Abstract:
A gateway for a wireless network. The gateway allows any wireless device to communicate using the Internet Protocol. The radio gateway works as an agent between the NDIS layer and the wireless network. The gateway removes the TCP/IP header and adds its own header.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/643,729 filed Aug. 23, 2000, now pending. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to wireless data communications with header suppression and reconstruction, and in particular to a network gateway and a wireless terminal communications manager. More precisely, this invention describes a TCP/IP wireless gateway for enabling mobile users to have its own IP address.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     No one can anymore doubt about the increase of wireless communications between individuals. Meanwhile, if a lot of work has been done in the field of cellular communications, lots remains to be done in wireless communications involving data. In fact, it is important for a mobile user to be able to wireless communicate using his computer and a cellular phone for instance. Several solutions exist already. Meanwhile, they suffer from various limitations.  
         [0004]     For instance, there exists wireless LAN cards (NOKIA C110 Wireless LAN card for instance) which uses PCMCIA interface to access a wireless LAN. This type of card suffers from a few limitations. The user must use the frequency of the LAN card to communicate with a hub and therefore the user cannot use his own radio system to transfer data. In the case of the NOKIA system, the typical range indoors is 30/90 m.  
         [0005]     Furthermore, the system uses a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) meaning that the IP address of the mobile is not static. This can be a serious drawback when the user wants to access a service where part of the authentification is done using a fixed IP address rather than a range of IP addresses. The encryption of the data is done using an up to 128-bit key (using Wired Equivalent Privacy protocol). It would be interesting to use any type of encryption scheme.  
         [0006]     Another prior art technique is the use of a cellular modem in the case of an analog cellular protocol, such as AMPS. The cellular modem is usually a PCMCIA type card that the user will insert in the mobile computer. This cellular modem is then connected to a cellular telephone allowing the mobile computer to be connected to the analog cellular network. In the case of a digital cellular network, a modem is not necessary as the computer and the phone both work in digital mode. Only Terminal Adapter Equipment (TAE) is required to link the cellular phone to the computer. An Infra Red (IR) interface can be used to do so in the case that the mobile computer and the mobile are both IR compliant.  
         [0007]     In both cases, the user can then access, using the dial-up link, a data network. For instance, the user can connect to an ISP to obtain either a static or a dynamic IP address depending on the user&#39;s account. The user can also connect to his office using NetBEUI protocol. While the radio protocol has specific compression/encryption schemes, no compression/encryption procedure is done prior to the transmission of the data over the cellular phone. This is a serious issue, especially if the cellular transmission is intercepted.  
         [0008]     Therefore there is a need for an architecture that will avoid the shortcomings of the relevant prior art.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     It is an object of the present invention to provide a gateway that can link a group of wireless users using the TCP/IP protocol.  
         [0010]     Another object of the present invention is to provide static IP addresses for each wireless users of a network.  
         [0011]     It is another object of the invention to provide a minimisation of the packet overhead used to communicate between wireless users.  
         [0012]     Yet another object of the invention is to provide a compression of the packet used to communicate between the wireless users.  
         [0013]     Yet another object of the invention is to encrypt the packets used to communicate between the wireless users.  
         [0014]     Yet another object of the invention is to maintain a list of the actives mobile users in a radio network.  
         [0015]     Yet another object of the invention is to keep track of and to protect all packets used by the wireless users to communicate.  
         [0016]     Yet another object of the invention is to be able to broadcast information to all mobile users of a wireless network.  
         [0017]     Yet another object of the invention is to compile communication statistics related to wireless users.  
         [0018]     According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a gateway for transmitting data packets between a wireless network and a second network, the gateway comprising a database comprising data associating at least one wireless terminal with at least one destination address, the data including for each of at least one wireless terminal at least one wireless terminal identifier, at least one source address of the wireless terminal according to a protocol of the second network, and at least one destination address on the second network, a database manager collecting information from the data packets received from at least one wireless terminal in order to build up and maintain the database, a header builder receiving data packets from the wireless network without a header suitable for the protocol of the second network and building the suitable header based on the data and information contained within the data packets received, and outputting data packets with the suitable header for transmission on the second network and a relay module receiving data packets from the second network addressing at least one wireless terminal according to an address associated with the second network, the relay module retransmitting the data packets from the second network to at least one wireless terminal using an address obtained from the database in a format of a protocol of the wireless network.  
