Switching between two communication modes in a WLAN

• US 7,899,017 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2006
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Ying, Yu, Xiu Lan, Liu, Shi Xia, Tang, Li Hua
• Primary Examiner(s): Pérez-Gutiérrez; Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Miah; Liton
• Application Number:
  US11/377,484
• Publication Number:
  US 20060215576A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 455/426.2, 455/445, 455/550.1
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• 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

Method and system for switching a network application operating in a first communication mode to a second mode within a wireless local area network, comprising: judging whether mobile nodes are neighboring according to location information; when nodes are neighboring inquiring whether mobile nodes want to switch to second mode to run network applications; when all mobile nodes agree to switch to second mode, downloading and installing network application provided by the application server to one of the mobile nodes; configuring each of the mobile nodes with the communication parameters under the second mode; and switching all mobile nodes to the second communication mode to continue the previous network application. The invention dynamically switches between Infrastructure mode and Ad-hoc mode to balance system resources, improve QoS, reduce the communication traffic, waiting time and the cost of the users, and increase the income of the provider of the network service.

Claims

1. A method for a mobile node to perform dynamically switching between infrastructure and peer to peer communication-modes to optimize and balance network resources, the method comprising steps of:

in a wireless area network wherein a plurality of mobile nodes participate in a session by accessing the wireless area network through an access point to communicate with an application server to access at least one network application;

providing to the plurality of mobile nodes, in the infrastructure communication mode, by the application server, the at least one network application;

determining that the access point is overloaded;

using an application agent module to start a location apparatus determining that the plurality of mobile nodes are running the same network application;

using the application agent module to ask the location apparatus to determine which of the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring nodes by accessing location information of each of said mobile nodes, wherein the neighboring nodes are mobile nodes that communicate with each other directly in a peer to peer communication mode;

sending an inquiry to the neighboring nodes by said application server inquiring whether the neighboring nodes want to switch to the peer to peer communication mode to run said network application;

selecting one of the neighboring nodes as host node in the peer to peer communication mode by;

obtaining host configuration requirements for the peer to peer communication mode from the network application of the application server;

selecting the host node from the neighboring nodes, wherein the step of selecting comprises using a method selected from a group consisting of;

checking a configuration of each neighboring node to judge whether said neighboring node can be used as the host node in the peer to peer communication mode;

selecting the neighboring node with a best configuration as the host node of the peer to peer communication mode, wherein the best configuration comprises;

a fastest CPU; and

selecting the neighboring node as the host node if it has host software installed on it;

downloading and installing the network application from said application server to the host node when all the neighboring nodes agree to switch to the peer to peer communication mode;

downloading the session between the mobile nodes and the application server to the host node;

configuring each neighboring node with communication parameters under the peer to peer communication mode; and

switching all the neighboring nodes to the peer to peer communication mode and continuing to run the downloaded and installed network application in said peer to peer communication mode, such that the neighboring nodes can communicate with each other directly peer-to-peer, thereby bypassing the overloaded access point,

wherein when the mobile nodes switch from the infrastructure to the peer to peer mode to optimize network resources, the application being accessed by the mobile node remains unaffected.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising one of said application server and an authentication server, obtaining the location information of the mobile nodes, session information between the mobile nodes and said application server and the associated information about the network application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring nodes according to the location information of the mobile nodes further comprises the steps of, using at least one of the following methods to judge:

a) obtaining the location of the mobile nodes through coordination of an authentication server and the access point;

b) judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring by the triangularization of signal strength according to various distances between mobile nodes and different access points;

c) judging whether said mobile nodes are adjacent firstly by using a location of the access point as the user location information; and

for the adjacent mobile nodes, further using the triangularization of the signal strength to judge whether they are neighboring; and

d) sending the location information through the wireless area network by using special location apparatus thereby to judge whether the mobile nodes are neighboring.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing other mobile nodes to register with said host node when switching to the peer to peer communication mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of configuring each neighboring node with communication parameters under the peer to peer communication mode comprises the step of:

configuring each neighboring node with IP address, network parameters and wireless card parameters.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting and saving the network configuration for the plurality of mobile nodes when configured to operate in the infrastructure communication mode.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising said plurality of mobile nodes using static IP address or IPv6 address, or dynamic IP address assigned by the DNS server of the first communication mode;

and judging whether addresses of the plurality of mobile nodes are in a same group when prepared to switch to the peer to peer communication mode.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether said mobile nodes are installed with a client agent;

automatically uploading and installing the client agent for the mobile nodes when the client agent is not installed in the mobile nodes, wherein the installed client agent sets the network and wireless card and installs corresponding software and session information according to obtained parameters; and

transmitting suitable IP address, corresponding network parameters, wireless card parameters, application software to the client agent on each of the plurality of mobile nodes.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing said mobile nodes automatically switch back to infrastructure mode to re-access the previous network application on the application server when the network application is running in the peer to peer communication mode, and one or more mobile nodes leave.

