Access line bonding and splitting methods and apparatus

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for aggregating communication channels. In one exemplary embodiment an aggregation device is required only on one side of the set of communication channels being aggregated. Advantageously, no modifications to the source and/or destination of data transfers are required for operation of the invention. In one embodiment utilized for data transfers in the downstream direction, object download requests can be fulfilled by sending a sequence of partial download requests through the set of communication channels being aggregated, and forwarding the resulting partial data objects received to the original requestor in the proper order. In another embodiment utilized for upstream data transfers, traffic is bifurcated to travel along a set of communication channels, and the bifurcated traffic is reassembled either at the network layer or the transport layer.

1 .- 34 . (canceled) 
     
     
         35 . An aggregation device comprising:
 a processing apparatus configured to classify a plurality of packets that arrive via a first communications interface as belonging to a single communication session;   the processing apparatus configured to select one of a plurality of network interfaces that will be associated with the single communication session;   the processing apparatus configured to forward a first packet received via the first communications interface to the selected network interface associated with the single communication session that the first packet belongs to;   the processing apparatus configured to update a source network address of the first packet with the network address associated with the selected network interface; and   the processing apparatus configured to forward a second packet received via the selected network interface for transmission via the first communications interface;   wherein a destination network address of the second packet is replaced by the source network address.   
     
     
         36 . The aggregation device of  claim 35 , wherein the aggregation device is further configured to execute a load balancing algorithm, the selected one of the plurality of network interfaces being selected according to the load balancing algorithm. 
     
     
         37 . The aggregation device of  claim 36 , wherein the load balancing algorithm comprises an optimization algorithm configured to optimize for higher bandwidth channels. 
     
     
         38 . The aggregation device of  claim 35 , wherein the first packet is determined by the processing apparatus to be of a particular type of data; and
 wherein the particular type of data is exclusively transferred via the selected network interface.   
     
     
         39 . The aggregation device of  claim 36 , wherein the load balancing algorithm utilizes a quality of service (QoS) parameter. 
     
     
         40 . The aggregation device of  claim 35 , wherein the plurality of network interfaces comprises a cellular network interface and a WiFi network interface. 
     
     
         41 . An aggregation device comprising:
 a processing apparatus configured to receive a request for data via a first communication interface;   the processing apparatus configured to determine an attribute associated with the requested data in order to determine whether the requested data exceeds a predetermined criterion; and   when the requested data exceeds the predetermined criterion, the processing apparatus is configured to:
 generate a plurality of data requests for portions of the data; 
 send a first subset of the generated data requests over a first network interface; and 
 send a second subset of the generated data requests over a second network interface. 
   
     
     
         42 . The aggregation device of  claim 41 , wherein the processing apparatus is further configured to:
 generate additional subsets of the generated data; and   send one or more of the additional subsets over the first network interface or the second network interface, depending upon the completion of the first subset of the generated data requests or the completion of the second subset of the generated data requests over the first network interface or the second network interface, respectively.   
     
     
         43 . The aggregation device of  claim 42 , wherein the first subset of the generated data and the second subset of the generated data comprise identical redundant data requests. 
     
     
         44 . The aggregation device of  claim 41 , wherein the first subset of the generated data and the second subset of the generated data comprise identical redundant data requests. 
     
     
         45 . The aggregation device of  claim 44 , wherein the processing apparatus is further configured to receive the requested redundant data over the first network interface and receive the requested redundant data over the second network interface; and
 wherein the processing apparatus is further configured to discard either the redundant portion received on the first network interface or the redundant portion received on the second network interface depending upon an evaluated criterion.   
     
     
         46 . The aggregation device of  claim 45 , wherein the evaluated criterion comprises a time of arrival for the redundant portion received on the first network interface and a time of arrival for the redundant portion received on the second network interface. 
     
     
         47 . The aggregation device of  claim 46 , wherein the processing apparatus discards a later arriving one of the redundant portion received on the first network interface and the redundant portion received on the second network interface. 
     
     
         48 . The aggregation device of  claim 41 , wherein the first network interface operates according to a cellular communication protocol and the second network interface operates according to a WiFi communication protocol. 
     
     
         49 . The aggregation device of  claim 42 , wherein the first network interface operates according to a cellular communication protocol and the second network interface operates according to a WiFi communication protocol. 
     
     
         50 . The aggregation device of  claim 44 , wherein the first network interface operates according to a cellular communication protocol and the second network interface operates according to a WiFi communication protocol. 
     
     
         51 . An aggregation device comprising:
 a processing apparatus configured to receive a plurality of packets via a first communications interface;   the processing apparatus configured to select one of a plurality of network interfaces associated with the received plurality of packets;   the processing apparatus configured to forward a first portion of packets received via the first communications interface to the selected one network interface, the first portion of packets being modified to match a network layer format requirement for the selected network interface;   the processing apparatus configured to update a source network address for the first portion of packets with the network address associated with the selected network interface; and   the processing apparatus configured to forward a second portion of packets received via the selected network interface for transmission via the first communications interface;   wherein a destination network address of the second portion of packets is replaced by the source network address and the second portion of packets being modified to match a network layer format requirement for the first communication interface.   
     
     
         52 . The aggregation device of  claim 51 , wherein the network layer format requirement for the first communication interface is pre-stored within a memory of the aggregation device. 
     
     
         53 . The aggregation device of  claim 51 , wherein the network layer format requirement for the selected network interface is determined by the aggregation device based upon a query of a network interface by the aggregation device. 
     
     
         54 . The aggregation device of  claim 51 , wherein the network layer format requirement for the selected network interface is determined by the aggregation device based upon a query of a destination device over a network. 
     
     
         55 . The aggregation device of  claim 51 , wherein the network layer format requirement for the first communication interface is determined by aggregation device based upon a query of a local device via the first communications interface. 
     
     
         56 . The aggregation device of  claim 51 , wherein the network layer format requirement for the selected network interface is a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size.