         [0019]     According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a wireless terminal for transmitting wireless packets over a wireless network, the wireless terminal comprising a header manager transmitting header information for a particular destination on a second network, and the wireless packets to the wireless network without a header suitable for a protocol used on a second network, a memory comprising data representing header information concerning at least one second network terminal, a memory manager collecting information from the wireless packets received from the wireless network in order to build up and maintain the memory, a relay module collecting the data packets, not having a header suitable for the protocol, from the wireless network to build a data packet with a header suitable for the protocol using the data.  
         [0020]     According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for sending a data packet from a wireless terminal to a second network via a wireless network, the method comprising the steps of sending header information from the wireless terminal, removing the header of the data packet to provide a data part of the data packet, adding to the data part of the data packet a wireless header to provide a wireless packet, transmitting the wireless packet over then wireless network, receiving the wireless packet and removing the wireless header of the wireless packet to provide the data part of the wireless packet, creating a header for the data part using the header information received and according to a protocol of the second network, adding the header created to the data part of the wireless packet to provide a new packet, and sending the new packet on the second network.  
         [0021]     According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for sending a data packet from a second network to a wireless terminal via a wireless network, the method comprising the steps of sending header information from the second network to the wireless terminal, removing the header of the data packet to provide a data part of the data packet, adding to the data part of the data packet a wireless header to provide a wireless packet, transmitting the wireless packet over the wireless network, receiving the wireless packet and removing the wireless header of the wireless packet to provide the data part of the wireless packet, creating a header for the data part using the header information received by the wireless terminal and according to a protocol used at the wireless terminal, and adding the header created to the data part of the wireless packet to provide a new packet in the protocol. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0022]     The invention will be better understood by an examination of the following description, together with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0023]      FIG. 1  shows an overview of a wireless network using the invention; a group of mobile units can communicate with a server which acts as a gateway to a remote server.  
         [0024]      FIG. 2  shows the functional architecture of the invention; the invention comprises a wireless gateway connected to another network and a mobile client.  
         [0025]      FIG. 3  shows the detailed architecture of the preferred embodiment of the invention for a mobile unit.  
         [0026]      FIG. 4  shows the format of the packet that can be transferred.  
         [0027]      FIG. 5  shows the block diagram which represents actions performed by the gateway upon reception of a wireless packet.  
         [0028]      FIG. 6  shows the block diagram which represents actions performed by the gateway upon reception of a TCP/IP packet.  
         [0029]      FIG. 7  shows an embodiment of the database which comprised ID numbers and Sub ID numbers. 
     
    
       [0030]     It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0031]     While the present invention may be provided in various embodiments, there is shown in the drawings and described in the following text a specific preferred embodiment, with the understanding that the present description is only one embodiment and is not limiting of the scope of the invention.  
         [0032]      FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of the invention. The system, in the preferred embodiment is a gateway that allows TCP/IP communications between wireless users. More precisely, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, a wireless network comprises a server node  17  and several client nodes  16 . In the preferred embodiment, the network can be an ARDIS network. In this example, there are three client nodes  16 . Each client node  16  comprises a mobile computer  12  and a radio system  10  that is, in the preferred embodiment, a cellular phone. Each radio system  10  is connected to a mobile computer  12  via a cable  11 . The server node  17  comprises a server computer  13 , a radio transceiver  14  and a connection to another network  15 . In the preferred embodiment the link  15  to a foreign network is a cable. It can also be a wireless connection. In the preferred embodiment each client node  16  is able to communicate with the server node  17 . In the preferred embodiment, the server computer  13  is an Intel Pentium II running at 350 MHz, with 128 MB of Random Access Memory (RAM) and 3 GB of hard drive space. In the preferred embodiment, the server computer  13  runs under Microsoft Windows NT4.0. In the preferred embodiment, the mobile computer is an Intel Pentium running at 133 MHz with 32 MB of RAM which runs under Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows NT4.0.  
