Enhanced mobility and address resolution in a wireless premises based network

(54) ENHANCED MOBILITY AND ADDRESS

RESOLUTION IN A WIRELESS PREMISES
BASED NETWORK

(75) Inventor: Robert C. Meier, Cedar Rapids, IA
(US)

(73) Assignee: Intermec IP Corp., Everett, WA (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ol this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/183,767

(22) Filed: Oct. 30, 1998

Related U.S. Application Data

(63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 08/916,601, filed on Aug. 22, 1997.

(60) Provisional application No. 60/024,648, filed on Aug. 22, 1996, and provisional application No. 60/043,395, filed on Apr. 2, 1997.

(51) Int. CI.7 H04J 3/24; G06F 15/16

(52) U.S. CI 709/224; 709/225; 370/85.7

(58) Field of Search 370/85.7, 85.13;

709/201, 217, 203, 218, 221, 228, 224, 225; 455/412

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

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5,410,543 A * 4/1995 Seitz et al 370/85.13

5,533,029 A * 7/1996 Gardner 370/94.1

5,544,222 A * 8/1996 Robinson et al 379/58

5,564,070 A * 10/1996 Want et al 455/53.1

5,572,528 A 11/1996 Shuen 370/85.13

5,659,580 A * 8/1997 Partyka 709/201

5,708,655 A 1/1998 Toth et al 370/313

5,745,884 A 4/1998 Carnegie et al 705/34

5,881,235 A * 3/1999 Mills 709/221

5,943,692 A * 8/1999 Marberg 711/203

5,946,615 A * 8/1999 Holmes et al 455/412

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

CA 2213984 2/1998

* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—Ayaz Sheikh
Assistant Examiner—Khanh Quang Dinh

(57) ABSTRACT

A premises based wireless network having a multi-segment wired network and a plurality ol wireless access points connected to the wired network. The wired network operates according to a wired network protocol which may be the Internet Protocol. Wireless terminals communicate with the wireless access points according to a wireless network protocol, inconsistent with the wired network protocol. Each ol the wireless terminals has a wired network address corresponding to one ol the wireless access points. Each wireless terminal also has an address according to the wired network protocol. As the wireless terminals roam throughout the premises, protocol tunnels route communications between wireless terminals, thereby preserving communications while roaming by allowing the wireless terminals to retain their wired network addresses during the ongoing communications. The wireless terminals are connected to wireless access points. These wireless access points are in turn linked by data link tunnels to a root access point for a subnet. The data link tunnels enable the root access point for a subnet to forward data to the wireless access points. The forwarded data is not bridged onto the particular subnet that connects the wireless access point and the root access point for that subnet.

34 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets