Switching between two communicaiton modes in a WLAN
Contents
1. The present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein and which when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods Methods of this invention may be imple mented by an apparatus which provides the functions car rying out the steps of the methods Apparatus and or systems Sep 28 2006 of this invention may be implemented by a method that includes steps to produce the functions of the apparatus and or systems 0127 Computer program means or computer program in the present context include any expression in any language code or notation of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to per form a particular function either directly or after conversion to another language code or notation and or after repro duction in a different material form 0128 Thus the invention includes an article of manu facture which comprises a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing one or more functions described above The computer readable program code means in the article of manufacture comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of a method of this invention Similarly the present invention may be implemented as a computer program product comprising a computer usabl2. mobile node such as laptop PDA which can access WLAN But there comes the issue of resource restriction For example all the APs in the airport can only support about 200 concurrent users but there may be more than 400 users wanting to play the network game at the same time With the current WLAN infrastructure the principle of First come first serve has to be applied Consequently half of the users fail to connect to the network This causes the low quality of service QoS and depresses customer satisfaction To solve this issue one way is to add more APs to enlarge the capacity but it will raise the investment meanwhile per unit cost of connection is increased and potential users may be lost Also it s not a long term solution since the number of users connections is changing In infrastructure mode resource allocation can t be dynami cally changed according to variation of connections SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0013 To solve the above mentioned problems an aspect ofthe present invention is to provide methods apparatus and systems which can dynamically switch between two com munication modes of the wireless local network i e infra structure mode and Ad hoc mode to optimize and balance network resources 0014 Another aspect of the present invention is accord ing to the variation of connection of the mobile nodes to dynamically and real time change the communication mode ofthe mobile nodes in the WLAN switching real
3. structure Mode and Ad hoc Mode BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0002 Innetwork application when the transport media is changed from wire to radio waves the communication protocol 802 11 i e Wireless Local Network WLAN is used which was defined by IEEE Protocol 802 11 tech nologies provide high speed wireless connection to the network The 802 11 standard defines two network modes infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode In infrastructure mode a mobile user accesses network and communicates with other mobile users through access point AP while in Ad hoc mode the mobile users communicate with each other in a peer to peer mode To be more specific the computer users normally using WLAN can work in two modes infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode Infrastructure mode is used for mobile nodes i e the wireless devices ofthe mobile users can access the public network through access points while Ad hoc mode is used for a plurality of neigh boring mobile nodes to communicate with each other directly 0003 Referring to FIG 1 it shows a wireless local network communicating in an infrastructure mode In this infrastructure mode each mobile node or called as wireless node communicates with other mobile nodes or fixed nodes of the network through the access point AP The access point is used as a bridge transponder gateway or firewall between the mobile nodes and the wired network That is to say in this infrastructure mode the AP w
4. agent negotiates with all of the current clients such as client C1 C4 asking them whether they wish to work in Ad hoc type network if Client C1 C4 all agree to switch to Ad hoc mode then the process goes to step S912 Otherwise application agent returns to step S907 and continues to launch location apparatus to obtain location information of the mobile nodes 0110 In step S912 application agent further obtains information of sessions between the application server and the clients and information about games from the application server 0111 Then the process moves to step S913 The appli cation agent uploads suitable game software to client C1 C4 If client C4 is selected as a host the application agent further uploads the session between the clients and application server and installs the session in client 4 If Clients C1 C4 don t agree to switch to Ad hoc mode let C1 C4 continue to work in infrastructure mode Sep 28 2006 0112 After clients C1 C4 choose to switch to Ad hoc mode in step S914 application agent assigns C1 C4 with static IP addresses and network parameters such as subnet mask and SSID whilst deletes session information and network application program information from the applica tion 0113 Through the above mentioned operation the dynamic switching from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode is fulfilled whereby the benefits are achieved as follows 1 with the same resource the present method can su
5. application agent module is further configured to obtain the host configuration requirements for the second communication mode from said network application of the application server select one as the host node from the plurality of mobile nodes which will switch to the second communication mode download and install the network application provided by the application server on said host node and communicate with the client agent module on the host node so that the host node receive and install the session concerning said network application from said application server 18 The system of claim 17 wherein the application agent module is also configured to select one as the host node from the plurality of mobile nodes that will switch to the second communication mode using one of the following methods checking the configuration of each mobile node to judge whether it can be used as the host node in the second communication mode selecting the one with the best configuration as the host of the second communication mode if there is more than one mobile nodes can be used as the host node of the second communication mode wherein the best con figuration means the fastest CPU bigger memory bigger hard disk and higher version of software plat form selecting the mobile node as the host of the second communication mode if it is installed the host software 19 The system of claim 17 wherein the client agent module on the ho
6. executing client agent process on the client respectively 0097 Referring to FIG 9 it shows the work flow of the operation executed by application agent on the application server 0098 When application server runs an application pro viding such as network gaming net chatting or net meet ings etc firstly in step S901 an application agent AA installed on the said application server gets the host software and hardware configuration requirements in Ad hoc mode from the running application 0099 When users access to network and join the network application provided by the application server for example when Client C1 C4 launch a network game through the same access point in infrastructure mode before the users start playing games at step S902 application agent will judge whether associated clients namely clients C1 C4 have been installed client agent If no the result of judgment at step S902 is NO and the process moves to step S903 application agent uploads and installs client agent on the clients automatically Otherwise if the result of step S902 is YES that is the client agent is installed on clients The process moves to 904 The application agent gets the information of the users preference and the information on past partners and starts the users games 0100 Next when the client agent is installed at step 903 or the user prepares to start the network game at step 904 the application agent gets releva
7. network applications such as gaming chatting and net meetings previously running in infrastructure mode When one or more mobile users in Ad hoc leave the network application other users can be switched on demand back to infrastruc ture mode and continue to access the same application and wait for new corners to join 0041 With the popularization of WLAN the scenario of employing the technical solution of the present invention in which mobile nodes automatically switch from infrastruc ture mode to Ad hoc mode and continue the previous network application grows quickly For example when passengers are waiting for or in a train a subway a bus or an airplane they would like to play the network game or chat through the network by the mobile devices And some of them can be switched automatically to Ad hoc mode to decrease others waiting time when the services approach to the maximum load Furthermore when colleagues want to hold a local net meeting through WLAN they can be switched automatically from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode to reduce the network traffic Since all the applications supporting both infrastructure and Ad hoc modes can use this method the potential business value of this method is great 0042 Obviously as compared with the common methods using infrastructure mode the advantages of the method disclosed by the present invention include 0043 1 with the same resource the present invention can suppo
8. the mobile nodes obtained by the different APs varies The location of the mobile nodes can be figured out with the signal strength of three APs triangularization using signal strength The location of AP can also be used as the location information of users to judge whether they are neighboring For those which are neigh boring triangularization of signal strength can be further used Special location apparatus can also be used such as GPS mobile nodes equipped with GPS receiver send loca tion information to apparatus through WLAN 0063 2 Application Server 0064 Application server 701 for example can be the software platform for network gaming software or net meeting chatting software installed on application agent module 7012 According to the present invention the appli cation server can be divided into two parts However skilled person in this field may know this division is for the sake of explanation only and the present invention is not limited to this situation 0065 Application module 7011 application module 7011 shares its game session information with the application agent module 7012 and allows the application agent module 7012 to access them such as deleting the session informa tion of the mobile nodes which have switched to Ad hoc mode 0066 Application agent module 7012 according to the present invention application agent module 7012 can be a standalone component or embedded completely into the appl
9. time from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode or dynamically switch ing from Ad hoc mode back to infrastructure mode 0015 Another aspect of the present invention is in that when the mobile nodes switch from infrastructure to Ad hoc mode to optimize network resources the application the mobile node is accessing will not be affected when the application can not be accessed by the mobile nodes in Ad hoc mode the mobile nodes can switch back to infra structure mode and return to the previous application inter face 0016 Another aspect of the present invention is in that at the application level while the communication channel is switched the application program can be maintained to continue to operate and at the same time communication among many points can be achieved 0017 Still another aspect of the present invention is to put forward a method and system that can switch between two communication modes based on the judgment of the application in operation location of users and the status of the network resources 0018 Still another aspect of the present invention is to provide the mobile nodes with software that can be down loaded from the application server Through running the software on the wireless devices of the mobile users the wireless devices of the mobile users can be switched between the two communication modes conveniently and flexibly US 2006 0215576 A1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0019 The fea
10. when switching to Ad hoc mode preferably all addresses should be in a same group that is to say their IP addresses should be in one group ie 10 1 2 1 10 1 2 2 10 1 2 3 10 1 2 4 etc in which only the last digit of the IP addresses are different meaning that all these IP addresses belong to one group Application agent transfers suitable IP address and relevant network parameters wireless card parameters application software to client agent of each mobile node and sends the session only to the host node 0053 5 Application agents on the mobile nodes con figure the network and WLAN wireless card according to the parameter obtained and install relevant software and ses sions 0054 When the client agent set up network parameters the parameters sent by the application agent would be used to ensure that the nodes to be switched are in the same sub net 0055 The set up of wireless card by client agent includes set up two parameters of the system parameters network type and network security Since all the mobile nodes switching to Ad hoc mode share the same SSID it is only needed to set the network type of the wireless card as Ad hoc mode and cancel all security setup 0056 In FIG 5 it schematically illustrates the network security sub page of the property of a Cisco 340 wireless card In this sub page according to the present invention the Network Security Type originally set as LEAP Light Extensible Authen
11. would like to work in Ad hoc mode to reduce the cost if C1 C4 all agree to switch to Ad hoc mode C1 C4 agents begin to work according to process 9 below otherwise let them continue to work at infrastructure mode 0087 9 The application agent uploads suitable game software to C1 C4 if C4 is selected as the host it also needs to be uploaded the session and install it 0088 10 The application agent assigns the C1 C4 with static IP addresses subnet mask and SSID and deletes their session information from application 0089 11 Each client agent stores its user s preference that is the game he she is playing and its IP address AP the IP address of the partners 0090 12 The Client agent receives the client configu ration from the application agent stores its old network configuration releases the old IP address and reconfigures the client with the new parameter 0091 13 C4 invites C1 C3 and they continue the ses sion 0092 14 When the client agent detects that one of C1 C4 leaves the game the client agent releases Ad hoc mode that is it reconfigures the network parameters and wireless card parameters and reconnects to application 0093 15 If the application checks that the client has installed client agent then it checks the client preference to ensure it is set on today After that it selects the suitable software for the client and finds the other partners And finally it helps them to re
12. APs and accesses the various network applications provided by the server i e executable software like gaming chatting net meetings etc According to the present invention location apparatus 703 gets the location information of client 702 and informs the application agent module 7012 of the location information Meanwhile if application agent module 7012 finds there is no client agent installed in client application agent module 7012 will automatically upload the client agent for client retrieves information of the other players from application and judges whether these players could be switched to Ad hoc mode It can also negotiate with client agent module 7022 and manage the auto switching process for application 0061 1 Location Apparatus 0062 The location apparatus 703 can be a standalone or an embedded apparatus The function of location apparatus US 2006 0215576 A1 703 is to get the location of the mobile nodes Several methods or apparatus can be used here The simplest way is to use the coordination of authentication server and AP to get the location of the mobile nodes This is the common sense in this field Authentication server can validate the user s identity and obtain the user s IP address and associated AP Because the AP is set on a static location and the topology of APs is known in prior and the location of each mobile node from different AP varies and the location of APs is different the signal strength of
13. Application agent can prompt client agent of the location where the mobile nodes can move to and in which location the mobile nodes can switch to Ad hoc mode to lower costs Then the application agent returns to step S907 to continue to launch location apparatus to obtain the location information of the mobile nodes 0104 In step S910 further judgment is made on whether it is possible to select one from the said users as the host in Ad hoc mode If there is no such a client let them continue to work in infrastructure mode The principle for judging the host in Ad hoc mode includes 0105 checking the software and hardware configuration of each client such as CPU Hard Disk memory software platform and judge whether they can be the host in Ad hoc mode 0106 If more than one client can be the host in Ad hoc mode select the one with the best configuration as the host in Ad hoc mode wherein the best configuration means faster CPU bigger memory bigger hard disk and higher version software platform 0107 If one client has been installed host software it should be selected as the host in Ad hoc mode 0108 If the result of step S910 shows that at least one from the current clients can be selected as the host the process then goes to step S911 Otherwise the application agent returns to step S907 and continues to launch location apparatus to get the location information of the mobile nodes 0109 In step S911 application
14. SS NETWORKS discloses a dual mode wireless device It can operate in two wireless network modes i e infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode The dual mode device has a wireless controller inserted in the wireless card which has two virtual wireless network adaptors thereon One is for infrastructure mode and the other for Ad hoc mode The wireless control driver controls the switching between the two network modes This patent application is also related to US 2006 0215576 A1 the switching between infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode It is the switching performed on the network facilities in which the controller controls the two network modes within said one device while the two modes are independent to each other Each mode accesses its own application program and does not know other s sessions of accessing applications and communicates separately It can be seen from this application that the technology disclosed by this patent application can not realize accessing the same appli cation and sharing the session for accessing the application when the two communication modes are automatically switched Therefore a method and device are needed through which users can access the application with the same session when the two communication modes are switched automatically This will save the users network resources and cost when accessing the network applications 0010 In addition the U S patent application Ser No U S 2004 0063458A1 enti