         [0033]     General Description  
         [0034]     Now referring to  FIG. 2 , the complete architecture of the system is disclosed. A mobile unit  21  is able to communicate with a network  19  using a wireless gateway  20 .  
         [0035]     The mobile unit  21  comprises a TCP/IP application  27  which is either a client application or a server application. A client application could be a telnet application, while a server application could be a Web Server application such as Apache web server. The mobile unit  21  also comprises a TCP/IP stack  28  whose goal is to ultimately create TCP/IP packets. The mobile unit  21  also comprises an IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  whose goal is to at least convert, according to a specific scheme, an IP packet into a wireless packet in the case of an outgoing communication or a wireless packet into an IP packet in the case of an incoming packet. The mobile unit  21  also comprises a data-radio transceiver  30  which can either receive information from an antenna  31  in the case of an incoming signal, or send information to an antenna  31  in the case of an outgoing signal.  
         [0036]     The gateway  20  allows a mobile unit  21  to communicate with another mobile unit  21  of the same wireless network. The gateway  20  also allows a mobile unit  21  to communicate with at least one computer located in a part or a sub part of the network  19 . The gateway  20  also allows at least one computer located in a part or a sub part of the network  19  to communicate with at least one mobile unit  21  from the wireless network.  
         [0037]     The gateway  20  comprises a router whose goal is to route incoming and outgoing traffic. More precisely, the router can allow at least one computer located in a part or a sub part of the network  19  to communicate with at least one mobile unit  21 . The router  22  accesses a database  24  which contains information concerning the active mobile units  21  with their physical address, their TCP/IP related information, their Identification Number (ID) and their Sub Identification Number (Sub ID). An entry of the database  24  is shown in  FIG. 7 . An ID number  160  is linked to at least a TCP/IP address  161  and a physical address  162 . This ID number  160  can also be linked to Sub ID numbers  163 , these Sub ID numbers are linked to at least destination TCP/IP address  164 . These Sub ID numbers are also linked with the source port  165  and the destination port  166  used for the communication. The router  22  is also connected to an IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23 . The goal of the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  is to at least convert, according to a specific scheme, an IP packet into a wireless packet in the case of an outgoing communication or a wireless packet into an IP packet in the case of an incoming packet according to the database  24 . The IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  is connected to a data-radio transceiver  25  which can either receive information from an antenna  26  in the case of an incoming signal, or send information to an antenna  26  in the case of an outgoing signal.  
         [0038]     Header Translation  
         [0039]     Connection of a Mobile User  21  to the Wireless Network  
         [0040]     In order to communicate in the wireless network, a mobile user  21  has an ID number. This ID number is given by the gateway during the first connection of the mobile user  21  to the gateway  20 .  
         [0041]     More precisely, during the first connection to the gateway  20 , the mobile user  21  send its hardware address which is unique and the desired IP address. Upon reception of this unique wireless packet (step  121   FIG. 5 ) which comprises the hardware address and in the case that the choice of the IP address is feasible (i.e. the IP address is not already taken), the mobile user  21  is given an ID number (step  123   FIG. 5 ). In the preferred embodiment, this ID number is not static meaning that it is not fixed. This ID number and the received hardware address of the mobile user  21  are stored into database  24  (step  124   FIG. 5 ).  
         [0042]     The ID number is sent to the mobile unit  21  (step  125   FIG. 5 ) and stored in the memory of the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29 . A group of Sub ID numbers are linked to a specific ID number. The Sub ID numbers refer to a specific connection (i.e. one link between two peer users). While the ID number corresponds to a specific mobile unit connected, the combination between an ID number and a Sub ID number refers to a unique connection between a mobile unit  21  and a TCP/IP user.  
         [0043]     Process to Send Information from a Mobile Unit  
         [0044]     A mobile unit  21  with an application  27  is willing to communicate with another computer located either in the wireless network or in the network  19 . The application  27  sends information using path  42  to the TCP/IP stack  28 . This information comprises for instance the type of service requested, the IP address of the computer to reach and the data to transmit.  
