System and method for communicating data utilizing multiple types of data connections

• US 8,279,893 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2006
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Herz, William Samuel, Fear, Andrew C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Juntima, Nittaya
• Assistant Examiner(s): MURPHY, RHONDA L
• Application Number:
  US11/454,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20070291774A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,300 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/473
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/36 by determining packet size, e.g. maximum transfer unit [MTU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A system and method are provided for communicating data over a network. In some embodiments relating to data transmission, data is divided into a plurality of portions, such that the portions may be transmitted utilizing a plurality of different types of data connections. In other embodiments relating to data receipt, a plurality of portions of data is received utilizing a plurality of different types of data connections, after which the portions may be reassembled.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

dividing data into a plurality of portions of the data based on a number of available data connections, a size of each of the portions of the data tailored to the number of available data connections;

selecting one of a plurality of different types of the available data connections for transmitting each portion of the data, wherein the selection is based on at least one environmental factor and wherein the one of the different types of the available data connections for transmitting each portion of the data is selected based on whether a bandwidth of each of the available data connections is capable of being sustained in view of the at least one environmental factor;

transmitting the portions of the data utilizing the plurality of different types of the available data connections, according to the selection;

monitoring the available data connections, and determining that utilization of a particular one of the available data connections is affected by the at least one environmental factor; and

in response to the determination that utilization of the particular one of the available data connections is affected by the at least one environmental factor, preventing further utilization of the particular one of the available data connections for transmitting additional data;

wherein a header is included with each of the portions of the data;

wherein the header includes information that includes beginning and end data, transport data, error correction data, contents identification information, and transmission mode data;

wherein the particular one of the available data connections includes a wireless connection, and the at least one environmental factor affecting the wireless connection includes a level of ambient interference in an environment, such that further utilization of the wireless connection is prevented in response to the ambient interference in the environment.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data connections include network data connections.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data connections include at least one of a home phoneline networking alliance (HPNA) data connection, a home plug data connection, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) data connection, a Bluetooth data connection, an Ethernet data connection, a 1394 data connection, a universal serial bus data connection, a parallel data connection, and an analog/digital data connection.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the dividing further includes dividing the data into the portions based on contents of the data.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection is based on a latency of the different types of the available data connections.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selection is based on at least one aspect of the data or at least one of the portions thereof.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the selection is based on a priority of the data or at least one of the portions thereof.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the selection is based on whether the data or at least one of the portions thereof is asynchronous or bisynchronous.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the selection is based on a content type associated with the data or at least one of the portions thereof.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, and further comprising at least one of compressing, digitizing, and retrieving via direct memory access (DMA) the data or the portions thereof.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information further comprises data size information.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the header further comprises headers associated with lower layer processing.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmission mode data includes an indication whether the portion of the data is being uni-casted or multi-casted.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the dividing further includes dividing the data into the portions based on a priority of the data.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data divided into the plurality of portions of the data based on the number of available data connections is divided such that the plurality of portions of the data are in at least two different formats.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of portions of data divided into the portions based on a number of available data connections utilizing a plurality of different types of the available data connections, a size of each of the portions of the data tailored to the number of available data connections, wherein one of a plurality of different types of the available data connections are selected for transmitting each portion of the data by which the plurality of portions of data are received, wherein the selection is based on at least one environmental factor and wherein the one of the different types of the available data connections for transmitting each portion of the data is selected based on whether a bandwidth of each of the available data connections is capable of being sustained in view of the at least one environmental factor; and

reassembling the portions of the data;

wherein a header is included with each of the portions of the data;

wherein the header includes information that includes beginning and end data, transport data, error correction data, contents identification information, and transmission mode data;

wherein the available data connections are monitored, and it is determined that utilization of a particular one of the available data connections is affected by the at least one environmental factor;

wherein, in response to the determination that utilization of the particular one of the available data connections is affected by the at least one environmental factor, further utilization is prevented of the particular one of the available data connections for transmitting additional data;

wherein the particular one of the available data connections includes a wireless connection, and the at least one environmental factor affecting the wireless connection includes a level of ambient interference in an environment, such that further utilization of the wireless connection is prevented in response to the ambient interference in the environment.

17. A system, comprising:

a plurality of different types of available data connections; and

an interface for interfacing the available data connections to communicate a plurality of portions of data utilizing the different types of the available data connections;

wherein a header is included with each of the portions of the data;

wherein the header includes information that includes beginning and end data, transport data, error correction data, contents identification information, and transmission mode data;

wherein the system is operable such that the data is divided into the portions of the data based on a number of the available data connections, and a size of each of the portions of the data is tailored to the number of available data connections;

wherein the system is operable such that one of a plurality of different types of the available data connections are selected for communicating each portion of the data, wherein the selection is based on at least one environmental factor and wherein the one of the different types of the available data connections for transmitting each portion of the data is selected based on whether a bandwidth of each of the available data connections is capable of being sustained in view of the at least one environmental factor;

wherein the system is operable such that the available data connections are monitored, and it is determined that utilization of a particular one of the available data connections is affected by the at least one environmental factor;

wherein the system is operable such that, in response to the determination that utilization of the particular one of the available data connections is affected by the at least one environmental factor, further utilization is prevented of the particular one of the available data connections for transmitting additional data;

wherein the particular one of the available data connections includes a wireless connection, and the at least one environmental factor affecting the wireless connection includes a level of ambient interference in an environment, such that further utilization of the wireless connection is prevented in response to the ambient interference in the environment.

18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the interface is provided utilizing a central processing unit and memory in communication via a bus.