Cellular channel bonding for improved data transmission

• US 7,020,472 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2001
• Issued: 03/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (Empire IP LLC)
• Original Assignee: Gallitzin Allegheny LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Dominik J.
• Primary Examiner(s): GELIN, JEAN ALLAND
• Application Number:
  US09/887,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20020197998A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: 455/450, 455/451, 455/452.1, 455/452.2, 455/455, 455/464, 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/509, 455/515, 455/550.1, 455/552.1, 455/553.1, 370/329, 370/337, 370/341, 370/344
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0005 Time-frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/16 Performing reselection for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods wirelessly communicate data over a plurality of cellular channels by requesting an allocation of cellular frequency channels from a mobile station to a base station; allocating available frequency channels in response to the request from the mobile station; and bonding the available frequency channels to communicate data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

requesting an allocation of cellular frequency channels from a mobile station to a base station;

receiving an allocation of available frequency channels at the mobile station in response to the request from the mobile station;

bonding the available frequency channels;

bonding a short-range radio channel with the cellular frequency channels to increase transmission bandwidth; and

communicating data directly between the mobile station and the base station over the bonded cellular and short-range radio channels.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the short-range radio channel is Bluetooth or WLAN (802.11x).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising bonding the short-range radio channel with the cellular frequency channels dynamically based on a current traffic load.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising bonding the short-range radio channel with the cellular frequency channels dynamically based on a priority of service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising deallocating the available frequency channels after communicating the data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating the data and voice information simultaneously over the bonded cellular and short-range radio channels.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data comprises video information.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the data comprises multimedia information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from a user of the mobile station a request to increase a bandwidth of a connection between the mobile station and the base station.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining in the mobile station a number of the cellular frequency channels to request based on the requested bandwidth.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein requesting the allocation comprises requesting an allocation of preferably adjacent cellular frequency channels.

12. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a plurality of processing units;

a long-range transceiver coupled to the processing units, the long-range transceiver configured to communicate over cellular frequency channels with a base station;

a short-range transceiver coupled to the processing units configured to communicate over a short-range radio channel with the base station; and

means for bonding a plurality of the cellular frequency channels and the short-range radio channel to communicate data between the mobile terminal and the base station over the bonded plurality of cellular frequency channels and short-range radio channel to increase transmission bandwidth.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the plurality of processing units comprise a reconfigurable processor core on a single substrate that includes a plurality of digital signal processors (DSPs).

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13 wherein the reconfigurable processor core includes one or more reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 13, further comprising a router on the single substrate coupled to the plurality of processing units.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a first transceiver coupled to the processor to communicate over cellular frequency channels with a base station;

a second transceiver coupled to the processor to communicate over a short-range radio channel with the base station; and

a circuit to bond a plurality of the cellular frequency channels and the short-range radio channel to communicate data between the apparatus and the base station over the plurality of the cellular frequency channels and the short-range radio channel to increase bandwidth of data communication.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor comprises an integrated circuit having a reconfigurable processor core that includes a plurality of digital signal processors (DSPs).

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the reconfigurable processor core includes one or more reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the integrated circuit further comprises a router coupled to the reconfigurable processor core.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the router is configured to bond the plurality of the cellular frequency channels and the short-range wireless channels.