Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An apparatus for connecting a mesh type network via an access device to another network, the apparatus operating as a proxy device on behalf of at least one actual device present within the mesh type network, the apparatus comprising: a) an interconnectivity layer configured for receiving frames from actual devices present within the mesh type network and for internally routing the received frames to at least one virtual device internally configured within the apparatus, and b) a radio access controller configured to maintain individual connections between the apparatus and the access device on behalf of the at least one actual device of the mesh type network via the interconnectivity layer.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one virtual device within the apparatus corresponds to an actual device present within the mesh type network.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio access controller is further configured to deliver a signal received from the access device to an addressed virtual device within the apparatus.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein all frame exchanges between the access device and the actual devices of the mesh type network appear to the access device to occur locally.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio access controller is configured to serialize transmission requests if multiple virtual devices try to transmit simultaneously to the access device.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless access network interface card for providing a connection to the access device, wherein the radio access controller is configured to interconnect the wireless network interface card and logical entities of the apparatus so as to establish the individual connections.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein at least two of the wireless access network interface cards share at least one physical layer and link layer channel.
8. A method for connecting a mesh type network to another network via an access device, at least one network node of the mesh type network having an apparatus operating as a proxy device on behalf of at least one other network node in the mesh type network, the method comprising: a) internally configuring at least one virtual device within the apparatus, wherein the at least one virtual device corresponds to an associated actual device present in the mesh type network; b) receiving frames from actual devices of the mesh network into the apparatus; c) internally forwarding the received frames from the actual devices of the mesh type network to a corresponding virtual device internally configured within the apparatus, via an interconnectivity layer within the apparatus; d) maintaining individual connections between the apparatus and the access device by a radio access controller within the apparatus, and e) delivering a signal received from the access device to an addressed virtual device within the apparatus.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of receiving frames from devices of the mesh network occur at the inteconnectivity layer of the apparatus, wherein the interconnectivity layer is configured to receive frames from actual devices of the mesh type network.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of maintaining individual connections between the apparatus and the access device by a radio access controller, comprises maintaining each individual connection on behalf of the at least one device of the mesh type network via the interconnectivity layer.
11. A method for range extending legacy access point based mesh type networks via an access device, the method comprising: a) internally configuring at least one virtual device within a designated proxy device of the mesh type network, b) using an interconnectivity layer in the designated proxy device of the mesh type network to maintain individual connections with the access device for at least one other device of the mesh type network, c) receiving frames from the at least one other non-proxy device of the mesh type network, d) internally routing, via the interconnectivity layer, the received frames from the non-proxy devices of the mesh type network to a corresponding virtual device internally configured within the mesh type network, and e) forwarding the received frames from the virtual devices to the access device.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of receiving frames from devices of the mesh network occur at an inteconnectivity layer of the apparatus, wherein the interconnectivity layer is configured to receive frames from devices of the mesh type network.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of internally routing the received frames from the devices of the mesh type network, comprises routing the received frames from the interconnectivity layer of the apparatus.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of maintaining individual connections between the apparatus and the access device by a radio access controller, comprises maintaining each individual connection on behalf of the at least one device of the mesh type network via the interconnectivity layer.
15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising delivering a signal received from the access device to an addressed virtual device within the apparatus.
16. A system for connecting a mesh type network via an access device to another network, the system comprising the access device and at least one other network node in the mesh type network, the apparatus comprising: a) at least one virtual device internally configured within the apparatus, wherein the at least one virtual device corresponds to an associated actual device present in the mesh type network; b) an interconnectivity layer configured for receiving frames from devices of the mesh type network and forwarding the received frames to the at least one virtual device internally configured within the apparatus; and c) a radio access controller configured to maintain individual connections between the apparatus and the access device, wherein each individual connections is maintained on behalf of the at least one device of the mesh type network via the interconnectivity layer, and wherein the radio access controller is further configured to deliver a signal received from the access device to an addressed virtual device within the apparatus.
17. A tangible computer readable storage medium that is not a transitive propagating signal or wave, encoded with modules of instructions and control information, for controlling a processor for performing a method of connecting a mesh type network to another network via an access device, at least one network node of the mesh type network having an apparatus operating as a proxy device on behalf of at least one other network node in the mesh type network, the method comprising: a) internally configuring at least one virtual device within the apparatus, wherein the at least one virtual device corresponds to an associated actual device present in the mesh type network; b) receiving frames from actual devices of the mesh network into the apparatus; c) internally forwarding the received frames from the actual devices of the mesh type network to a corresponding virtual device internally configured within the apparatus, via an interconnectivity layer within the apparatus; d) maintaining individual connections between the apparatus and the access device by a radio access controller within the apparatus, and e) delivering a signal received from the access device to an addressed virtual device within the apparatus.
18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code means for generating the steps of claim 11 when run on a computer device.
19. The Apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the access device is an IEEE 802.11 access point device processing only three address fields.
20. The Apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the access device is an IEEE 802.11 access point device processing only three address fields.
Unknown
February 23, 2016
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