coupled to. Not only is the handheld device able to support multiple data flows between the tethering machine and the remote network, but also, the handheld device is capable of being used by a user to “surf” or otherwise access the same remote network that the handheld device provides the tethering machine with access to. For example, if the remote network is the Internet and the handheld device is a “smart phone”, a user who is holding the smart phone can access the Internet concurrently with one or more applications on the tethering machine that are also access the Internet. Moreover, the smart phone is also capable of concurrently supporting other networked services that the smart phone is designed to provide such as voicemail services, messaging services, and telephony (cell phone) services.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing the following with a handheld device;

providing a user of said handheld device with access to a data network; and

,

concurrently providing a tethering machine with access to said data network, said tethering machine being communicatively coupled to said handheld device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said handheld device is a smart phone and said data network is the Internet.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising said hand held device providing to said user one or more of a), b) and c) below concurrently with said hand held device'"'"'s providing said user and said tethering machine with access to said data network:

a) voicemail services;

b) messaging services;

c) telephony services.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising said handheld device providing two or more of a), b) and c) above concurrently with said hand held device'"'"'s providing said user and said tethering machine with access to said data network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said tethering machine is communicatively coupled to said hand held device with at least one of the following:

a wireless connection;

a Local Area Network (LAN);

a cable.

6. A machine readable storage medium containing program code that when executed by a processing core of a hand held device causes the following method to be performed:

providing a user of said handheld device with access to a data network; and

,

concurrently providing a tethering machine with access to said data network, said tethering machine being communicatively coupled to said handheld device.

7. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said handheld device is a smart phone and said data network is the Internet.

8. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said method further comprises said hand held device providing to said user one or more of a), b) and c) below concurrently with said hand held device'"'"'s providing said user and said tethering machine with access to said data network:

a) voicemail services;

b) messaging services;

c) telephony services.

9. The machine readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein said method further comprises said handheld device providing two or more of a), b) and c) above concurrently with said hand held device'"'"'s providing said user and said tethering machine with access to said data network.

10. The machine readable storage medium of claim 6 wherein said tethering machine is communicatively coupled to said hand held device with at least one of the following:

a wireless connection;

a Local Area Network (LAN);

a cable.

11. A handheld device having a storage medium, said storage medium having program code stored thereon that when processed by a processing core of said hand held device causes the following method to be performed:

providing a user of said handheld device with access to a data network; and

,

concurrently providing a tethering machine with access to said data network, said tethering machine being communicatively coupled to said handheld device.

12. The handheld device of claim 11 wherein said handheld device is a smart phone and said data network is the Internet.

13. The handheld device of claim 11 wherein said method further comprises said hand held device providing to said user one or more of a), b) and c) below concurrently with said hand held device'"'"'s providing said user and said tethering machine with access to said data network:

a) voicemail services;

b) messaging services;

c) telephony services.

14. The handheld device of claim 13 wherein said method further comprises said handheld device providing two or more of a), b) and c) above concurrently with said hand held device'"'"'s providing said user and said tethering machine with access to said data network.

15. The handheld device of claim 11 wherein said tethering machine is communicatively coupled to said hand held device with at least one of the following:

a wireless connection;

a Local Area Network (LAN);

a cable.

16. A machine readable storage medium have stored thereon program code that when processed by a processing core of a hand held device causes a method to be performed, said method comprising:

performing the following on said hand held device concurrently with said hand held device providing a user of said handheld device with access to a data network;

receiving a packet from a tethering machine;

replacing said packet'"'"'s source address with a new source address;

transmitting said packet into a wireless network;

receiving from said wireless network a response packet;

replacing said response packet'"'"'s destination address with said packet'"'"'s source address; and

,

transmitting said response packet to said tethering machine.

17. The machine readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein said packet is received and said response packet is transmitted from one of:

a Bluetooth interface;

a WiFi interface;

a Universal Serial Bus interface;

a local area network interface.

18. The machine readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein said wireless network is one of:

a WiFi network;

a cellular network.

19. The machine readable storage medium of claim 16 further comprising:

replacing said packet'"'"'s source port information with new source port information;

replacing said response packet'"'"'s destination port information with said packet'"'"'s source port information.

20. A handheld device having a storage medium, said storage medium having program code stored thereon that when processed by a processing core of said handheld device causes the following method to be performed:

instantiating on said hand held device a first interface for accessing a data network;

instantiating on said handheld device a second interface for accessing said data network;

concurrently providing a user of said hand held device and a machine that is tethered to said hand held device with access to said data network by transmitting packets to and from a wireless network, said first interface being used for data flows associated with said user'"'"'s access to said data network, said second interface being used for data flows associated with said tethering machine'"'"'s access to said data network.

21. The handheld device of claim 20 wherein said method further comprises, for flows directed from said machine to said hand held device, referring to information that maps information that identifies the tethering machine to said second interface.

22. The handheld device of claim 21 wherein said information includes any of:

an address of a subnet assigned to a communication path between said handheld device and said tethering machine;

an identifier of an interface on said handheld device through which packets sent from said machine are received.

23. The handheld device of claim 21 wherein said data flows for said tethering machine'"'"'s access to said data network include flows for multiple applications on said tethering machine.