15. US 20060215576A1 as United States a2 Patent Application Publication co Pub No US 2006 0215576 A1 Yu et al 43 Pub Date Sep 28 2006 54 SWITCHING BETWEEN TWO 52 US CL ee 370 252 370 254 370 400 COMMUNICAITON MODES IN A WLAN 75 Inventors Xiu Lan Yu Beijing CN Ying Chen 57 ABSTRACT Beijing CN Li Hua Tang Beijing CN Shi Xia Liu Beijing CN Correspondence Address LOUIS PAUL HERZBERG 3 CLOVERDALE LANE Method and system for switching a network application operating in a first communication mode to a second mode MONSEY NY 10952 US within a wireless local area network comprising judging whether mobile nodes are neighboring according to location 73 Assignee International Business Machines Cor information when nodes are neighboring inquiring whether poration Armonk NY mobile nodes want to switch to second mode to run network 21 Appl No 11 377 484 applications when all mobile nodes agree to switch to second mode downloading and installing network applica 22 Filed Mar 16 2006 tion provided by the application server to one of the mobile 30 Foreign Application Priority Data nodes configuring each of the mobile nodes with the communication parameters under the second mode and Jan 5 2005 CN sse 200510004027 9 switching all mobile nodes to the second communication mode to continue the previous network application The Publication Classification invention dynamically switche
16. a client agent and a location acquiring apparatus wherein in the first communication mode when the plurality of mobile nodes are accessing the application server on the network through the access points and running the same network application provided by said application server said application agent module starting said location acquiring apparatus to obtain the location information of said plurality of mobile nodes and judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring according to the location information of the mobile nodes sent back by the location acquiring apparatus the application agent module sending an inquiry to the plurality of mobile nodes inquiring whether they want to switch to the second communication mode to run said network application when the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring the application agent module downloading and installing the network application provided by the application server to one ofthe mobile nodes when all said plurality of mobile nodes agree to switch to the second commu nication mode the client agent module on each of the plurality of mobile nodes obtaining from the application agent module corresponding parameters of each mobile node in the second communication mode and the mobile nodes switching to the second communication mode and continuing to run the downloaded and installed network application 14 The system of claim 13 wherein the first communi cation mo
17. agent module However skilled person in this field may know that this division is for the sake of explanation only and the present invention is not limited to the situation 0072 Client module 7021 it includes the module for host client and the module for other common clients The host client module represents the most powerful mobile node among all nodes switching to Ad hoc mode Except for the functions that common client could perform the host client module can still download run or upload game host soft ware and manage the game in Ad hoc mode 0073 Client agent module 7022 it stores the hardware and software configuration such as CPU HD memory etc negotiates with the application agent module 7022 saves old network configuration and reconfigures the client network configuration The client agent module 7022 can communi cate with other agents in Ad hoc mode and can communi cate with the application agent in Infrastructure mode 0074 4 Access Point through it the mobile node namely the client can connect to the application server and get the services from the application server 0075 Next is the workflow description taking network game as an example It should be understood that for the sake of description this illustrative embodiment selects network gaming scenario for description but other scenarios can also be considered such as chatting net meetings etc for the description of the workflow chart of the pr
18. arameters sub page set up the relevant information of the mobile node that is the client in this illustrative embodiment such as client name in FIG 4 the client name is YXL SSID in FIG 4 the SSID1 is IBM network type in FIG 4 the network type is infrastructure type Power Save Mode in FIG 4 the power save mode is configured as CAM constantly awake mode and security level etc According to the present invention all information would be stored into a client agent 0050 2 Application agent judges whether the group of mobile nodes which access the same network application in infrastructure mode can switch to Ad hoc mode If yes continue with the next step 3 if no continue with the judgment of step 2 0051 3 Application agent selects a node as the host node for the network application in Ad hoc mode 0052 4 When application agent notifies the mobile nodes to switch from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode application agent will upload relevant information of client agent and software including client agent module network parameters configuration of mobile nodes switching into Ad hoc mode and wireless card configuration as well as the network application software and the corresponding ses sions that the users run the application software The mobile nodes may use static IP address IPv6 address or dynamic IP address assigned from DHCP server in infrastructure mode According to the present invention
19. are neighboring and c sending location information through wireless local area network by using special location apparatus thereby to judge whether the mobile nodes are neigh boring 5 The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining the host configuration requirements for the second communication mode from said network appli cation of the application server selecting one as the host node from the plurality of mobile nodes which will switch to the second communication mode downloading and installing the network application pro vided by the application server on said host node and Sep 28 2006 receiving and installing by said host node the session concerning said network application from said appli cation server 6 The method of claim 5 wherein the step of selecting one as the host node from the plurality of mobile nodes which will switch to the second communication mode comprising using one of the following methods checking the configuration of each mobile node to judge whether it can be used as the host node in the second communication mode selecting the one with the best configuration as the host of the second communication mode if there is more than one mobile nodes can be used as the host node of the second communication mode wherein the best con figuration means the fastest CPU bigger memory bigger hard disk and higher version of software plat form and selecting the mobile node as the host of t
20. authenticate the ID of the user on the mobile node The authentication server can also obtain a lot of information about the user such as the IP address of the user the AP through which the user access the network the time when the user access the network and the time when the user leaves etc 0005 If more wireless devices need to be supported in the infrastructure network mode the following work pattern can be used Here multiple APs connect together and share the same authentication server as shown in FIG 2 FIG 2 schematically shows an exemplary of an Extended Service Set ESS made up of a plurality of APs in the infrastructure mode Here each AP has its relevant BSS and all APs working ranges compose an Extended Service Set ESS and the mobile nodes sharing the same ESS ID can roam freely among these APs without losing network connections 0006 When the mobile node is set to work in the infra structure mode it uses a static or dynamic IP address The authentication server can locate the mobile node according to its relevant AP and IP address 0007 In Ad hoc mode the mobile nodes can communi cate with each other directly That is to say that the mobile node communicates with other mobile nodes in a peer to peer mode within its RF range instead of communicating through the inter medium node which is the access point of infrastructure mode When users are very close to each other Ad hoc mode connection is very useful fo
