Mobile Router Device

Abstract

A wireless mobile router ( 140 ) includes wireless network interfaces ( 202 ) and ( 218 ) attached to a network controller ( 142 ). The wireless network interface ( 202 ) communicates with a cellular network ( 110 ) to access cellular network services. The wireless network interface ( 218 ) and the network controller ( 142 ) comprise a WLAN ( 170 ) or PAN ( 180 ) and a network router hosting a plurality of client devices. Each client device may access a wide area network, WAN over the cellular network. The wireless mobile router ( 140 ) is configured to exchange various cellular network signals with various WLAN and PAN networks. The wireless mobile router ( 140 ) is particularly suitable for use in a vehicle or at locations where WAN access is not readily available.

What we claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising the steps of:
 establishing a plurality of network connections between a mobile router and a first wireless network wherein the first wireless network provides access to a WAN;   hosting one or more client devices on a second local area network operating on the mobile router;   receiving network traffic from the client devices of the second local area network within the mobile router;   determining which network traffic received from the second local area network to route to the first wireless network;   aggregating the network traffic being routed to the first wireless network together; and,   balancing the aggregated network over the plurality of network connections with the first wireless network.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first wireless network comprises a plurality of first wireless networks operating on different wireless network protocols and the step of establishing the plurality of network connections between the mobile router and the first wireless network comprises connecting to at least two first wireless networks operating on at least two different wireless network protocols and each having a separate access to the WAN. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the plurality of first wireless networks comprises a first cellular network operating on first cellular network protocol and a second cellular network operating on a second cellular network protocol. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of establishing the plurality of network connections between the mobile router and the first wireless network comprises establishing the mobile router as a plurality of different client devices on the same cellular network. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first wireless network includes a plurality of access points and the mobile router further performs the steps of:
 monitoring the plurality of first network access points; and, 
 selecting one or more optimal first network access points to establish the plurality of network connections over. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the plurality of first wireless networks each includes a plurality of access points and the mobile router further performs the steps of:
 monitoring the plurality of access points of each first wireless network; and, 
 selecting one or more optimal first network access point to establish the plurality of network connections over. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first wireless network comprises a plurality access points distributed over a geographic region further comprising the steps of:
 moving the mobile router and the one or more client devices hosted on the second local area network over the geographic region and one of: 
 monitoring the plurality of access points; 
 selecting an optimal access point to connect to; 
 reestablishing at least one of the plurality of network connections between the mobile router and the first wireless network by connecting to the first wireless network over a different wireless access point. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first wireless network comprises a WiMax wireless network further comprising the step of reformatting network traffic received from the client devices of the second local area network to a WiMax communication protocol standard. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of routing network traffic received from the first wireless network to appropriate client devices of the second local area network. 
     
     
         10 . A mobile wireless router comprising:
 a network controller comprising a CPU and an associated memory;   a plurality of cellular network interface devices in communication with the CPU;   a second wireless network interface device in communication with the CPU,   program steps operating on the mobile wireless router for establishing at least two of the plurality of cellular network interface devices as client device of a cellular network that provides access to a WAN;   program steps operating on the wireless network router for hosting client devices on a local area network operating over the second wireless network interface device;   programs steps operating on the wireless network router for aggregating network traffic received from the hosted client devices having destination IP addresses reachable over the WAN together for routing to the first wireless network; and,   program step operating on the wireless router for balancing the aggregated network traffic over two or more of the plurality of cellular network interface devices.   
     
     
         11 . The wireless network router of  claim 10  further comprising program step operating on the wireless router for receiving network traffic from the first wireless network over each of the plurality of cellular network interface devices established as a client of the first wireless network and for routing network traffic received from the first wireless network to appropriate client devices hosted by the local area network over the second wireless network interface device. 
     
     
         12 . The wireless network router of  claim 11  wherein the second wireless network interface device comprises a plurality of second wireless network interface devices in communication with the CPU. 
     
     
         13 . The wireless network router of  claim 12  wherein the plurality of second wireless network interface devices comprises a plurality of different second wireless network interface device types further comprising program steps operating on the mobile router for hosting client devices on each of the plurality of different local area network device types over corresponding of the plurality of different second wireless network interface device types. 
     
     
         14 . The wireless router of  claim 13  wherein the plurality of second wireless network interface device types are configured to operate a local area network using any one of the WiFi, WiMAx, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Utra-Wide-B and, network communication protocol standards. 
     
     
         15 . The wireless router of  claim 13  wherein the plurality of second wireless network device types include at least wireless network interface device operable to exchange network signals with network devices local to the mobile router using any one of a Mobile ad-hoc Network (MANET), a peer to peer network, and a mesh network communication protocol. 
     
     
         16 . A method comprising the steps of:
 operating a mobile router in a moving vehicle wherein the mobile router comprises a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a memory device associated with the CPU, and a plurality of network interface devices in communication with the CPU wherein the plurality of network interface devices includes a plurality of cellular network interface device and one or more non-cellular network interface devices;   establishing each of the cellular network interface devices as a client on a cellular network that provides access to a wide area network (WAN);   exchanging network traffic between non-cellular network devices moving with the vehicle and the CPU over the one or more non-cellular network interface devices;   determining which network traffic received over the one or more non-cellular network interface devices has a destination IP address reachable over the WAN;   aggregating the network traffic having a destination IP address reachable over the WAN together; and,   routing the network traffic having a destination IP address reachable over the WAN to the cellular network by balancing the aggregated network traffic over the plurality of cellular network interface devices established as a client on the cellular network.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the cellular network comprises access points distributed over a geographic region further comprising the steps of:
 monitoring the plurality of access points; 
 selecting an optimal access point to connect to; 
 reestablishing at least one of the plurality of cellular network interface devices as a client on the cellular network by connecting to the cellular network over a different one of the plurality of wireless access points.