Method and apparatus for bandwidth aggregation for IP flow

Abstract

A method and apparatus for bandwidth aggregation for an Internet protocol (IP) flow are disclosed. A sender may split IP packets on a single IP flow, and transmit the IP packets to a receiver via at least two interfaces. The sender splitting the IP packets over multiple interfaces may not send any signaling to the receiver. Alternatively, the sender may send information to the receiver for configuring distribution of the IP packets over multiple interfaces. The information may be carried on a binding update message, a binding acknowledgement message, or a binding refresh request message. The IP packets may be split and transmitted by a logical interface that sits between an IP layer and a layer 2, or by a bandwidth aggregation (BWA) middleware located between a transmission control protocol (TCP) layer and an IP layer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.