Granted Patent B2

US 9,706,426 · App. 14/647,176 · Granted Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

Claims (57)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving data traffic from both a Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) domain and a Visible Light Communications (VLC) domain;

uniquely identifying, in a controller, a device in both the WLAN domain and the VLC domain as a same device using an addressing scheme associated with both the WLAN domain and the VLC domain, wherein the device is configured to operate in both the WLAN domain and the VLC domain; and

providing data traffic to the device via one of the WLAN domain and the VLC domain based on a plurality of factors, wherein, when the data traffic to the device is provided via the VLC domain, the method further comprises:

detecting a change in a light connection in the VLC domain, and

sending the data traffic via the WLAN domain responsive to the change.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the addressing scheme comprises using a single address in the VLC domain which comprises an address from the WLAN domain and an address from the VLC domain in the single address.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the single address comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) address from the WLAN domain combined with a short address from the VLC domain.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the WLAN domain operates in accordance with IEEE 802.11 and variants thereof and the VLC domain operates in accordance with IEEE 802.15.7 and variants thereof;

wherein the single address comprises a 16 bit short address from the VLC domain and a 48 bit MAC address from the WLAN domain.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

maintaining a table in the controller of mappings of the short address to the MAC address; and

utilizing the table in a VLC access point to determine the short address to use for a given MAC address.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

transmitting a frame from the device over the VLC domain by sending a frame with a first format from the device and modifying the frame to a second format in a VLC driver in the device to append the address from the VLC domain thereto;

receiving the frame at the controller and reconstructing the frame to the first format.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of factors comprise traffic flow type, wireless Received Signal Strength Indication, light signal strength, location, and a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the addressing scheme comprises using a tunnel to transmit a frame compliant to the WLAN domain in a format compliant to the VLC domain.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing data traffic to the device via the VLC domain when available;

detecting a change in light strength in the VLC domain indicating mobility; and

providing the data traffic to the device via the WLAN domain when the VLC domain is unavailable or based on the mobility, wherein a connection is maintained to the device in the WLAN domain while the device operates in the VLC domain.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

constraining multicast and broadcast traffic associated with the device to only one of the WLAN domain and the VLC domain.

11. A controller, comprising:

a network interface communicatively coupled to a wireless access point and a Visible Light Communications (VLC) access point;

a processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

receive data traffic from both the wireless access point and the VLC access point;

uniquely identify a device using both the wireless access point and the VLC access point as a same device using an addressing scheme associated with a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) domain and a VLC domain, wherein the device is configured to operate in both the WLAN domain and the VLC domain; and

provide data traffic to the device via one of the wireless access point and the VLC access point based on a plurality of factors, wherein, when the data traffic to the device is provided via the VLC access point, the instructions further cause the processor to:

detect a change in a light connection in the VLC domain, and

send the data traffic via the wireless access point responsive to the change.

12. The controller of claim 11 , wherein the addressing scheme comprises using a single address in the VLC domain which comprises an address from the WLAN domain and an address from the VLC domain in the single address;

wherein the single address comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) address from the WLAN domain combined with a short address from the VLC domain.

13. The controller of claim 12 , wherein the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

maintain a table in the controller of mappings of the short address to the MAC address; and

utilize the table in the VLC access point to determine the short address to use for a given MAC address.

14. The controller of claim 12 , wherein the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

receive a frame from the device from the VLC access point, wherein the device sends the frame with a first format from the device and modifies the frame to a second format in a VLC driver in the device to append the address from the VLC domain thereto;

receive the frame in the second format and reconstruct the frame to the first format.

15. The controller of claim 11 , wherein the addressing scheme comprises using a tunnel to transmit a frame compliant to the WLAN domain in a format compliant to the VLC domain.

16. The controller of claim 12 , wherein the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

provide data traffic to the device via the VLC access point when available;

detect a change in light strength in the VLC domain indicating mobility; and

provide data traffic to the device via the wireless access point when the VLC domain is unavailable or based on the mobility, wherein a connection is maintained to the device in via the wireless access point while the device operates in the VLC domain.

17. The controller of claim 12 , wherein the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

constrain multicast and broadcast traffic associated with the device to only one of the WLAN domain and the VLC domain.

18. A network, comprising:

a wireless access point communicatively coupled to a device via a wireless connection;

a visible light access point communicatively coupled to the device via a light connection; and

a controller communicatively coupled to the wireless access point and the visible light access point;

wherein:

the controller is configured to uniquely identify the device as a same device operating on either the wireless access point or the visible light access point based on an addressing scheme,

the device is configured to utilize both the wireless access point and the visible light access point concurrently for data traffic providing traffic to the visible light access point using the addressing scheme that incorporates an address for the wireless connection therein, and

the visible light access point is configured to detect a change in the light connection and cause the data traffic to be sent via the wireless access point responsive to the change.

19. The network of claim 18 , wherein the device is configured to transmit a data frame with a Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the wireless connection and to append an address associated with the light connection if the light connection is available thereby offloading the wireless access point.

Assignments (8)