Mobile router stack

Abstract

A wireless mobile router stack ( 400 ) includes a plurality of network controllers ( 142 ) communicating over a local area network. Each network controller includes a CPU ( 222 ), with and one or more local area network interface devices ( 146, 148, 333, 360 ) and one or more cellular network interface devices ( 202, 204, 206 ) in communication with the CPU. At least one of the local area network interface devices hosts client devices on a wire ( 333 ) or wireless ( 170, 180 ) local area network. All of the cellular network interface devices connect to a host cellular network ( 110 ) as a client when an appropriately configured cellular network access point ( 112, 114, 116 ) is available. At least one of the network controllers operates to route traffic between locally reachable devices and non-locally reachable IP address over a plurality of the cellular network interface devices.

1 . A wireless network router stack comprising:
 a plurality of network controllers each comprising a CPU, a memory module associated with the CPU, a cellular network interface device and a local area network interface device each in communication with the CPU and at least one additional cellular network interface device mounted on one of the network controllers in communication with the controller CPU;   wherein each of the cellular network interface devices is configured to become a client of a cellular network;   wherein at least one of the local area network interface devices is configured to host locally reachable local area network configured client devices;   wherein each of the plurality of network controllers is configured to exchange network signals with each of the other of the plurality of network controllers over the local area network interface devices;   program steps operating on at least one of the network controllers for routing network traffic between the locally reachable client devices and non-locally reachable network IP addresses over any one of the cellular network interface devices.   
     
     
         2 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  each of the plurality of network controllers is configured to communicate with each of the other of the plurality of network controllers using a Mobile ad-hoc network (MANET). 
     
     
         3 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  each of the plurality of network controllers is configured to communicate with each of the other of the plurality of network controllers using a mesh network. 
     
     
         4 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  each of the plurality of network controllers is configured to communicate with each of the other of the plurality of network controllers using one of WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Ultra Wide network communication standards. 
     
     
         5 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  each of the plurality of network controllers is configured to communicate with each of the other of the plurality of network controllers over a wire local area network (LAN). 
     
     
         6 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  each of the plurality of network controllers is configured to communicate with each of the other of the plurality of network controllers over a combination of wire local area network (LAN) connections and wireless local area network (WLAN) connections. 
     
     
         7 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  wherein the local area network for hosting locally reachable local area network configured client devices comprises a plurality of local area networks operating on a plurality of different local area network communication standards. 
     
     
         8 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  wherein-each of the plurality of controllers is housed within an enclosure further comprising:
 an I/O interface passing through the enclosure that includes one or more antenna ports; 
 an external antenna connected to each of the cellular network interface devices mounted on the controller through the one or more antenna ports. 
 
     
     
         9 . The wireless network router of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a satellite telecommunications network interface device disposed on one of the network controllers in communication with the controller CPU; 
 program steps operating on at least one of the network controllers for routing network traffic between locally reachable client devices and non-locally reachable network IP addresses over the satellite telecommunications network interface device. 
 
     
     
         10 . A network operating method comprising the steps of:
 configuring a plurality of network controllers with a controller CPU, a cellular network interface device in communication with the controller CPU, with and a local area, network interface device in communication with the CPU and with at least one additional cellular networking interface device mounted on one of the plurality of network controllers and in communication with the controller CPU;   forming a local area network that includes all of the plurality of network controllers;   forming a local area network for hosting locally reachable local area network configured client devices thereon;   routing network traffic between the locally reachable client devices and non-locally reachable network IP addresses over any one of the cellular network interface devices.   
     
     
         11 . The network operating method of  claim 10  wherein the routing step comprises simultaneously routing the network traffic over a plurality of the cellular network interface devices. 
     
     
         12 . The network operating method of  claim 11  wherein each of the cellular network interface devices is substantially identical further comprising the steps of:
 establishing a plurality of the cellular network interface devices as a client on the same cellular network; 
 simultaneously routing the network traffic to the non-locally reachable network IP addresses over different client devices of the same cellular network. 
 
     
     
         13 . The network operating method of  claim 11  wherein the cellular network interface devices include cellular network interface devices configured to become clients of different cellular network types further comprising the steps of:
 establishing the cellular network interface devices as clients on a plurality of different cellular network types; 
 simultaneously routing the network traffic to non-locally reachable network IP addresses over clients devices of different cellular network types. 
 
     
     
         14 . The network operating method of  claim 11  further comprising the steps of:
 determining cellular network operating parameters for cellular networks that are hosting cellular network interface devices included on the plurality of network controller; 
 routing the network traffic to non-locally reachable network IP addresses over cellular network interface devices that provide the most favorable cellular network operating parameters. 
 
     
     
         15 . The network operating method of  claim 14  wherein the step of determining cellular network operating parameters comprises one of:
 determining a signal strength at each cellular network interface device; 
 determining a bandwidth capacity over each cellular network interface device; 
 determining a response time over each cellular network interface device. 
 
     
     
         16 . The network operating method of  claim 10  wherein an outgoing data packet originating from any one of the other locally reachable devices includes a locally reachable source IP address and a destination IP address and wherein each of the plurality of cellular network interface devices that is established as a client on a cellular network is assigned an IP address further comprising the steps of:
 determining if the destination IP address of the outgoing data packet is locally reachable and if not; 
 selecting a cellular network interface device associated with one of the network controllers to route the outgoing data packet to the destination IP address over; 
 translating the outgoing data packet to replace the locally reachable source IP address with the IP address assigned to the selected cellular network interface device. 
 
     
     
         17 . The network method of  claim 10  wherein the step of forming the local area network that includes the plurality of network controllers comprises forming a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET). 
     
     
         18 . The network method of  claim 10  wherein the step of forming the local area network that includes the plurality of network controllers comprises forming a mesh network. 
     
     
         19 . The network method of  claim 10  wherein the step of forming the local area network that includes the plurality of network controllers comprises forming wire and wireless local area network connections. 
     
     
         20 . The network method of  claim 10  further comprising the step of configuring all of the network controllers with a plurality of cellular networking interface devices in communication with the controller CPU.