21. compose the game The re composed clients will wait for the new corner to join their game 0094 16 The client agent provides tools to remove the uploaded software Sep 28 2006 0095 Referring to FIG 8 it schematically shows the switching from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode accord ing to the present invention for communication As illus trated in FIG 8 a first Ad hoc network group 1 includes four clients C1 C2 C3 and C4 These four clients com municate with an application server same as the server in FIG 7 through an access point 802 Similarly it also illustrates a second Ad hoc network group 2 with four clients communicating with application server 801 through a second access point It can also include other Ad hoc network groups which communicate with application server 801 For the sake of clarity they are not described here in details The communication system in FIG 8 also includes an authentication server 803 It is used to get IDs of authenticated users and IP addresses of users and associated APs may also participate in obtaining the locations of mobile nodes in the process of switching between infra structure mode and Ad hoc mode This is the common sense of this field In addition in the communication system in FIG 8 a router 804 is also provided which is well known in this field 0096 FIG 9 and FIG 10 show the steps of executing the application agent process on the application server and of
22. de is an Infrastructure mode and the second communication mode is a peer to peer Ad hoc communica tion mode 15 The system of claim 13 wherein the location appa ratus is further configured to obtain by said application server or an authentication server the location information of the mobile nodes session information between the mobile nodes and said application server and the associated information about the network application Sep 28 2006 16 The system of claim 13 wherein the application agent module further comprising a judging means for judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring using at least one of the following methods a obtaining the location of the mobile nodes through the coordination of the authentication server and the access point judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neigh boring by the triangularization of the signal strength according to various distances between mobile nodes and different access points b judging whether said mobile nodes are adjacent firstly by using the location of the access point as the user location information and for the adjacent mobile nodes further using the triangularization of signal strength to judge whether they are neighboring or c sending location information through wireless local area network by using special location apparatus thereby to judge whether the mobile nodes are neigh boring 17 The system of claim 13 wherein the
23. der the second communication mode and switching all said mobile nodes to the second communi cation mode and continuing to run a downloaded and installed network application 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the first communication mode is an Infrastructure mode and the second communication mode is a peer to peer Ad hoc communication mode 3 The method of claim 1 further comprising one of said application server and an authentication server obtaining the location information of the mobile nodes session informa tion between the mobile nodes and said application server and the associated information about the network applica tion 4 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring according to the location information of the mobile nodes further comprising the steps of using at least one of the following methods to judge a obtaining the location of the mobile nodes through the coordination of the authentication server and access point judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neigh boring by the triangularization of the signal strength according to various distances between mobile nodes and different access points b judging whether said mobile nodes are adjacent firstly by using the location of the access point as the user location information and for the adjacent mobile nodes further using the triangularization of signal strength to judge whether they
24. e and the client agent on each of plurality of mobile nodes is configured to set the network and wireless card and to install corresponding software and sessions according to parameters obtained 24 The system of claim 13 wherein each client agent module is configured to cause said mobile nodes automati cally switch back to infrastructure mode to re access the previous network application on the application server when the network application is running in the second communi cation mode and one or more mobile nodes leave 25 An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing switching of a network application the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of Sep 28 2006 switching a network application operating in a first com munication mode to a second communication mode within a wireless local area network wherein a plural ity of mobile nodes access the network through at least one access point and communicate with at least one application server to obtain at least one network appli cation provided by said application server in the first communication mode and a plurality of neighboring mobile nodes can communicate with each other directly in the second communication mode the step of switch ing comprising the steps of
25. e medium having computer readable pro gram code means embodied therein for causing a function described above The computer readable program code means in the computer program product comprising com puter readable program code means for causing a computer to affect one or more functions of this invention Further more the present invention may be implemented as a program storage device readable by machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for causing one or more functions of this invention 0129 It is noted that the foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects and embodiments of the present invention This invention may be used for many applica tions Thus although the description is made for particular arrangements and methods the intent and concept of the invention is suitable and applicable to other arrangements and applications It will be clear to those skilled in the art that modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention The described embodiments ought to be con strued to be merely illustrative of some of the more promi nent features and applications of the invention Other ben eficial results can be realized by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention in ways known to those familiar with the art What is claimed is 1 A method comprising
26. esent invention 0076 1 According to the present invention at first an application agent is installed in the application server and the application is running in the server side to provide application programs such as networking gaming chatting or e meeting etc and the application agent gets host soft ware and hardware configuration requirements from the application 0077 2 For example Clients C1 C4 enter the hot spot associate the AP and begin to launch the network game Before he she plays the network game the server checks whether the clients has installed client agent If not auto matically upload and install it on the client if yes the application agent gets user preference and the information of past partners initiates the game for these users 0078 3 Suppose that Client 1 is the host in the game Clients 1 4 can use mobile IP IPv6 or get dynamic IP address through DHCP server Client 1 4 agents store their network configuration in infrastructure mode 0079 4 The application agent gets access information from the authentication server and find that some AP s work load is too heavy for example AP1 can only support 30 users and now 28 users have associated it the threshold of workload can be set up by the server administrator 0080 5 The application agent starts the location appa ratus to get the locations of the mobile nodes and the location apparatus sends the location information of the mobi
27. h the application server through the plurality of access points each of said plurality of mobile nodes including a client module and a client agent and a location acquiring apparatus wherein in the first communication mode when the plurality of mobile nodes are accessing the application server on the network through the access points and running the same network application provided by said application server said application agent module starting said location acquiring apparatus to obtain US 2006 0215576 A1 the location information of said plurality of mobile nodes and judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring according to the location information of the mobile nodes sent back by the location acquiring apparatus the application agent module sending an inquiry to the plurality of mobile nodes inquiring whether they want to switch to the second communication mode to run said network application when the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring the application agent module downloading and installing the network application provided by the applica tion server to one of the mobile nodes when all said plurality of mobile nodes agree to switch to the second communica tion mode the client agent module on each of the plurality of mobile nodes obtaining from the application agent mod ule the corresponding parameters of each mobile node in the second communication mode and the mobile nodes switch ing to the second commun
