Mobile router device

• US 20110051703A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brian J. Smith, John C. Fulknier
• Original Assignee: Brian J. Smith, John C. Fulknier
• Inventors: Smith, Brian J., Fulknier, John C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,503,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• 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) and a 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 method comprising the steps of:

operating a mobile router as a client device on a first wireless network wherein the first wireless network provides access to a WAN;

operating the mobile router as a host device for hosting one or more client devices on a second wireless network wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network operate on different wireless network communication protocols; and

,

routing network traffic between the second wireless network and the WAN over the first wireless network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of moving the mobile router and the client devices hosted by the mobile router with respect to the first wireless network while maintaining continuous connectivity with the first wireless network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first wireless network includes a plurality of access points and the mobile router further performs the steps of:

monitoring characteristics of a plurality of first network access points; and

,

connecting to the first network over a selected first network access point wherein the first network access point has a desirable characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of operating a mobile router as a client device on a first wireless network further comprises the steps of:

operating a plurality of first wireless network interface devices on the mobile router wherein each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices is a operated as a separate client of the first wireless network; and

,

simultaneously routing network traffic between the second wireless network and the WAN over two or more of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the mobile router operates to sustainably balance network traffic routed over each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first wireless network includes a plurality of access points further comprising the step of routing network traffic between the second wireless network and the WAN over two or more of the plurality of first network access points.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of routing network traffic received from the first wireless network to appropriate client devices of the second wireless network.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first wireless network comprises a cellular network.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the first wireless network comprises a cellular network and each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices is operated as separate client of the same cellular network.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the first wireless network comprises a plurality of different type cellular networks and some of the first wireless network interface devices are operated as clients of the different type cellular networks.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first wireless network comprises a wireless local area network.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the first wireless network exchanges network signals with the mobile router using one of the Wi-Fi and the WiMax communication protocol standard.

13. A wireless network router comprising:

a network controller comprising a CPU and an associated memory device;

a plurality of first wireless network interface devices in communication with the CPU mounted to the network controller wherein each first wireless network interface device is configured to become a client of a first wireless network and to exchange network traffic between the wireless network router and the first wireless network;

a second wireless network interface device in communication with the CPU, mounted to the network controller, wherein the second wireless network interface device is configured as a network access point of a second wireless network for exchanging network signals with wireless network devices local to the wireless network router and configured to communicate with the second wireless network access point; and

,

programs operating on the wireless network router for simultaneously routing network traffic between the second wireless network access point and each of the first wireless network interface devices.

14. The wireless network router of claim 13 wherein the first wireless network comprises a single wireless network and each of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices is substantially identical.

15. The wireless network router of claim 13 wherein the first wireless network comprises a plurality of different type first wireless networks and at least one of the plurality of first wireless network interface devices is configured to become a client of each of the different type first wireless networks.

16. The wireless network router of claim 13 further comprising:

a third wireless network interface device in communication with the CPU, mounted to the network controller, wherein the third wireless network interface device is configured as a network access point of a third wireless network for exchanging network signals with wireless network devices local to the wireless network router and configured to communicate with the third wireless network access point; and

,

programs operating on the wireless network router for simultaneously routing network traffic between the second and third wireless network access points and each of the first wireless network interface devices.

17. The wireless network router of claim 13 wherein the first wireless network comprises a cellular network and the second wireless network comprises a non-cellular network.

18. The wireless router of claim 13 wherein the second wireless network exchanges network signals with the network devices local to the wireless network router using any one of the WiFi, WiMAx, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Utra-Wide-Band, network communication protocol standards.

19. The wireless router of claim 13 wherein the second wireless network exchanges network signals with the network devices local to the wireless network router using any one of a Mobile ad-hoc Network (MANET), a peer to peer network, and a mesh network.

20. A method comprising the steps of:

operating a wireless router in a moving vehicle wherein the wireless router comprises a CPU, a memory device associated with the CPU, and a plurality of network interface devices in communication with the CPU wherein the plurality of network interface devices includes a cellular network interface device and a non-cellular network interface device;

establishing the cellular network interface device as a client on a cellular network that provides access to a wide area network (WAN);

exchanging network traffic between non-cellular network devices moving with the vehicle and the CPU over the non-cellular network interface device; and

,

routing network traffic between the CPU and the WAN over the cellular network.