Method and device for identifying and selecting an interface to access a network
AssigneeThomson Licensing
InventorsStan Claes, Dirk Van De Poel, Stephen Vincent
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention concerns a networking device comprising interfacing means for accessing a first network or a second network, and comprising identifying means for detecting an access to the first network, and selecting means for picking an access among a plurality of accesses to the first network for accessing a third network.
Claims9
A networking device comprising a plurality of identical interfaces being adapted to connect to either of a Wide Area Network, WAN, or a Local Area Network, LAN, the WAN providing access to a broadband network, all of the identical interfaces being preliminarily preconfigured to be WAN interfaces for accessing said WAN, comprising:
- changing means for, upon receipt of a discover message from a LAN device connected on a preconfigured WAN interface, dynamically modifying said preconfigured WAN interface to become a LAN interface,
- identifying means for requesting an access to the broadband network through all of said plurality of identical interfaces simultaneously by broadcasting a discover message, and for identifying an interface that receives a response to the discover message as a WAN interface for accessing said WAN, and
- selecting means for, if more than one WAN interface for connecting to the WAN has been identified, selecting based on a selection rule one WAN interface for accessing said broadband network, wherein said selection rule is configured to be amended by a remote configuration for selecting a first interface for accessing said broadband network as a third network.
A method for accessing a broadband network through a Wide Area Network, WAN, in a device comprising a plurality of identical interfaces adapted to connect to either of the WAN or a Local Area Network, LAN, said interface connected to said WAN being a WAN interface, comprising at the device:
- preconfiguring all of the identical interfaces preliminarily as WAN interfaces for accessing said WAN,
- upon receipt of a discover message from a LAN device connected on a preconfigured WAN interface, dynamically changing said preconfigured WAN interface to become a LAN interface,
- simultaneously broadcasting a discover message for requesting access to the broadband network to all said interfaces of the plurality of identical interfaces,
- receiving an answer to the discover message from one or more interfaces, identified as WAN interfaces for accessing said WAN, and
- selecting, based on a selection rule, an interface, among said WAN interfaces, to access said broadband network, wherein said selection rule is configured to be amended by a remote configuration for selecting a first interface for accessing said broadband network as a third network.
A gateway device comprising a plurality of identical interfaces being adapted to connect to either of a Local Area Network, LAN, or a Wide Area Network, WAN, the WAN providing access to a broadband network, all of the identical interfaces being preliminarily preconfigured to be WAN interfaces for accessing said WAN, comprising:
- changing means for, upon receipt of a discover message from a LAN device connected on a preconfigured WAN interface, dynamically modifying said preconfigured WAN interface to become a LAN interface,
- identifying means for requesting an access to the broadband network through all of said interfaces of the plurality of interfaces simultaneously by broadcasting a discover message, and for identifying an interface that receives a response to the discover message as a WAN interface for accessing said WAN, and
- selecting means for, if more than one WAN interface for connecting to the WAN has been identified, selecting, based on a selection rule, one WAN interface for accessing the broadband network, wherein said selection rule is configured to be amended by a remote configuration for selecting a first interface for accessing said broadband network as a third network.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.