28. he second communication mode if it is installed the host software 7 The method of claim 5 further comprising causing other mobile nodes to register with said host node when switching to the second communication mode 8 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of configuring each mobile node with the communication parameters under the second communication mode comprising the step of configuring each mobile node with IP address network parameters and wireless card parameters 9 The method of claim 1 further comprising setting and saving the network configuration for the plurality of mobile nodes when configured to operate in the first communication mode 10 The method of claim 1 further comprising said plurality of mobile nodes using static IP address or IPv6 address or dynamic IP address assigned by the DNS server of the first communication mode and judging whether addresses of the plurality of mobile nodes are in a same group when prepared to switch to the second communication mode 11 The method of claim 1 further comprising judging whether said mobile nodes are installed a client agent said application server automatically uploading and installing the client agent for the mobile nodes when the client agent is not installed in the mobile nodes transmitting suitable IP address corresponding network parameters wireless card parameters application soft ware to the client agent on each of the plurality of mobile n
29. hich is a part of the wired network infrastructure is provided as the bridge between the wireless and the wired LAN and through which the mobile nodes can communicate with Internet FIG 1 schematically describes an example of the mobile node i e a laptop computer communicates in the infrastructure mode Though there only shows one mobile node in FIG 1 it should be understood that there can be many mobile nodes that communicate simultaneously in the infrastructure mode in addition the mobile node in FIG 1 is a laptop computer however it should be understood that the mobile nodes can be other wireless devices including and not limited to mobile phones Personal Digital Assistant PDA Palm computer etc The mobile node such as the laptop in FIG 1 normally has a wireless card with which the mobile node can exchange information with other wireless devices through AP thus the wireless communication among mobile nodes can be realized AP itself needs a static IP address and it can support the access of limited number of mobile nodes within its working range different AP has different working range the relevant user manual may provide such data i e 30 meters The working range of AP is called Basic Service Set BSS and all the users of the AP share the same BSS ID 0004 In most wireless local networks normally at least one authentication server is used as shown in FIG 1 The Sep 28 2006 authentication server is used to
30. i Already Transait WEP Key Size Set Key 1 r FEP Key 1 e mu WEP Key 2 CE zs M e t YEP Key 3 C TZ i Defaults I i Internet BRN TCP IP zA e Ner E BSW IP Hutt C ATAN rp hitg ip Hb FR an RURX e C Bs Des RS Bitte QD C SAFEN DES ARS RHUE D Hi Lis RARE a OS BSBA Patent Application Publication Sep 28 2006 Sheet 4 of 6 US 2006 0215576 A1 701 Application Application Location 7011 Agent 7012 Apparatus 703 Application Server Platform Client Module Na Client Agent 7021 7022 Client 702 dv ES Eo Router 804 Patent Application Publication Sep 28 2006 Sheet 5 of 6 US 2006 0215576 A1 S90IN Application agent AA gets host requirement for Ad hoc from application AA judges whether associated client is installed client agent 904 Application agent gets user preference amp information on AA uploads and installs client past partners recomposes agent automatically for the client game for users S905 AA gets association information from authentication server S906 AA starts location apparatus and gets client location information AA informs of thg be Some users can switch to Ad hoc location to switched All clients agree to switch 912 AA ob
31. ication mode and continuing to run the downloaded and installed network application 0037 Particular embodiments will now be described in connection with the figures It should be recognized that embodiments disclosed herein are merely illustrative Within the scope of the invention a person skilled in the field can amend and modify the invention embodiments and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the concepts embraced therein 0038 First of the all an example of a principle of the present invention would be explained Without loss of generality the location of all users can be obtained in infrastructure mode Then according to the location of the users some neighboring users who are in the same network application can be switched to Ad hoc mode together Through this method WLAN can support more users and reduce the network traffic at the same time When one of the users in Ad hoc mode wishes to leave the network applica tion the other users will automatically switch their mobile nodes from Ad hoc mode to infrastructure mode recover their original network configuration return to the previous network application and wait for new corners to join the network application 0039 The disclosed method provides the above men tioned functions when running certain network applica tions such as online gaming or internet chatting or other similar network applications using WLAN the mobile nodes dynamically s
32. ication module 7011 Application agent module 7012 for example can also include 0067 Location listener not shown in figures this loca tion listener is used to get location information of mobile nodes from the location apparatus 703 0068 Application management proxy not shown in fig ures it can get game session information from the appli cation module 7011 and manage them such as deleting session information of the users who have been changed to Ad hoc mode negotiating with client agent module 7022 selecting host from clients and downloading software etc 0069 Decision apparatus not shown in figures when the location apparatus 703 is some kind of special location apparatus it can decide whether some clients can be changed to Ad hoc mode by computing the distance between them the decision apparatus used herein can make such decision by employing similar methods as the location apparatus would use therefore detailed explanations would be omitted 0070 3 Client 0071 Client 702 namely a mobile node is equipped with wireless card and can access network through wireless location area network It can also access the services pro Sep 28 2006 vided by the application server download software from the application server etc Mobile node can be a laptop a PDA etc A client agent module 7022 is installed on it The client can also be divided into two parts as explained below pure client module and client
33. ient agent provides tools to delete the uploaded soft ware 0121 From the above mentioned description it can be known that the whole work process is automatic When switching between infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode the users will feel slightly slow What the users need to do is to agree to switch to Ad hoc mode to reduce cost 0122 Hence the benefits ofthe method and system based on the present invention to switch between the different modes of wireless local network are 0123 1 For Airport Airport can charge the users who work in infrastructure mode more money and charge the users who work in Ad hoc mode less money It can also add switching principles for example unless AP s association to the network arrives at maximum load the switch function will not start up so that the airport can obtain maximum profit with the same resource Also the airport improves the quantity of service and reduces the network traffic 0124 2 For users the proposed method reduces waiting time of the use and thus increases customer satisfaction A user can freely make his her choice switch to Ad hoc mode and reduce the cost or continue on infrastructure mode 0125 Various embodiments for implementing the method and system of switching between two different modes of wireless local area network according to the present invention have been described in detail above in combination with the figures thereof However the described embodime
34. illustrating the opera tions carried out by the client agent in the client terminal of the mobile nodes DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 0030 The present invention provides apparatus methods and systems to dynamically switch between two communi cation modes of a wireless local network i e infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode to optimize and balance network resources 0031 The present invention also provides according to the variation of connection of the mobile nodes to dynami cally and real time change the communication mode of the mobile nodes in the WLAN switching real time from infra structure mode to Ad hoc mode or dynamically switching from Ad hoc mode back to infrastructure mode 0032 The present invention also provides when the mobile nodes switch from infrastructure to Ad hoc mode to optimize network resources the application the mobile node is accessing will not be affected when the application can not be accessed by the mobile nodes in Ad hoc mode the mobile nodes can switch back to infrastructure mode and return to the previous application interface The present invention also provides at the application level while the communication channel is switched the application program can be maintained to continue to operate and at the same time communication among many points can be achieved Sep 28 2006 0033 The present invention also provides to put forward a method and system that can switch between
