Wireless bandwidth aggregation
First Claim
1. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is not a transient signal, the computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon which, when loaded by a computer, provide for dynamic bandwidth allocation among a plurality of wireless device clients of a wireless wide-area network (WWAN), wherein the clients are within wireless signal reception of each other, and wherein each client has an allocated bandwidth for communicating over the WWAN, the computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:
- forming a pool of at least two clients wherein an unused portion of a client bandwidth is available for sharing by at least one client in the pool;
identifying a communication manager to manage traffic between the pool clients and the WWAN, wherein each client has access, if needed, to a entire client'"'"'s own allocated bandwidth, wherein each client has access to at least a portion of other clients'"'"' unused bandwidths, and wherein the communication manager controls sharing of unutilized bandwidths and flow of data by identifying clients of the pool with excess bandwidth and choosing at least some identified clients of the pool to participate in the communication process; and
receiving data from a data transmitting client of the pool, preparing the received data for distribution among pool clients chosen for reception, and distributing the prepared data among the chosen pool clients for transmission over the WWAN; and
obtaining data portions received by clients chosen for reception from the WWAN, assembling obtained data for transmission to a destination pool client, and transmitting assembled data to the destination pool client.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for dynamic bandwidth expansion for wireless clients of a wireless wide-area network (WWAN), wherein each client has an allocated bandwidth for communicating over the WWAN and the clients are within wireless signal reception of each other. The WWAN clients may voluntarily or in a predetermined manner join a pool of bandwidth-sharing clients. A wireless aggregation server and a wireless pool boss work in cooperation to utilize unused transmit and receive bandwidth from each of the pool members.
47 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is not a transient signal, the computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon which, when loaded by a computer, provide for dynamic bandwidth allocation among a plurality of wireless device clients of a wireless wide-area network (WWAN), wherein the clients are within wireless signal reception of each other, and wherein each client has an allocated bandwidth for communicating over the WWAN, the computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:
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forming a pool of at least two clients wherein an unused portion of a client bandwidth is available for sharing by at least one client in the pool; identifying a communication manager to manage traffic between the pool clients and the WWAN, wherein each client has access, if needed, to a entire client'"'"'s own allocated bandwidth, wherein each client has access to at least a portion of other clients'"'"' unused bandwidths, and wherein the communication manager controls sharing of unutilized bandwidths and flow of data by identifying clients of the pool with excess bandwidth and choosing at least some identified clients of the pool to participate in the communication process; and receiving data from a data transmitting client of the pool, preparing the received data for distribution among pool clients chosen for reception, and distributing the prepared data among the chosen pool clients for transmission over the WWAN; and obtaining data portions received by clients chosen for reception from the WWAN, assembling obtained data for transmission to a destination pool client, and transmitting assembled data to the destination pool client. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A first device of a plurality of devices of a wireless wide-area network (WWAN), the first device comprising a processor, the first device configured to:
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request, via the processor, transmission of data via a message sent to a second device of the plurality of devices, the second device responding by providing a status of other devices in the plurality of devices and associated unused bandwidth that is useful to transmit the data; and parcel, via the processor, out packets of the data to be transmitted by at least one other device in the plurality of devices using the unused bandwidth, the second device requesting and receiving packets of the data to be transmitted from the at least one other device in the plurality of devices via the unused bandwidth, the second device sending the packets of the data to a server, wherein the server transmits the data to an external network. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. An apparatus comprising a processor, the apparatus configured to:
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coordinate, via the processor, packet traffic of a plurality of devices forming a wireless pool of available bandwidth for the reception of data; check, via the processor, status of the plurality of devices to identify unused bandwidth for each of the plurality of devices; communicate, via the processor, with a server in order to receive packets inbound to the wireless pool, wherein the inbound packets are received and buffered by the server; and provide, via the processor, to the server bandwidth sharing capability information of the plurality of devices, wherein the server organizes the buffered packets into smaller components, each smaller component tagged for a respective device in the wireless pool, the smaller components transmitted to a designated device, each respective device of the wireless pool receiving the smaller components from the designated device, each respective wireless pool device reassembling the smaller components into original internet protocol (IP) packets. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification