System and method for splitting a communication data stream

• US 7,542,456 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2004
• Issued: 06/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: National University of Singapore
• Inventors: Krishna, Raj, Garg, Hari Krishna
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shedrick; Charles
• Application Number:
  US11/018,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20050163093A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,624 Days
• Field of Search: 370/341, 370/349, 370328-329, 370/334, 455/11.1
• US Class Current: 370/341
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/14 Channel dividing arrangements , i.e. in which a single bit stream is divided between several baseband channels and reassembled at the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections

Abstract

A method of conducting communication over one or more communication networks without making any change to the communication network infrastructure, the method comprising: selectively establishing L≧2 communication paths between first and second devices, each communication path comprising one or more communication channels of one of the communication networks; splitting a communication data stream from the first device into at least L sub-streams; transmitting the sub-streams via the L communication paths; and combining the sub-streams for processing at the second device.

Claims

1. A method of conducting communication over at least a first and a second mobile communication networks, the method comprising:

providing a first mobile device subscribed to the first and to the second mobile communication networks;

establishing at least two communication paths between the first mobile device and a further device, wherein a first one of the communication paths comprises one or more subscribed communication channels of the first mobile communication network, and a second one of the communication paths comprises one or more subscribed communication channels of the second mobile communication network;

splitting a communication data stream originating from the first mobile device between the first mobile device and the further device into at least two sub-streams beginning at the first mobile device for respective ones of the at least two communication paths;

transmitting the two sub-streams via the one or more subscribed communication channels of the first and second communication paths, respectively; and

combining the two sub-streams at the further device for processing at the further device, wherein the splitting and combining are conducted externally from the first and second mobile communication networks.

2. A method of conducting communication over at least a first and a second mobile communication networks, the method comprising:

providing a first mobile device subscribed to the first and the second mobile networks;

establishing at least two communication paths between the first mobile device and a further device, wherein a first one of the communication paths comprises one or more subscribed communication channels of the first mobile communication network, and a second one of the communication paths comprises one or more subscribed communication channels of the second mobile communication network;

splitting a communication data stream terminating at the first mobile device between the further device and the first mobile device into at least two sub-streams beginning at the further device for respective ones of the at least two communication paths;

transmitting the two sub-streams via the one or more subscribed communication channels of the first and second communication paths respectively; and

combining the sub-streams at the first mobile device for processing at the first mobile device, wherein the splitting and combining are conducted externally from the first and the second mobile communication networks.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the further device comprises a mobile station or a data server.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the mobile station comprises one or more of a group consisting of a phone, a mobile phone, a PDA, a desktop computer, and a laptop computer.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the data server comprises an intermediate data server connected to a further data server, the Internet, or both via dedicated respective data transfer links.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising determining location information about the first, further, or both devices based on two or more of the communication paths.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising adding further data to the communication data stream.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the further data is added prior to, after, or both prior and after the splitting of the communication data stream.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the further data is added during the splitting of the communication data stream.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the further data is utilized to improve reliability of the communication.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, comprising utilizing coding of the communication data stream to improve the reliability of the communication.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the further data is utilized to improve a security of the communication.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, comprising utilizing one or more of a group consisting of encryption, path hopping, and spread spectrum communications, to improve the security of the communication.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein two or more sub-streams are encrypted using different encryption codes.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising compressing the data stream, at least one sub-stream or both.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein one or more of the communication paths comprise a varying number of subscribed communication channels between end-points of the communication path.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein one or more of the communication paths comprise one or more subscribed communication channels provided for the first mobile device by one or more communication networks under a roaming configuration.

18. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication paths comprise one or more of a group consisting of GSM, EDGE, GPRS, 3G, and CDMA.

19. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein one or more data protocols used in the transmission of data are adapted at end points only in transmitting and receiving the two sub-streams.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the data protocols comprise existing protocols, dedicated protocols, or both.

21. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the adaptation of the data protocols is dependent on an application, performance criteria, or both.

22. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising processing the data stream for the establishing of the communication paths, the splitting of the communication data stream, or both, based on resources on the communication paths, characteristics of the communication paths, or both.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the processing is adjusted during transfer depending on the resources on the communication paths, the characteristics of the communication paths, or both.

24. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the establishing of the communication paths, the splitting of the communication data stream, or both, are based on the data stream.

25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the establishing of the communication paths, the splitting of the communication data stream, or both, are based on providing enhanced communication in terms of one or more of a group consisting of data-rate, security, and reliability.

26. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, further comprising facilitating the establishing of the communication paths utilizing a server.

27. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the method is applied for providing enhanced communication for voice calling.

28. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one communication path is provided by a wired network.

29. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication paths comprise communication paths of different types.