10. A system for switching a network application operating in an infrastructure communication mode to a peer to peer communication mode within a wireless local area network, said system comprising:

a wireless area network;

an access point that is overloaded;

at least one application server for providing a plurality of network applications, wherein the application server includes an application module and an application agent module;

a plurality of mobile nodes participating in a session by accessing the wireless area network through the access point and communicating with the at least one application server to obtain various network applications provided by said application server in the infrastructure communication mode;

each of said plurality of mobile nodes including a client module and a client agent; and

an application server configured for asking a location acquiring apparatus for determining which of the plurality of the mobile nodes are neighboring nodes, wherein the neighboring nodes are mobile nodes that can communicate with each other directly in a peer to peer communication mode;

wherein, in the first communication mode, when the plurality of mobile nodes are accessing the application server on the network through the overloaded access point and running a same network application provided by said application server,

the application agent module starts the location acquiring apparatus to obtain location information of each of the plurality of mobile nodes; and

the application server;

sends an inquiry to the mobile nodes, inquiring whether the mobile nodes want to switch to the peer to peer communication mode to run said network application as neighboring nodes;

selecting one of the mobile nodes as a host node in the peer to peer communication mode when all the neighboring nodes agree to switch to the peer to peer communication mode, the selecting comprising steps of;

obtaining host configuration requirements for the peer to peer communication mode from the network application of the application server;

selecting the host node, wherein the step of selecting comprises using a method selected from a group consisting of;

checking a configuration of each neighboring node to judge whether said neighboring node can be used as the host node in the peer to peer communication mode; and

selecting the neighboring node with a best configuration as the host node of the peer to peer communication mode, wherein the best configuration means at least one of;

fastest CPU, bigger memory, bigger hard disk and higher version of software platform; and

selecting the mobile node as the host node if it has host software installed on it;

downloading and installing the network application provided by the application server on the host node, and

receiving and installing by the host node the session concerning the network application from the application server;

configuring each neighboring node with communication parameters under the peer to peer communication mode; and

switching all the neighboring nodes to the peer to peer communication mode and continuing to run the downloaded and installed network application in said peer to peer communication mode, such that the neighboring nodes can communicate with each other directly peer-to-peer, thereby bypassing the overloaded access point;

wherein when the mobile nodes switch from the first infrastructure mode to the peer to peer mode to optimize network resources, the application accessed by the mobile node remains unaffected.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first communication mode is an infrastructure mode and the peer to peer communication mode is a peer to peer ad-hoc communication mode.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each client agent module is configured to cause said mobile nodes to automatically switch back to infrastructure mode to re-access the previous network application on the application server when the network application is running in the peer to peer communication mode, and one or more mobile nodes leave.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the location apparatus is further configured to:

obtain, by said application server or an authentication server, session information between the mobile nodes and said application server and the associated information about the network application.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the application agent module further comprising a judging means for judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring, using at least one of the following methods:

obtaining the location of the mobile nodes through coordination of the authentication server and the access point;

judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring by the triangularization of the signal strength according to various distances between the mobile nodes and different access points;

judging whether the mobile nodes are adjacent firstly by using the location of the access point as user location information; and

for the adjacent mobile nodes, further using the triangularization of signal strength to judge whether they are neighboring; and

sending location information through the wireless local area network by using special location apparatus thereby to judge whether the mobile nodes are neighboring.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the client agent module on the host node is further configured to:

cause other mobile nodes to register with said host node when switching to the peer to peer communication mode.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein communication parameters obtained by each client agent module under the peer to peer communication mode comprise:

an IP address for each mobile node, network parameters and wireless card parameters.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein each client agent module is further configured to set and save the network configuration for the plurality of mobile nodes when configured to operate in the infrastructure communication mode.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein said plurality of mobile nodes using static IP address or IPv6 address, or dynamic IP address assigned by the DNS server of in the first communication mode;

and the application agent module is configured to judge whether the addresses of the plurality of mobile nodes are in a same group when prepared to switch to the peer to peer communication mode.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the application agent module is further configured to:

judge whether said mobile nodes are installed as a client agent;

automatically upload and install the client agent for the mobile nodes when the client agent is not installed in the mobile nodes;

transmit suitable IP address, corresponding network parameters, wireless card parameters, application software to the client agent on each of the plurality of mobile node; and

the client agent on each of plurality of mobile nodes is configured to set the network and wireless card, and to install corresponding software and sessions according to parameters obtained.

20. A computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for causing switching of a network application, the computer readable program code comprising instructions for causing a computer to effect the steps of:

providing to a plurality of mobile nodes, in a infrastructure communication mode, by an application server at least one network application;

in a wireless area network wherein the a plurality of mobile nodes participate in a session by accessing the wireless area network through an access point to communicate with an application server to obtain at least one network application;

determining that the access point is overloaded;

using an application agent module starting a location apparatus for determining that the plurality of mobile nodes are running a same network application provided by said application server in the first communication mode,

using the application agent module to ask the location apparatus to determine which of the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring nodes by accessing location information of each of said mobile nodes, wherein the neighboring nodes are mobile nodes that can communicate with each other directly in a peer to peer communication mode;

sending an inquiry to the neighboring nodes by said application server inquiring whether the neighboring nodes want to switch to the peer to peer communication mode to run said network application;

selecting one of the neighboring nodes as the host node in the peer to peer communication mode when all the neighboring nodes agree to switch to the peer to peer communication mode;

said selecting step comprising steps of;

obtaining host configuration requirements for the peer to peer communication mode from the network application of the application server;

selecting the host node, wherein the step of selecting comprises using a method selected from a group consisting of;

checking a configuration of each neighboring node to judge whether said neighboring node can be used as the host node in the peer to peer communication mode; and

selecting the neighboring node with a best configuration as the host node of the peer to peer communication mode, wherein the best configuration means at least one of;

fastest CPU, bigger memory, bigger hard disk and higher version of software platform; and

selecting the mobile node as the host node if it has host software installed on it;

downloading and installing the network application provided by the application server on said host node, and

receiving and installing by said host node the session concerning said network application from said application server;

configuring each neighboring node with communication parameters under the peer to peer communication mode; and

switching all the neighboring nodes to the peer to peer communication mode and continuing to run the downloaded and installed network application in said peer to peer communication mode, such that the neighboring nodes can communicate with each other directly peer-to-peer, thereby bypassing the overloaded access point;

wherein when the mobile nodes switch from the infrastructure mode to the peer to peer mode to optimize network resources, the application accessed by the mobile node remains unaffected.