Background:

Wireless service providers generally use heterogeneous networks that are most efficient for a particular type of service. Internet is a core network that interconnects various wireless access points. However, in the wireless realm, users of wireless networks are limited to the bandwidth and range of the protocol used, such as GPRS, GSM, EDGE, UMTS, CDMA, etc. These networks are also hindered by interference and coverage limitations. Major challenges presently faced by the wireless industry are (1) to efficiently utilize scarce wireless resources; (2) limitations in available resources like spectrum, bandwidth, latency, and energy are becoming major bottleneck (3) Increase in number of applications that send and receive high-quality audio and video, demand increased bandwidth and better Quality-of-Service (QoS). On the other hand, applications designed for wired networks have bandwidth requirements well beyond the capabilities of commercially available technologies. A major overhaul of the present infrastructure to support such requirements would therefore be very costly and would still result in limitations.

It would be very advantageous in numerous sectors (e.g., commercial, government, civilian) to provide a system for allowing communication over multiple, heterogeneous wireless channels, as well as wired channels. For example, first responders, such as fire departments, have a need for improving the size of the area of coverage for their wireless communications requirements. In the commercial sector, VoWLAN (Voice over Wireless Local Area Networks) is being deployed in large cities to provide a cheap and high-bandwidth communication channel. The mobile devices are restricted to the coverage of the WLAN used for operation.

Summary:

The present invention provides a multi-access terminal that automatically and dynamically establishes and maintains simultaneous connections over multiple heterogeneous networks, creating aggregated communications pipes to one or more destinations. The multi-access terminal includes a plurality of network transceivers for allowing communications across multiple, heterogeneous communications paths. The terminal includes a processor having a memory and at least one user application executing on the processor, wherein the user application requests communications with a computing system remote from the multi-access terminal. The present invention dynamically selects a combination of optimum network transceivers from the plurality of network transceivers, and establishes a network connection between a mobile terminal and a corresponding node using all selected network transceivers simultaneously. Via efficient stream and path management, the multi-access terminal of the present invention has the capability to determine the characteristics and requirements of application-level traffic flows and to optimize the network status to provide an ideal networking environment at any time to support its operations. The multi-access terminal includes the capability to load-share traffic across multiple communication paths, duplicate traffic for enhanced reliability, and manage handovers as the terminal roams between networks, while operating transparently to users and applications. The present invention includes a software-defined radio that replaces the plurality of transceivers and allows a single-antenna system to be used to connect to multiple, heterogeneous communications networks.

Benefits:

- Better network coverage than existing technology

- Effective utilisation of available bandwidth

Applications:

- Providing higher upload/download speeds to subscribers

- Robust network access capabilities

- Enhanced capabilities in cloud computing

Full Patent: Multi-Access Terminal With Capability For Simultaneous Connectivity To Multiple Communication Channels