         [0045]     Upon reception of this information, the TCP/IP stack  28  performs the creation of the TCP/IP packets which comprises this information plus information such as checksum control. The TCP/IP stack  28  then sends to the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  this packet using path  44 . The IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  then checks if an ID number is available for the mobile unit  21 . If not, the connection of the mobile user  21  to the wireless network, as described before, is performed. If an ID number is available, the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  checks in its memory if the destination IP of the packet is already known i.e. if a Sub ID number exists. If no Sub ID number exists, the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  transfers a packet which comprises as data the TCP/IP header of the packet to send and a wireless header. If a Sub ID exists, the wireless packet is prepared with the data part of the TCP/IP packet.  
         [0046]     The wireless packet is sent to the data radio transceiver  30  using path  46 . The radio transceiver converts this packet into a radio signal that is sent to the antenna using the antenna link  31 . The signal is received by the gateway  20 . The signals goes to the data radio transceiver  25  of the gateway  20 . The data radio transceiver  25  of the gateway  20  converts the radio signal into a flow of data which is a packet. This packet goes to the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  of the gateway  20 . Upon reception of the packet (step  121   FIG. 5 ), the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  sends a request to the database  24  using the path  38 . This request comprises the ID and the Sub ID (if this applies) contained in the packet. The IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  receives then from the database  24  a response (step  122   FIG. 5 ) which contains either TCP/IP information in the case that a Sub ID is available or a flag signaling that no IP information is available in the database  24  in the case that there is no Sub ID transmitted to the database  24 . In the case that no TCP/IP information is available in the database (i.e. no Sub ID are available), a Sub ID (step  128   FIG. 5 ) is created. This Sub ID and the TCP/IP header information part of the data contained in the packet which comes from the data radio transceiver  25  via path  37 , are sent to the database  24  (step  129   FIG. 5 ). This Sub ID number will be transmitted to the mobile unit  21  (step  130   FIG. 5 ). In the case that a Sub ID exists, TCP/IP information related to this specific Sub ID are transmitted to the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23 . A new TCP/IP header is created using this TCP/IP information and the data field contained in the radio packet. This new TCP/IP data packet is sent to the router  22  using path  35 . The router routes the packet according to flexible policies determined by a user. If the packet destination is outside the wireless network i.e. in the network  19 , the router checks whether the destination IP address is allowed. If so, the TCP/IP packet is sent to the network  19  using the link  33 . If the packet destination is inside the wireless network, the router  22  checks in the database  24 , by making a request using path  38 , if the user IP exists. Furthermore, in another embodiment, the router  22  checks if the destination user, in the case that the destination user is connected, allows the source user to reach him. A way to implement that would be for instance to add a field in the database next to the destination IP address which would contains either banned addresses or authorized addresses. In the case that the destination user is a mobile unit part of the wireless network, the packet is sent to the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  for further processing.  
         [0047]     Process to Send Information from the Gateway to the Mobile  
         [0048]     When a TCP/IP packet is to be sent by the gateway  20  to a mobile unit  21 , the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  makes a request to the database  24  using path  38 . The request comprises the destination IP address. In return, the database  24  sends back the ID number to be used. If no Sub ID are related to the IP destination address, a Sub ID number is created. This Sub ID number is linked to the source IP address.  
         [0049]     A packet which comprises this Sub ID, the ID, and TCP/IP information is created by the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23 . This packet is sent to the data radio transceiver  25  where it is converted into a radio signal which is transmitted to the antenna using the antenna link  26 .  
         [0050]     If a Sub ID related to this source TCP/IP address already exists, the ID and Sub ID numbers are retrieved from the database  24  and used with the data part of the TCP/IP packet to create a wireless header that will be used to create a wireless packet. Such wireless packet is sent to the data radio transmitter  25  using the path  36 . This wireless packet is then converted into a radio signal which is sent to the antenna using the antenna link  26 . This radio signal is received by all antennas of the wireless network.  
