Systems and methods for providing cellular communication in a network of moving things, for example including a network of autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11395218-B2
Application number	US-201916572185-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2019
Priority date	Mar 1, 2017
Publication date	Jul 19, 2022
Grant date	Jul 19, 2022

Abstract

Systems and methods for integrating and exploiting the availability of multiple communication technologies in a network of moving things, for example including a network of autonomous vehicles. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide for the flexible utilization of one or more communication pathways available to nodes in a vehicle network based, at least in part, on real-time context.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Mobile Access Point (MAP) for a vehicle communication network, the MAP comprising:
a plurality of radios; and
at least one module comprising a processor and memory, wherein the at least one module is operable to, at least:
utilize a first radio of the plurality of radios to provide cellular communications to a client device by, at least in part, operating to establish a direct cellular communication link with the client device;
determine a geographical location of the MAP;
determine, based at least in part on the determined geographical location, to utilize a second radio of the plurality of radios to communicate the provided cellular communications with an infrastructure station of a wireless wide area network (WWAN); and
utilize the second radio to communicate the provided cellular communications with the infrastructure station of the WWAN.

2. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 1 , wherein the at least one module is operable to provide wireless local area network (WLAN) services to client devices while the MAP is moving.

3. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 2 , wherein:
the WWAN comprises a cellular communication network; and
the at least one module is operable to provide the WLAN services by, at least in part, operating to communicate WLAN communications through the cellular communication network by, at least in part operating to utilize Layer 2 and/or Layer 3 tunneling through the cellular communication network between the MAP and a network controller of a vehicle communication network.

4. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 1 , wherein the WWAN comprises a vehicle communication network.

5. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 4 , wherein the at least one module is operable to communicate the provided cellular communications through the vehicle communication network by, at least in part, operating to utilize Layer 2 and/or Layer 3 encapsulation through the vehicle communication network between at least the MAP and a cellular provider.

6. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 1 , wherein the WWAN comprises a cellular communication network.

7. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 6 , wherein the first radio comprises a first cellular communication network radio that operates to communicate directly with the client device, and the second radio comprises a second cellular communication network radio that operates to communicate directly with a base station of the cellular communication network.

8. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 7 , wherein the at least one module is operable to, while maintaining the provided cellular communications between the first radio and the client device, including the established direct cellular communication link with the client device, handover communication of the provided cellular communications between the second radio and the base station to a second base station of the cellular communication network.

9. A Mobile Access Point (MAP) for a vehicle communication network, the MAP comprising:
a plurality of radios; and
at least one module comprising a processor and memory, wherein the at least one module is operable to, at least:
utilize a first radio of the plurality of radios to provide cellular communications to a client device by, at least in part, operating to establish a direct cellular communication link with the client device; and
utilize a second radio of the plurality of radios to communicate the provided cellular communications with an infrastructure station of a wireless wide area network (WWAN);
determine whether the client device is traveling with and/or positioned within a vehicle associated with the MAP; and
determine to provide the cellular communications to the client device based, at least in part, on the determination of whether the client device is traveling with and/or positioned within the vehicle associated with the MAP.

10. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 9 , wherein the at least one module is operable to determine whether the client device is traveling with and/or positioned within the vehicle associated with the MAP based, at least in part, on positioning information.

11. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 9 , wherein the at least one module is operable to determine whether the client device is traveling with and/or positioned within the vehicle associated with the MAP based, at least in part, on signal strength and/or on signal triangulation.

12. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 9 , wherein:
the WWAN comprises a cellular communication network;
the first radio comprises a first cellular communication network radio that operates to communicate directly with the client device; and
the second radio comprises a second cellular communication network radio that operates to communicate directly with a base station of the cellular communication network.

13. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 12 , wherein the at least one module is operable to, while maintaining the provided cellular communications between the first radio and the client device, including the established direct cellular communication link with the client device, handover communication of the provided cellular communications between the second radio and the base station to a second base station of the cellular communication network.

14. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 9 , wherein the at least one module is operable to receive a handover of the client device from a cellular communication network base station to the second radio of the MAP when the client device enters the vehicle.

15. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 9 , wherein the at least one module is operable to handover the client device from the second radio of the MAP to a cellular communication network base station when the client device exits the vehicle.

16. A Mobile Access Point (MAP) for a vehicle communication network, the MAP comprising:
a plurality of radios; and
at least one module comprising a processor and memory, wherein the at least one module is operable to, at least:
utilize a first radio of the plurality of radios to provide cellular communications to a client device by, at least in part, operating to establish a direct cellular communication link with the client device; and
selectively, at least:
utilize a second radio of the plurality of radios to communicate the provided cellular communications with an infrastructure station of a wireless wide area network (WWAN);
utilize a third radio of the plurality of radios to communicate the provided cellular communications, including data communicated over the direct cellular communication link with the client device, with an access point of a wireless local area network (WLAN);
determine a geographical location of the MAP; and
determine, based at least in part on the determined geographical location, to utilize the second radio of the plurality of radios to communicate the provided cellular communications with the infrastructure station of the WWAN.

17. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 16 , wherein the at least one module is operable to:
determine whether the client device is traveling with and/or positioned within a vehicle associated with the MAP; and
determine to provide the cellular communications to the client device based, at least in part, on the determination of whether the client device is traveling with and/or positioned within the vehicle associated with the MAP.

18. The Mobile Access Point (MAP) of claim 16 , wherein:
the at least one module is operable to provide wireless local area network (WLAN)

Assignees

• Veniam Inc

Inventors

• Lopes Diogo
• Condeixa Tiago
• Matos Ricardo

Classifications

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04W88/10

  adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title

• H04W48/18 Primary

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title