Cordless RF range extension for wireless piconets

In a cordless telephone, the improvement comprising:

• a piconet RF front end in a base unit of said cordless telephone;
• and
• a rate adapter to adapt a data rate of piconet information between a data rate of a piconet network to a data rate of said cordless telephone;
• wherein piconet content information indicating a destination piconet device received by said piconet RF front end of said cordless telephone relating to a first wireless piconet is transmitted over a cordless telephone RF front end of said base unit of said cordless telephone to a second wireless piconet separate from said first wireless piconet, and rate adapted back to said data rate of said piconet information, and passable to another piconet, to effectively extend a communication range of a piconet wireless network.

A method of simulating scatternet functionality with a cordless telephone, comprising:

• implementing a piconet front end in a cordless telephone;
• adapting a data rate of piconet information passed in a piconet network including said cordless telephone to a data rate of said cordless telephone;
• and
• passing piconet network information across a cordless telephone wireless channel established by said cordless telephone to another cordless telephone component for rate adaption back to said data rate of said piconet information, to effectively extend a communication range of said piconet network.

Apparatus for simulating scatternet functionality with a cordless telephone, comprising:

• piconet front end means in a cordless telephone;
• rate adaption means for adapting a data rate of piconet information between a data rate of a piconet network to a data rate of said cordless telephone;
• and
• means for passing piconet network information across a cordless telephone wireless channel established by said cordless telephone to another cordless telephone for rate adaption to a data rate of another piconet device, to effectively extend a communication range of said piconet network.

A method of routing wireless piconet information over a long range wireless communication device, comprising:

• routing piconet information indicating a destination piconet device from a first wireless piconet to a long range wireless communication device having a cordless telephone RF front end and a piconet wireless network RF front end;
• adapting a data rate of said piconet information to a data rate of said long range wireless communication device;
• transmitting said piconet information over said long range wireless communication device to a mating long range wireless communication device having a cordless telephone RF front end and a piconet wireless network RF front end;
• and
• routing said received piconet information from said mating long range wireless communication device to a second wireless piconet distinct from said first wireless piconet;
• wherein said long range wireless communication device and said mating long range wireless communication device transmit over distances greater than a piconet device.