         [0051]     Each mobile unit  21  receives this radio signal which is transmitted to the data radio transceiver  30  using the antenna link  31 . The data radio transceiver  30  then converts this radio signal into a flow of information that will form wireless packets. In the preferred embodiment, this flow of information is digital. The wireless packet is then sent to the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29 . The IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  then checks whether the ID number is the one corresponding to this particular mobile unit  21 . If the ID number does not correspond to this particular mobile unit  21 , the packet is discarded. If the ID number corresponds to the one of this particular mobile unit  21 , the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  checks into its memory whether he knows the Sub ID number. If not, this means that this packet contains information to initialize a new Sub ID created by the gateway  20 , in its data field. This information comprises the TCP/IP address of the source. In the case that no prior Sub ID exists, the information is uploaded in the internal memory of the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29 . If the sub ID number is contained into the memory of the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29 , the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  retrieves from its memory the IP parameters in order to create the TCP/IP packet using the data part of the wireless packet transmitted. This TCP/IP packet is now sent to the application  27  using path  43 .  
         [0052]     In another embodiment, the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  and the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  performs encryption/decryption and/or compression/decompression of the data part of the wireless packet. In another embodiment, the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  and the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  performs encryption/decryption and/or compression/decompression of the data part of the whole wireless packet. More precisely, the mobile unit  21  decides which encryption key will be used and transmits this information to the gateway  20 . The encryption key used by one particular mobile unit  21  will be stored in the database  24  during the first connection. Thus, this allows each mobile unit  21  to have its own encryption key.  
         [0053]     The type of compression algorithm currently used is preferably sent by the gateway  20  to the mobile unit  21 . This type of compression algorithm will be used between the gateway  20  and the mobile unit  21  in further communications. While these protection/compression schemes allow the transmission of the information in a public packet oriented network with a lower bandwidth, the amount of processing time on each side will larger.  
         [0054]     In the preferred embodiment, the transmission of the data packets sent over the wireless network is managed by the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  on the gateway side and the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  on the mobile user side. The IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  23  and the IP/WIRELESS, WIRELESS/IP translator  29  check the transmission of the wireless packets over the wireless network. They command their respective radio transceiver in order to synchronize communication, send acknowledgements, request reception acknowledgements in the case that the acknowledgements are not received, save wireless packets if they cannot be immediately sent.  
         [0055]      FIG. 5  summarizes the action performed by the WIRELESS/IP, IP/WIRELESS translator  23  when receiving a wireless packet, in the preferred embodiment.  FIG. 6  summarizes the operation performed by the WIRELESS/IP, IP/WIRELESS translator  29  when receiving a TCP/IP packet.  
         [0056]     Another Embodiment of the System, Under a Microsoft Architecture  
         [0057]     Now referring to  FIG. 3 , the complete architecture of the system is disclosed. The TCP/IP application  60  is either a client application or a server application. These applications can use either Remote Procedure Call (RPC) or Winsock library (version 1.1 and 2.0). Wsock32.dll  61  is a library provided by Microsoft. This library allows a program which uses it to select a socket and to send data using either UDP or TCP protocol to an IP address. The socket emulation kernel level  62  creates the TCP/IP packet at the kernel level of the operating system. The Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS)  63  allows a high level of abstraction and portability under Microsoft Windows environment. In fact, more precisely, NDIS describes the interface by which one or more Network Interface Card (NIC) drivers communicates with one or more underlying network interface cards, with one or more overlying protocol drivers, and with the operating system. The invention is a network interface card which comprises a network manager  72  named RRDRV.sys and an executable application  73  named RRWIN32.exe. The network manager  72  comprises a miniport NDIS  64  which directly manages the network interface card  74 . The network manager  72  also comprises a driver part  66  and a buffer  65 . The network interface card  74  also comprises the executable application  73  which comprises a main thread  69 , a second thread  67  and a buffer  68 . The interface  70  allows the invention to be interfaced to a packet radio system  71 . The main thread  69  is responsible for compressing and encoding the packets. It is also responsible for sending the packets to the packet radio system  71  via the interface  70 . The second thread  67  is responsible for waiting for new packets that the NDIS  64  gives incoming traffic. More precisely, there are four types of communication between the executable application  73  and the network manager  72 .  
