Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Usage measurement
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-17
2003-04-22
Nguyen, Lee (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Usage measurement
C455S407000, C455S408000, C379S114030, C379S114050, C379S114280
Reexamination Certificate
active
06553218
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of the present invention relates to wireless telecommunications. In particular, apparatus, systems, and methods are described herein for providing distributed wireless online access, along with business methods for deploying such a system.
BACKGROUND
With the recent explosive growth of the Internet and accompanying demand for high-speed online access, the so-called “last-mile problem” has assumed great importance in the telecommunications industry. The “last-mile” problem refers to the technical and economic difficulties associated with bringing high-speed online access and/or data transmission to each and every business, residence, and other location. High-speed data transmission is already provided on the Internet backbone, and many large entities (corporations, telecommunications companies, universities, research institutions, computing facilities, online service providers, electronic commerce providers, and so on) have direct connections or links to the Internet backbone, thereby enjoying data transmission rates of up to 100 Mb/s. Most residences and smaller businesses rely on direct connections using modems and standard telephone lines for online access, typically at maximum data transmission rates of 56 kb/s. There has been some headway made in providing more widely deployed and higher speed online access, mainly through television cable systems and digital subscriber lines (DSL's) provided by phone companies, but high-speed online access is still quite limited, and may never be deployed in some areas. The potential infrastructure development required to widely deploy high-speed online access may prove to be enormous, and may be particularly problematic in established neighborhoods.
Wireless communications technology may provide alternative solutions to the “last mile problem”. Relatively low-cost devices are available for wirelessly linking devices, and if these were widely deployed a wireless network could be formed breaching the gap between the Internet backbone and a multitude of individual local users. This could be accomplished without significant infrastructure development or disruption of existing systems or structures. Wireless network connections also offer the possibility of mobile connections to the network, or even the network itself being mobile.
It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for widely deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that does not entail substantial infrastructure development and/or investment. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for widely deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that may be readily implemented in existing neighborhoods without substantial disruption of existing structures, facilities, and/or services. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for widely deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that may be readily expanded into un-served geographic areas. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that is affordable for users and that may generate substantial revenue streams with minimal initial investment. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access having mobile network elements and/or links, thereby enabling implementation of a mobile network.
SUMMARY
Certain aspects of the present invention may overcome one or more aforementioned drawbacks of the previous art and/or advance the state-of-the-art of wireless online access systems and methods, and in addition may meet one or more of the following objects:
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods for providing widely-deployed high-speed online access;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods for providing widely-deployed high-speed Internet access;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods for providing widely-deployed high-speed wireless communications;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods for providing widely-deployed high-speed wireless online access;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods for providing widely-deployed high-speed wireless Internet access;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein a plurality of primary wireless units form a primary wireless network;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein a plurality of secondary wireless units are wirelessly linked to the primary wireless network via one or more of the primary wireless units;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein one or more of the wireless units may be linked to an external communications system (such as the Internet), thereby enabling connection of the primary wireless network to the external communications system;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein one or more of the wireless units may be directly linked (i.e., wired) to an external communications system (such as the Internet), thereby enabling connection of the primary wireless network to the external communications system;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein the wireless units comprising the system may include unlicensed wireless transmitters;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein data packets may be transmitted from one wireless unit of the wireless network to another wireless unit thereof via multiple network paths through the wireless network;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein data packet transmission through the wireless network may be routed and/or re-routed based on the status of the wireless network, the status of wireless units thereof, and the speed of data packet transmission therethrough;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein patterns of geographic coverage and/or data packet transmission may be used to determine placement of additional primary wireless units for expanding the primary wireless network;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein online access subscribers having primary or secondary wireless units may be charged an access fee amount for access to and/or use of the primary wireless network;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein the access fee amount for primary and/or secondary users may be calculated based on volume of received and/or transmitted data packets;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein access provider revenue may be paid to a primary subscriber based on the volume of received and re-transmitted data packets routed through the respective primary wireless unit;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein access provider revenue may be paid to primary subscribers based on the number of secondary wireless units linked to the respective primary wireless unit;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein access provider revenue may be paid to primary subscribers based on the number of other subscribers recruited by the primary subscriber;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein some of the wireless units may be mobile;
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein some of the wireless units may be mounted on motor vehicles; and
To provide distributed wireless online access system and methods wherein multiple wireless units mounted on multiple motor vehicle traveling on a portion of a length of roadway may form a transient wireless communications network.
One or more of the foregoing objects may be achieved in the present invention by a distributed wireless online access system comprising a plurality of primary wireless units forming primary wireless communications network, and a plurality of secondary wireless units. Each
Alavi David S.
Nguyen Lee
Tran Congvan
LandOfFree
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