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US 11,888,648 B1Granted
Software-enabled access point (SoftAP) based bridging of devices in two wireless networks
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsJian Lu, QingYun Wei, Shao-Cheng Wang, Avinash Joshi, Zhen Xie, Ankita Rajeev Chandrachud
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A softAP bridge is created to support a mesh network that also works seamlessly with any home Wi-Fi AP routers by using Layer-3 techniques to simulate a Layer-2 bridge. With this softAP bridge, Wi-Fi chipsets with integrated special Wi-Fi MAC Layer-2 mesh network support (e.g., 802.11s), or external gateway hubs, are not required. To accomplish this solution, one of the wireless devices may be designated as a relay device for communicating IPv6 data packets between a home AP router and the remaining wireless devices designated as client devices.
Claims19
A relay computing device comprising:
- a first interface configured to communicate with a first device;
- a second interface configured to communicate with a second device;
- a memory configured to store a transaction table including a lookup key and a corresponding request identifier (ID);
- and
- a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to:
- receive a plurality of data packets from the second device;
- identify a plurality of IPv6 data packets among the plurality of data packets;
- responsive to determining that one or more IPv6 data packets of the plurality of IPv6 data packets comprise an internet control message protocol version 6 (ICMPv6) message, perform a stateless address auto configuration (SLAAC) for the first device;
- and
- send, to the first device, the plurality of the IPv6 data packets, wherein to perform the SLAAC, the processor is further configured to:
- receive, from the first device, a first request;
- relay, to the second device, the first request;
- receive, from the second device, a first response comprising a link-layer address of the second device;
- replace the link-layer address of the second device with a link-layer address of the relay computing device to generate a modified response;
- and
- relay, to the first device, the modified response.
13 more elements
A method comprising:
- implementing a mesh network by creating a virtual bridge on a relay computing device having a first interface configured to communicate with a client device, and a second interface configured to communicate with a network router;
- receiving a plurality of data packets from a network router;
- identifying a plurality of IPv6 data packets among the plurality of data packets;
- responsive to determining that one or more IPv6 data packets of the plurality of IPv6 data packets comprise an internet control message protocol version 6 (ICMPv6) message, performing a stateless address auto configuration (SLAAC) for the client device;
- and
- sending, to the client device, the plurality of the IPv6 data packets, wherein performing the SLAAC comprises:
- receiving, from the client device, a router solicitation (RS) request;
- relaying, to the network router, the RS request;
- receiving, from the network router, a router advertisement response comprising a link-layer address of the network router;
- replacing the link-layer address of the network router with a link-layer address of the relay computing device;
- and
- relaying, to the client device, the router advertisement response comprising the link-layer address of the relay computing device.
9 more elements
A relay computing device comprising:
- a first interface configured to communicate with a first device;
- a second interface configured to communicate with a second device;
- a memory configured to store a transaction table including a lookup key and a corresponding request identifier (ID);
- and
- a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to:
- receive a plurality of data packets from the second device;
- identify a plurality of IPv6 data packets among the plurality of data packets;
- responsive to determining that one or more IPv6 data packets of the plurality of IPv6 data packets comprise an internet control message protocol version 6 (ICMPv6) message, perform a stateless address auto configuration (SLAAC) for the first device;
- perform a neighbor discovery (ND) process with the first device;
- and
- send, to the first device, the plurality of the IPv6 data packets, wherein, to perform the ND process, the processor is further configured to:
- receive, from the first device, an IPv6 address for the first device, wherein the IPv6 address for the first device is based on a network prefix contained in a response from the second device;
- receive, from the first device, a neighbor solicitation request;
- relay, to the second device, the neighbor solicitation request;
- receive, from the second device, a neighbor advertisement response comprising a link-layer address of the second device;
- replace the link-layer address of the second device with a link-layer address of the relay computing device;
- and
- relay, to the first device, the neighbor advertisement response comprising the link-layer address of the relay computing device.
15 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.