         [0058]     The first type of communication between the executable application  73  and the network manager  72  refers more precisely to a communication between the miniport NDIS  64  and the second thread  67 . The goal of this communication is to inform the second thread  67  of the arrival of a packet on the NDIS  64 . The second thread  67  does a connection to the NDIS using path  87 .  
         [0059]     The second type of communication between the executable application  73  and the network manager  72  refers more precisely to a communication between the driver  66  and the main thread  69 . The main thread  69  can send data to the driver  66  using data path  89 .  
         [0060]     The third type of communication between the executable application  73  and the network manager  72  refers more precisely to a communication between the driver part  66  of the network manager  72  and the second thread  67 . The second thread  67  can get data from the driver part  66  of the network manager  72  using data path  88 .  
         [0061]     The fourth type of communication is between the interface  70  and the main thread  69 . The main thread  69  sends information to the interface  70  using the data path  97 ; the main thread  69  received information from the interface  70  using the data path  98 .  
         [0062]     In order to allow communication between the miniport NDIS  64  and the driver part  66  of the network manager  72 , a buffer  65  stores temporary data. In the preferred embodiment, the buffer  65  comprises 500 single buffers of 2000 bytes length each. The buffer  65  communicates with the miniport NDIS  64  using data paths  83  and  84 . The buffer  65  communicates with the driver part  66  of the network manager  72  using data paths  85  and  86 .  
         [0063]     The main thread  69  can communicate with the second thread  67 . The main thread  69  does communicate with the radio system  71  via the interface  70 . The main thread can also send information to the driver part  66  of the network manager  72  using data path  89 .  
         [0064]     Now referring to  FIG. 4 , there is shown examples of the format of the packet that may be transferred. For example, a data portion  110  is shown. A TCP/IP packet comprising a TCP/IP header  111  and the data portion  110  is shown. A corresponding wireless packet having a wireless header  112  is also shown. The wireless header comprises a compressed data portion  113 . Another wireless packet having a data portion  100  and the wireless header  112  is shown. Alternatively, a wireless packet having the wireless header  112  and a portion  114  is also shown. Such embodiments shows that the data portion  110  may be compressed, in a wireless packet, left without any changes or encrypted as explained.  
         [0065]     When a data packet comes from the NDIS  63  to the miniport NDIS  64  using data path  81 , it is automatically stored into the buffer  65 . The second thread  67  of the executable application  73  is then warned that a data packet is ready to be processed and gets the data packet from the driver part  66  of the network manager  72  using path  88  and save it to buffer  68 . The second thread  67  then sends a message to the main thread  69 . The main thread  69  collects the data packet from buffer  68  of the network manager  72 . The main thread  69  transforms the data packet into a format suitable for the data radio system  71 . In another embodiment, the main thread  69  encrypts the data part of the TCP/IP packet for security and/or authentification purposes. In another embodiment, the main thread  69  compresses the data part of the TCP/IP packet. When the TCP/IP is entirely processed, the new packet is sent to the interface  70 . The interface  70  then sends the information to the radio system  71 .  
         [0066]     When a wireless packet is received in the radio system  71 , it is sent to the interface  70 . The main thread  69  then collects the wireless packet using data path  98 . The main thread  69  then deletes the wireless header. In another embodiment, the main thread  69  then decompresses the data of the wireless packet. In another embodiment, the main thread  69  then decrypts the data of the wireless packet. The main thread  69  then creates a TCP/IP packet with the data. This TCP/IP packet is sent to the driver part  66  of the network manager  72 . This TCP/IP packet is then sent to the buffer  65 . The NDIS  64  then retrieves the TCP/IP packet from the buffer  65  using data path  83 . The NDIS  64  can then send the TCP/IP packet to the NDIS  63 .  
         [0067]     The embodiments of the invention described above are intended to be exemplary only. The scope of the invention is therefore intended to be limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.