Dual port wireless modem for circuit switched and packet switched data transfer

• US 7,197,330 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2000
• Issued: 03/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Lindsay, Charles L., Monroe, Daniel R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson; Matthew D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Tuan
• Application Number:
  US09/524,767
• Time in Patent Office: 2,569 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422, 455/556, 455/557, 4555561-5562, 455/422.1, 455/558, 455/445, 455 901- 902, 370351-356, 370/401, 370465-467, 375/222, 375/370
• US Class Current: 455/557
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Abstract

A dual port external wireless modem is disclosed. According to one embodiment, the external wireless modem receives command and control information over a primary serial port, and real-time data over a secondary serial port. The primary serial port is further configured to received packet switched data, such as short message service messages, while the secondary serial port is configured to received circuit switched data. An RF transceiver in the wireless modem modulates data and control received over the respective serial ports, preferably using a GSM protocol stack. According to an embodiment, the circuit switched and packet switched data received at the wireless modem can be simultaneously transmitted by the RF transceiver without interrupting the circuit switched data transfer, thereby avoiding a context switch and a loss of throughput.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a microprocessor;

an RF transceiver coupled to the microprocessor;

a transmission buffer coupled to the microprocessor;

a dual port serial port coupled to the microprocessor, the dual port serial port having a primary serial port and a secondary serial port, the secondary serial port to receive data for circuit switched data transfer from a terminal equipment, and the primary serial port to receive data for packet switched data transfer from the terminal equipment; and

a data router, the data router to direct data received over the primary serial port to the transmission buffer, and to direct data received over the secondary serial port to the RF transceiver.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dual port serial port is to simultaneously receive the data for the circuit switched data transfer over the secondary serial port and command and control signals over the primary serial port.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dual port serial port is to maintain the circuit switched data transfer using the RF transceiver and simultaneously transmit, also using the RF transceiver, the packet switched data transfer.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a GSM protocol stack, and wherein the packet switched data transfer comprises a short message service data transfer.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a command parser to monitor the secondary serial port for command and control signals, and wherein the data router is to pass the command and control signals from the secondary port to an execution memory of the random access memory for processing.

6. An apparatus comprising:

an RF transceiver to transmit and receive wireless signals;

a dual port serial port coupled to the RF transceiver, the dual port serial port having a primary serial port and a secondary serial port, the secondary serial port to receive data for circuit switched data transfer from a terminal equipment, and the primary serial port to receive data for packet switched data transfer from the terminal equipment;

a transmission buffer coupled to the dual port serial port; and

a data router, the data router to direct data received over the primary serial port to the transmission buffer, and to direct data received over the secondary serial port to the RF transceiver.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a read only memory coupled to the RF transceiver, the read only memory including a wireless protocol stack and a command parser.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the command parser is to examine command and control signals received over the primary serial port.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the command parser is to monitor the secondary serial port for the command and control signals, and wherein the data router is to pass the command and control signals from the secondary port to an execution memory of the random access memory for processing.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a random access memory coupled to the RF transceiver.

11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the dual port serial port is to simultaneously receive the circuit switched data over the secondary serial port and command and control signals over the primary serial port.

12. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the dual port serial port is to maintain the circuit switched data transfer using the RF transceiver and simultaneously transmit, also using the RF transceiver, the packet switched data transfer.

13. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the wireless protocol stack comprises a GSM protocol stack, and wherein the packet switched data transfer comprises a short message service data transfer.

14. A method comprising:

receiving circuit switched data over a secondary serial port of a dual port serial port, the dual port serial port having a primary serial port and the secondary serial port, wherein the primary and secondary serial ports are both coupled with a terminal equipment;

transmitting the circuit switched data using an RF transceiver;

receiving packet switched data over the primary serial port, wherein the packet switched data is received concurrently with the circuit switched data;

queuing the packet switched data; and

transmitting the packet switched data using the RF transceiver after said queuing the packet switched data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising routing data received over the primary serial port to a transmission buffer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said transmitting the packet switched data using the RF transceiver comprises fetching the data from the transmission buffer.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said transmitting the packet switched data comprises transmitting the packet switched data using the RF transceiver using a short message service protocol.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said transmitting the circuit switched data comprises transmitting the circuit switched data using the RF transceiver using a GSM protocol.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

using the circuit switched data for real-time data monitoring; and

using the packet switched data to communicate an alarm triggering event.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

connecting a first external device to the primary serial port; and

connecting a second external device to the secondary serial port.

21. A computer readable medium having stored therein one or more sequences of instructions to cause one or more microprocessors to:

transmit circuit switched data received from a terminal equipment over a secondary serial port of a dual port serial port using an RF transceiver;

queue packet switched data received concurrently with the circuit switched data from the terminal equipment over a primary serial port of the dual port serial port; and

transmit the packet switched data using the RF transceiver after the queuing of the packet switched data.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions to cause the one or more microprocessors to:

route the packet switched data to a transmission buffer.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions to transmit the packet switched data further comprise instructions to:

transmit the packet switched data using the RF transceiver using a short message service protocol.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions to transmit the circuit switched data further comprise instructions to:

transmit the circuit switched data using the RF transceiver using a GSM protocol.

25. An apparatus comprising:

a microprocessor;

a read only memory communicatively coupled with the microprocessor to store code;

a random access memory communicatively coupled with the microprocessor to store runtime data;

a radiofrequency transceiver communicatively coupled with the microprocessor, the radiofrequency transceiver to operate with the microprocessor to transmit and receive wireless signals;

a dual port communicatively coupled with the microprocessor, the dual port having a first port and a second port, the first port to receive data for real time data transfer from a device, the second port to receive data for non-real time data transfer from the device; and

a transmission buffer communicatively coupled with the microprocessor and the second port to store the data for non-real time data transfer prior to transmission of the data for non-real time data transfer.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the first and second ports comprise different serial ports.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the data for real time data transfer comprises circuit switched data, and wherein the data for non-real time data transfer comprises packet switched data.