35. le application software Refer ring to FIG 7 the example it shows includes an application server 701 a client 702 and a location apparatus 703 wherein the application server 701 is the server that provides various network applications to users through WLAN such as gaming chatting and net meetings etc Besides in FIG 7 there only shows one client however it should be known that one application server can communicate with a plurality of clients In application server 701 there should also include a network application module 7011 which preferably includes various network applications such as the execut able software like gaming chatting net meetings etc The application server 701 also includes an application agent module 7012 which preferably is executable software or hardware embedded with software or combination of soft ware and hardware running on the application server Appli cation agent module 7012 can be associated with application module 7011 It can be standalone or embedded into appli cation software The functions of the application agent module 7012 will be described in detail later In client 702 there is a client module 7021 and a client agent module 7022 wherein the client module 7021 and client agent module 7022 are also associated The local apparatus 703 in FIG 7 is standalone but it can also be embedded into the module on the application server In FIG 7 client 702 accesses application server 701 through
36. le nodes to the application agent US 2006 0215576 A1 0081 6 The application agent gets to know that some users are playing the game from the application server for example C1 C4 are playing in a game It can further judge whether C1 C4 can change to Ad hoc mode according to their locations If not let them continue to work at infra structure mode or if location information indicates that users can not switch to Ad hoc mode application agent can firstly send a message to client agent informing users of changing locations to other places so that they can switch to Ad hoc mode to lower costs Otherwise go to next step 0082 7 The application agent gets the software and hardware configuration of the clients who can be switched to Ad hoc decides whether some of them can be the host if not let them continue to work at infrastructure mode The decision principles for the host include 0083 Check the software and hardware configuration of each client such as CPU hard disk memory software platform judge whether it can be the host 0084 If more than one client can be the host select the one with the best configuration as the host here best means faster CPU bigger memory bigger hard disk and higher version software platform 0085 If one client has installed host software it should be the host 0086 8 If the host has been selected the application agent negotiates with all client agents ask them whether they
37. nt information from the authentication server at step 905 For example verifying the user ID from the authentication server and getting the IP addresses of the user and associated AP 0101 At step S906 judge whether the access point is overload that is judge whether the number of users sup ported by current access point has exceeded the maximum it can support If the result of step S906 is NO the process will return to step S905 and continue to get relevant information from the authentication server If the result of judgment of step S906 is YES the current access point should be regarded as overloaded Then the process will go to step S907 US 2006 0215576 A1 0102 At step S907 the application agent starts a location apparatus and obtains the location information ofthe clients For example Clients C1 C4 can use mobile IP IPv6 or get dynamic IP addresses from DHCP server Here the location of the mobile nodes can be obtained in several ways or with several apparatus The simplest way is to get the location of the mobile nodes through authentication server and the triangularization of the signal strength which is the common sense in this field The users location can also be obtained in other ways such as GPS technology 0103 Next at step 908 the process judges whether some users can switch to Ad hoc mode If YES the process moves to step S910 Otherwise if the result is NO the process then moves to step S909
38. nts are merely for the purpose of exemplary Various changes or modifications may be made by the skilled persons without departing from the sprit and scope of the invention Accordingly the present invention is not limited to the illustrative embodiments except as specified in the attached claims The description above focuses on these particular disclosed embodiments however it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to these 0126 Thus the present invention can be realized in hardware software or a combination of hardware and software It may be implemented as a method having steps to implement one or more functions of the invention and or it may be implemented as an apparatus having components and or means to implement one or more steps of a method of the invention described above and or known to those skilled in the art A visualization tool according to the present invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems Any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods and or functions described herein is suitable A typical combina tion of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that when being loaded and executed controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein
39. ode and the client agent on each of plurality of mobile nodes setting the network and wireless card and installing corresponding software and session according to the parameters obtained 12 The method of claim 1 further comprising causing said mobile nodes automatically switch back to infrastruc ture mode to re access the previous network application on the application server when the network application is running in the second communication mode and one or more mobile nodes leave 13 A system for switching a network application operat ing in a first communication mode to a second communi US 2006 0215576 A1 cation mode within a wireless local area network wherein a plurality of mobile nodes access the network through at least one access point and communicate with at least one appli cation server to obtain various network applications pro vided by said application server in the first communication mode and a plurality of neighboring mobile nodes can communicate with each other directly in the second com munication mode the system comprising an application server for providing a plurality of network applications wherein the application server includes an application module and an application agent module a plurality of access points a plurality of mobile nodes for communicating with the application server through the plurality of access points each of said plurality of mobile nodes including a client module and
40. or causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 13
41. pport more users and improve QoS 2 dynamically switch between infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode to reduce the communication traffic 3 reduce the waiting time and cost of user and 4 increase the income of the provider of network services 0114 Referring to FIG 10 it illustrates the flow chart of the operation performed by client agent on the clients 0115 When a user wishes to join for example an appli cation such as network game firstly in step S1001 this user will connect his her client with the application server which provides network games through an AP in infrastructure mode and open a network application 0116 In step S1002 before the user starts the network game the application server has a check on the client to see if the client is installed with a client agent If this client has been already installed the client agent then it is allowed to start a game Otherwise the process moves to step S1003 where the application server automatically installs the client agent on the client and said client agent obtains relevant client software and hardware configuration in step S1004 0117 Next in step S1005 the client starts to officially access the network application In the process of client participating in network application when the application server finds that the number of users supported by the current AP has exceeded the maximum it can support the application server will prompt users of whether they
42. r commu nication FIG 3 is the diagram of the communication in Ad hoc mode FIG 3 schematically shows four neighboring mobile nodes i e four laptop computers communicating in Ad hoc mode Here each mobile node is equipped with a wireless card with which two or more mobile nodes can communicate with each other at the peer to peer level and said mobile nodes share a given cell coverage area When the mobile nodes are set in Ad hoc mode they need to be set with static IP addresses and all the mobile nodes which communicate with each other belong to the same working group Similarly they also share the same ESS ID 0008 In the prior art infrastructure mode is commonly used in office hot spot while Ad hoc mode is often used in the places without network infrastructure smaller areas or close distance communication i e the communication among the exploration workers during the resource explo ration in high mountains as well as communication among rescue worker in the after earthquake or communication among colleagues at a meeting in a meeting room etc More specifically when the network resource is limited as com pared with infrastructure mode Ad hoc mode can save a great amount of resources when the communication is limited to certain local area 0009 In the prior art i e the U S patent application Ser No U S 2003 0054818A1 entitled as SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONCURRENT OPERATION OF A WIRELESS DEVICE IN TWO DISJOINT WIRELE
