| CPC H04W 16/26 (2013.01) [G06K 7/10603 (2013.01); G06K 7/10831 (2013.01); G06K 7/10871 (2013.01)] | 29 Claims |
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1. A wireless networking device, comprising:
a processing interface that is connected to an application interface, the application interface being associated with a first application, the first application providing, when the wireless networking device is being used, a first data stream and having a first wireless bandwidth requirement;
first and second actual MAC interfaces connected to the processing interface;
first and second actual PHY interfaces respectively connected to the first and second actual MAC interfaces;
first and second wireless transceivers respectively associated with the first and second actual PHY interfaces, wherein each of the first and second wireless transceivers is suitable for use in a wireless local area network, and the first and second wireless transceivers, respectively, (i) have a first and second bandwidth availability up to first and second actual bandwidths, and (ii) are adapted to emit radio waves in first and second different bands of frequencies;
at least one virtual MAC interface and at least one resource monitoring interface formed in the processing interface that, during operation of the wireless networking device, feeds information regarding the bandwidth availabilities of the first and second wireless transceivers back to the at least one virtual MAC interface;
wherein the processing interface is configured to, when the wireless networking device is being used, and in a manner transparent to any layer of the wireless networking device above the processing interface,
(a) request or create (i) a first association between a recipient and the first actual MAC and PHY interfaces and (ii) a second association between the recipient and the second actual MAC and PHY interfaces,
(b) identify at least one first and second portions of the first actual bandwidth of the first wireless transceiver, each one of the first and second identified bandwidth portions each having a set of given resources,
(c) evaluate the data transfer characteristics of the given resources of both the first and second identified bandwidth portions,
(d) if the data transfer characteristics of the first identified bandwidth portion are better than those of the second identified bandwidth portion, use the first wireless transceiver to transmit the first data stream to the recipient, without requiring disassociation of the recipient from either or both of the first and second actual MAC and PHY interfaces, using a subset of frequencies corresponding to only the given resources of the first identified bandwidth portion that are available for communication to thereby at least partially satisfy the first wireless bandwidth requirement of the first application, and
(e) if the data transfer characteristics of the second identified bandwidth portion are better than those of the first identified bandwidth portion, use the first wireless transceiver to transmit the first data stream to the recipient, without requiring disassociation of the recipient from either or both of the first and second actual MAC and PHY interfaces, using a subset of frequencies corresponding to only the given resources of the second identified bandwidth portion that are available for communication to thereby at least partially satisfy the first wireless bandwidth requirement of the first application, and
wherein, when the wireless networking is being used, the wireless networking device's utilization of the first and second identified bandwidth portions do not prevent any wireless networking device from utilizing a range of frequencies corresponding to the remaining portion of the bandwidth availability of the first wireless transceiver for data transmission or reception purposes at the same time that the first or second identified bandwidth portions are being used for data transmission purposes.
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