Network address management for a wired network supporting wireless communication to a plurality of mobile users

Claim 2

Method as set forth in Claim 1 wherein the steps of establishing, requesting and receiving each include a step of routing information between the wireless network and the wired network (14) through a local gateway (16).

Claim 3

Method as set forth in Claim 1 or 2 and including a step of buffering, at the network gateway (18), packets of data addressed to the assigned address during a time that the mobile communication unit (10) is not actively coupled to the wireless network.

Claim 4

Method as set forth in Claim 3 and, responsive to the mobile communication unit (10) indicating that it is once more actively coupled to the wireless network, further including the steps of: retrieving the buffered packets of data; forwarding the retrieved packets to a local gateway (16) bidirectionally coupled between the wired network (14) and the wireless network; and transmitting the retrieved packets from the local gateway (16) to the mobile communication unit (10) over the wireless network.

Claim 5

Method as set forth in Claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the step of receiving includes an initial step of allocating the assigned address from a pool of addresses maintained by the network gateway (18).

Claim 6

Method as set forth in Claim 5 wherein the wired network (14) conforms to a TCP/IP standard and wherein the step of allocating includes an initial step of reserving a plurality of IP addresses for use by the network gateway (18).

Claim 7

Method as set forth in Claim 2 or anyone of Claims 3 to 6 wherein, in response to the mobile communication unit (10) becoming uncoupled from the wireless network (14), the method further includes the steps of: notifying the network gateway (18) that the mobile communication unit is no longer active, the step of notifying including a step of sending a message from the local gateway (16) over the wired network (14) to the network gateway (18); and in response to the notification by the local gateway (16), deassigning at the network gateway (18) the assigned network address.

Claim 8

Method as set forth in Claim 7 wherein the step of notifying includes an initial step of buffering for a predetermined interval of time within the local gateway (16) any information received from the wired network (14) that is addressed to the mobile communication unit (10) that is no longer active and wherein, if the mobile communication unit (10) again becomes active before the expiration of the predetermined interval of time, the local gateway (16) does not execute the step of notifying.

Claim 9

Method as set forth in anyone of the preceding Claims wherein the step of requesting includes a step of transmitting from the mobile communication unit (109 to the network gateway (18) an identifier that is unique to the mobile communication unit (10).

Claim 10

Method as set forth in anyone of the preceding Claims and, in response to a message from the mobile communication unit (10) that the mobile communication unit (10) intends to terminate communication with the wired network (14), deassigning at the network gateway (18) the assigned network address.

Claim 11

Method as set forth in Claim 9 wherein the step of assigning assigns a single network address to a plurality of mobile communication units (10), the assigned network address including, for each of the mobile communication units (10), the respective one of the unique identifiers for differentiating the mobile communication units (10) one from another.

Claim 12

Method as set forth in anyone of the preceding Claims and, in response to a name inquiry to determine a network address, includes the steps of: if the name is associated with a permanently assigned network address, returning the network address in response to the inquiry; if the name is associated with a temporarily assigned network address, returning the network address in response to the inquiry; and if the name is associated with a previously assigned network address, returning a predetermined network address that differs from the previously assigned network address.

Claim 13

Apparatus for managing the bidirectional transmission of information between a wired network (14) and at least one mobile communication unit (10) in wireless communication with the wired network (14), said apparatus comprising: local gateway means (16), coupled between a wireless LAN (2) and the wired network (14), for communicating with a mobile communication unit (10); characterized in that said network (14) is of the type that users of the network are each assigned a unique network address, and said apparatus further comprises: global gateway means (18) coupled to the local gateway means (16) and to remote users of the network (1), the global gateway means (18) including means for maintaining a plurality of network addresses, means for receiving a request for an assignment of a network address from the mobile communication unit (10), means for assigning one of the plurality of network addresses, preferably IP adresses, to the requesting mobile communication unit (10); and means for routing data received from a remote user, the data having an address corresponding to the assigned network address, to the mobile communication unit (10) having the assigned address.

Claim 14

Apparatus as set forth in Claim 13 wherein the global gateway means (18) further includes means for buffering data received from a remote user that is addressed to a mobile communication unit (10) having one of the assigned network addresses.

Claim 15

Apparatus as set forth in Claim 13 or 14 and further comprising a plurality of wireless LANs each of which has at least one local gateway means (16) coupled thereto.

Claim 16

Apparatus as set forth in Claim 15 and further comprising a plurality of global gateway means (18) individual ones of which are coupled to different ones of the plurality of wireless LANs for assigning network addresses to mobile communication units (10) in wireless communication with their respective wireless LANs.

Claim 17

Apparatus as set forth in Claim 13, 14, 15 or 16 wherein the local gateway means (16) includes means for buffering data addressed to mobile communication units (10) in wireless communication therewith.