43. rt more users and improve QoS 0044 2 dynamically switch between infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode to reduce the communication traffic 0045 3 reduce the waiting time and cost of user and 0046 4 increase the income of the providers of network services 0047 Detailed description to the process of dynamically and automatically switching between infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode would be explained with reference to the figures It should be understood that the illustrative embodi ments are for the sake of explanation only but not limitation to the present invention 0048 Take the Cisco 340 wireless card for example According to the present invention in order to switch from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode without loss of con nection to the network application the mobile nodes should first perform the following operations 0049 1 When the mobile node is configured as infra structure mode the network configuration thereof would be set up at first Referring to FIG 6 it includes some relevant parameters Parameters such as IP address gateway DNS server address and sub net mask etc and wireless card configuration would be set up in the Property page according to the present invention Referring to the sub pages of System Parameters in FIG 4 it includes four sub pages of system parameters RF network Advanced Infrastruc US 2006 0215576 A1 ture as well as Network Security In said system p
44. s between Infrastructure 51 Int CI mode and Ad hoc mode to balance system resources H04J 1 16 2006 01 improve QoS reduce the communication traffic waiting H04L 12 28 2006 01 time and the cost of the users and increase the income ofthe H04L 12 56 2006 01 provider of the network service Ad hoc groupi Ad hoc group2 Patent Application Publication Sep 28 2006 Sheet 1 of 6 US 2006 0215576 A1 BS Authentication Server Access Point Ye 2 Node FIG 1 Patent Application Publication Sep 28 2006 Sheet 2 of 6 US 2006 0215576 A1 FIG 3 340 Series Properties UNI System Parameters x Network Advanced Infrastructure Network Securi ty Client Name ies P s i eather Ae x SSID SsIpe SSID3 pPower Seve Hode i CAN Constantly Aw Mex PSP Ox Power Savings Cre PSP over Save Bode Ad Hoc i S Infrestructure ake Hode FIG 4 Patent Application Publication Sep 28 2006 Sheet 3 of 6 US 2006 0215576 A1 340 Series Properties CRL System Paraneters BF Network Advanced Infrastructure Network Security TEP C No FEP Sy emm e se Statin YE eys c Use Bynsmie VEE Keys C Hetwork Securi iy Types p NEP Static WEP Keys _ p TEP Key Entry Method Hexeuecimal 0 8 ELO C ASCII Text Access Point Authentication me fF _ Gpen Authentication Shared Ray Autheniica
45. st node is further configured to cause other mobile nodes to register with said host node when switching to the second communication mode 20 The system of claim 13 wherein communication parameters obtained by each client agent module under the US 2006 0215576 A1 second communication mode comprising the IP address for each mobile node network parameters and wireless card parameters 21 A system of claim 13 wherein each client agent module is further configured to set and save the network configuration for the plurality of mobile nodes when con figured to operate in the first communication mode 22 The system of claim 13 wherein said plurality of mobile nodes using static IP address or IPv6 address or dynamic IP address assigned by the DNS server of in the first communication mode and the application agent module is configured to judge whether the addresses of the plurality of mobile nodes are in a same group when prepared to switch to the second communication mode 23 The system of claim 13 wherein the application agent module is further configured to judge whether said mobile nodes are installed a client agent automatically upload and install the client agent for the mobile nodes when the client agent is not installed in the mobile nodes transmit suitable IP address corresponding network parameters wireless card parameters application soft ware to the client agent on each of the plurality of mobile nod
46. switching a network application operating in a first communication mode to a second com munication mode within a wireless local area network wherein a plurality of mobile nodes access the network through at least one access point and communicate with at least one application server to obtain at least one network application provided by said application server in the first communication mode and a plurality of neighboring mobile nodes can communicate with each other directly in the second communication mode the step of switching com prising the steps of when the plurality of mobile nodes are accessing the application server on the network through the access points and running the same network application pro vided by said application server in the first communi cation mode judging whether the plurality of mobile US 2006 0215576 A1 nodes are neighboring according to location informa tion of each of said mobile nodes sending an inquiry to the plurality of mobile nodes by said application server inquiring whether the plurality of mobile nodes want to switch to the second communi cation mode to run said network application when said plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring downloading and installing the network application from said application server to one of the mobile nodes when all said plurality of mobile nodes agree to switch to the second communication mode configuring each mobile node with communication parameters un
47. tains session and network application information S913 Sota AA uploads suitable software to the suitable client and installs it AA assigns each client with IP address other network parameters and wireles card parameters deletes session amp game information from application FIG 9 Patent Application Publication Sep 28 2006 Sheet 6 of 6 US 2006 0215576 A1 1001 A client associates the AP and opens the game in Infrastructure 1002 Is client installed client agent S1003 N Install client agent automatically S1004 Client agent gets client software amp hardware configuration The client begins continues to play game S1006 S1005 Being asked to aeree to switch S1007 Client agent stores network amp wireless card parameters 1008 Install suitable software on client client agent reconfigures the network to work in Ad hoc type S1009 N All clients play game in Ad hoc type S1010 Someone leaves S1011 Y Clients reconfigure network to come back infrastructure mode FIG 10 US 2006 0215576 A1 SWITCHING BETWEEN TWO COMMUNICAITON MODES IN A WLAN FIELD OF THE INVENTION 0001 The present invention is generally related to wire less network communication technology More particularly the present invention is related to the method and system of on demand switching between two different types of com munication mode in the wireless local network i e Infra
48. tication Protocol will be cancelled 0057 Then the client agent installs network application when the group of said nodes is transferred to Ad hoc mode At this time except for the host the client agents of all other mobile nodes register with the client agent of the host node Sep 28 2006 and through this host node the group of said nodes can continue the previous network application together in Ad hoc mode 0058 6 If one or more members of this group of mobile nodes leave and as a result the network application can not continue to run the client agents of the mobile nodes will automatically switch back to infrastructure mode and con tinue to access the previous network application on the server and wait for new corners to join and then to perform the switching again to Ad hoc mode 0059 Next is description of the structures and compo nents implementing the present invention 0060 FIG 7 schematically illustrates a system that com municates in a WLAN according to the present invention In this WLAN communication system only the communica tion between a mobile user and the application server is shown schematically However skilled persons in this field should know it should also include a plurality of application servers and a plurality of mobile users accessing the appli cation server through relevant APs and getting relevant network applications such as gaming chatting net meet ings etc which are executab
49. tled WIRELESS LAN COM MUNICATION SYSTEM discloses a wireless communi cation system that supports a dual mode switching and also realizes the automatic switching between infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode The wireless communication sys tem of that patent application judges whether it is necessary to switch from infrastructure to Ad hoc modes by monitor ing data pack If data pack marked with target address is detected the channel search will be conducted When suit able channel is found the communication mode will be switched to Ad hoc mode and establish connection between the source and the target In this system the source or target workstation is made up of date transfer receiver wireless interface data pack header analyzer channel search engine switch controller and data cache When it is necessary to switch from Ad hoc mode back to infrastructure mode one party of the source and target workstation of the connection which is already established will send a data pack requesting to switch back to infrastructure mode Then the two parties will switch back to infrastructure mode From the above mentioned description of the patent application the patent application mainly focus on that the network layer parses the data pack and judges whether the target can use Ad hoc mode or not to switch communication channels It judges whether to switch or not by adding the header of data pack as identity and it is mainly used for data transfer bet
50. tures advantages as well as benefits of the present invention will be more evident and striking through the detailed description of the preferable embodiments with reference to the drawings forming a part of the disclosure herein The description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings makes it easy to have a better understanding of the present invention in which 0020 FIG 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating that the wireless local network communicates in an infrastructure mode 0021 FIG 2 is a diagram illustrating that multiple APs make up an extended service set in an infrastructure mode 0022 FIG 3 is a diagram illustrating the communication in Ad hoc mode 0023 FIG 4 illustrates an example of the system param eters sub page of Cisco 340 series wireless card property 0024 FIG 5 illustrates network a security page of a Cisco 340 wireless card property 0025 FIG 6 illustrates a configuration page of a network parameter Internet Protocol TCP IP Property 0026 FIG 7 is a block diagram illustrating the compo nents implementing the method of the present invention 0027 FIG 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the switching from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode and continuing previous application according to the present invention 0028 FIG 9 is a flow diagram illustrating operations carried out by the application agent in the application server and 0029 FIG 10 is a flow diagram
51. two commu nication modes based on the judgment of the application in operation location of users and the status of the network resources 0034 The present invention also provides the mobile nodes with software that can be downloaded from the application server Through running the software on the wireless devices of the mobile users the wireless devices of the mobile users can be switched between the two commu nication modes conveniently and flexibly 0035 For this end the present invention provides a method for switching a network application operating in a first communication mode to a second communication mode within a wireless local area network wherein a plurality of mobile nodes access the network through at least one access point and communicate with at least one application server to obtain various network applications provided by said application server in the first communication mode and a plurality of neighboring mobile nodes can communicate with each other directly in the second communication mode the method comprising the steps of when the plurality of mobile nodes accessing the application server on the net work through the access points and running the same network application provided by said application server in the first communication mode judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring according to the location information of said mobile nodes sending an inquiry to the plurality of mobile nodes b
52. ween two points Meanwhile it requires that the two sides of the communication should have the capacity of workstations Comparatively speaking this will make the switching between the two modes more complicated Therefore a more flexible technical solution is needed to automatically switch between the two modes 0011 In addition according to the usage of the wireless local network nowadays some popular network applications such as network gaming network chatting e meeting etc usually operate in infrastructure mode In certain cases as a result of the access by too many mobile nodes in infrastruc ture mode the network resources get scarce and the opera tion efficiency is very poor under that circumstance if part of the users can be switched to Ad hoc mode the resources of the whole network will be balanced As a matter of fact in the application of the wireless local network nowadays when the resources in infrastructure mode are restricted it is seldom considered to balance the network resource by switching the network applications from infrastructure mode to Ad hoc mode Sep 28 2006 0012 Consider the following scenario the airport ABC provides network gaming and chatting platform only based on infrastructure mode for the passengers waiting for their airplanes The Airport ABC charges the passengers fee according to their network usage or connection time Most of passengers would like to play network games using a
53. when the plurality of mobile nodes are accessing the application server on the network through the access points and running the same network application pro vided by said application server in the first communi cation mode judging whether the plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring according to location informa tion of each of said mobile nodes sending an inquiry to the plurality of mobile nodes by said application server inquiring whether the plurality of mobile nodes want to switch to the second communi cation mode to run said network application when said plurality of mobile nodes are neighboring downloading and installing the network application from said application server to one of the mobile nodes when all said plurality of mobile nodes agree to switch to the second communication mode configuring each mobile node with communication parameters under the second communication mode and switching all said mobile nodes to the second communi cation mode and continuing to run a downloaded and installed network application 26 A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a switching of a net work application operating in a first communication mode to a second communication mode within a wireless local area network the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means f
54. wish to switch to Ad hoc mode That is in step S1006 for example a window will pop up on the client s screen asking the users whether they agree to switch to Ad hoc mode Likewise other methods can be used to ask whether the users wish to switch i e in audio and visual forms or rolling bars If the users do not agree to switch let said users be in infrastruc ture mode and continue their game however if the users agree to switch then the process moves to step S1007 The client agent stores the parameters of network and wireless card and the users preference such as the game played and IP addresses AP and IP addresses of the partners 0118 Next in step S1008 suitable software is installed in the clients Wherein said software is the network application software to be installed on the host in Ad hoc mode and the client agent reconfigures the network of the clients to work in Ad hoc mode 0119 Thus all clients of one group are configured such as Client C1 C4 Then in Ad hoc mode continue the games played by client C1 C4 in infrastructure mode step S1009 0120 When in step S1010 the host in Ad hoc mode detects that some users leave the process moves to step S1011 The host in Ad hoc mode notifies other client agents to release Ad hoc mode and reconfigure network parameters and wireless card parameters to recover infrastructure mode US 2006 0215576 A1 and return to the original network application Preferably the cl
55. witch between Ad hoc mode and infra structure mode on demand 0040 According to one embodiment of the present inven tion in infrastructure mode of WLAN the application server a server providing online gaming online chatting net meetings etc accessed by mobile nodes simultaneously runs a network application of an application agent which is designed according to the present invention For example in the network applications such as gaming chatting or net meeting etc are embedded with an application agent in the manner of software hardware or combination of software and hardware When the application agent finds that the connections to any AP approach to the maximum capacity and there are still more users trying to access said applica tion server the application agent then asks a location appa ratus to obtain the locations of the mobile nodes and decides whether these mobile nodes can be switched to Ad hoc mode If yes the application agent negotiates with all the mobile nodes which are in the same session If all the mobile Sep 28 2006 nodes agree to switch to Ad hoc mode the application agent switches all the mobile nodes on demand into Ad hoc mode so that the network workload is reduced and more users are allowed to obtain the service Meanwhile the mobile nodes switching to Ad hoc mode can continue to access the same service in Ad hoc mode That is to say after being switched to Ad hoc mode the users continue to use the
56. y said application server inquir ing whether they want to switch to the second communica tion mode to run said network application when said plu rality of mobile nodes are neighboring downloading and installing the network application from said application server to one of the mobile nodes when all said plurality of mobile nodes agree to switch to the second communication mode configuring each mobile node with the communica tion parameters under the second communication mode and switching all said mobile nodes to the second communica tion mode and continuing to run the downloaded and installed network application 0036 Thus the present invention provides a system for switching a network application operating in a first commu nication mode to a second communication mode within a wireless local area network wherein a plurality of mobile nodes access the network through at least one access point and communicate with at least one application server to obtain various network applications provided by said appli cation server in the first communication mode and a plu rality of neighboring mobile nodes can communicate with each other directly in the second communication mode the system comprising an application server for providing a plurality of network applications wherein the application server includes an application module and an application agent module a plurality of access points a plurality of mobile nodes for communicating wit
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