Wireless access using preexisting data connection

Wireless data access is provided for customers using a preexisting merchant data connection. An access point is used to communicate wirelessly with customer-owned or merchant-provided computing devices. The preexisting data communication link includes merchant-generated traffic, such as credit card authorization transactions or corporate electronic mail. A router is configured to combine customer-generated wireless traffic with the merchant-generated traffic and to transport the combined data over the preexisting data communication link. Further features, such as protocol conversion, are also provided.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless data communications, and more-particularly, to provisioning wireless access using existing data communication channels.

BACKGROUND

Consumers are adopting wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies rapidly. A variety of WLAN technologies have emerged to provide high data rate wireless network links (also known as Wi-Fi) that can be used to provide data connectivity for mobile computing. Typical consumer uses for WLANs include connecting to the Internet for browsing websites, for sending and receiving electronic mail, and for telephony applications.

As consumer demand grows for “always-on” Internet connectivity for mobile devices, conventional service providers, such as cellular telephony providers, are increasingly deploying networks of hotspots or places where a consumer can go to access the service provider's network and thereby connect to the Internet or other networked resources. Typically hotspots are located in places where consumers or travelers spend time, such as retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and airports. The service providers supply their own wide area connectivity for their customer's use.

One problem with conventional hotspot networks, however, is that many such networks are deployed. These networks largely lack interoperability from the consumer perspective. Although the underlying technology is the same or similar, customers of a first hotspot network typically cannot access the Internet or other resources on a second hotspot network. The hotspot networks generally charge a subscription fee for network access and only provide network services to their own subscribers.

Owners of the businesses where hotspots are located typically allow the service providers to install one or more WLAN access points to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to their customers. Although the plurality of hotspot networks may cause some consumer confusion and dissatisfaction, merchants generally recognize that hotspots have the potential to bring in additional business, which increases revenues without additional expenses.

Some merchants, however, may prefer to purchase their own wireless access points in order to control how wireless access is provided to their customers. One drawback to this approach is that the merchant typically needs to obtain additional data communication services from an Internet service provider to transport the customer's Wi-Fi data to the Internet. Although the merchant may be able to charge a fee for access, high speed or broadband data communication services can be expensive.

What is needed is a system and method for providing wireless access over a wide area data connection that is preexisting in the merchant's place of business. What is further needed is a system and method for controlling access to and generating revenue from the wireless access provided.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one aspect, wireless data access is provided for customers using a preexisting merchant data connection. An access point is used to communicate wirelessly with customer-owned or merchant-provided computing devices. The preexisting data communication link includes merchant-generated traffic, such as credit card authorization transactions or corporate electronic mail. A router is configured to combine customer-generated wireless traffic with the merchant-generated traffic and to transport the combined data to a network, such as the Internet, over the preexisting data communication link.

In another aspect, a wireless access point is configured to communicate customer-generated traffic and a business network is configured to communicate merchant-generated traffic. A router is configured to couple the wireless access point and the business network to a data communication link having a data transport capacity. The router includes a quality of service module for assigning priorities to the data packets. Priorities may be used to control the quantity or data throughput of the customer- or merchant-generated traffic. Because the data transport capacity or bandwidth is limited, the quality of service module can be used to ensure that customer-generated traffic does not prevent merchant-generated traffic, such as credit card authorization transactions, from reaching the network in a timely manner.

In a further aspect, the router includes a protocol conversion module. The protocol conversion module can convert or marshal inbound traffic into a format suitable for transmission on the network. For example, the merchant-generated traffic and the customer-generated traffic may be in different packet-based or circuit-switched formats. The protocol conversion module may buffer the inbound traffic and package the outbound traffic appropriately for the network.

Further features of the present disclosure, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure is now described more fully with reference to the accompanying figures, in which several embodiments are shown. The present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the invention to those skilled in the art.

A. System Overview

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a place of business or merchant site provides wireless Internet access for its customers. Merchants generally have preexisting data communication links that are used for business communications, such as corporate electronic mail or processing customer credit card transactions with a clearinghouse. In an embodiment, a merchant can implement a radio access network or wireless data interface for customer use on the preexisting data communication link. This advantageously provides customers with wireless Internet access while not requiring the use of additional, expense data links to an Internet service provider. The radio interfaces may use any suitable wireless data transmission technology, such as local area Ethernet protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth, and infrared.FIG. 1is a diagram illustrating an overall system configuration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The illustrated embodiment includes a merchant site100, a network170, a content server180, and an advertising database182. The merchant site100includes a computing device105, an access point120, a gateway125, an access ticket printer130, a first firewall132, a router135, a second firewall140, a switch145, a business network150, and a credit card processor155.

The computing device105may be a conventional customer-owned laptop computer, cellular radiotelephone, personal digital assistant, or a standalone kiosk or workstation that is provided by the merchant. The computing device105includes a wireless interface that associates with the access point120when the computing device105is located within the range of the access point120(e.g., inside of and near the merchant site100).

The access point120sends and receives customer-generated traffic over a wireless interface (e.g., radio frequency or infrared signals) and bridges the wireless interface to the coupled gateway125. The gateway125provides a wireline interface for the access point120. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the gateway120can function as an access concentrator for a plurality of access points, although singularly illustrated in the illustrated embodiment.

The gateway125may also provide access control features to control the customer's use of the wireless network. The gateway125can interface with an access ticket printer130, which can be used to generate or to display information that the customer needs to access the wireless network. Example information includes a randomly-generated login credential (e.g., a password) and an encryption key (e.g., a Wi-Fi protected access (WPA) key). The gateway125may also interface with the merchant's point-of-sale system to enable the merchant to more easily sell wireless access. In one embodiment, the merchant can bundle a predetermined amount of wireless access with other products or services. The predetermined amount may be based on several criteria, for example: the dollar amount or unit amount of the purchase, the time of day, and a given amount of time in minutes, hours, or days.

The gateway125also provides a portal web page or other user interface. The portal web page may provide customer-specific information, such as wireless access time remaining or advertisements. When the customer initiates a communications session, the portal web page may display a login screen. If access control features are enabled, the customer can then enter information from the access ticket to gain access to the wireless network. Additional detail on the display of advertisements is described below.

In the illustrated embodiment, an optional first firewall132is shown. The gateway125is coupled to and communicates with the first firewall132. The first firewall132is coupled to the router135. The first firewall132may be used to protect the wireless access users from intrusions from the network170. For example, packet inspection, traffic analysis, or network address translation features may be used to safeguard the computing device105from an attacker on the network170. Although the first firewall132may be used to enhance system security, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the gateway125may also be directly coupled to the router135.

The first firewall132may also be used to restrict customer-generated or outbound data from accessing the network170. In one embodiment, the first firewall132can prevent the computing device105from accessing the network170without receiving data from the network170in the portal user interface described below and with reference toFIG. 4. That is, the user of the computing device105may be required to view user content (e.g., Internet web pages) surrounded in whole or in part by advertising or other messages. The user content and advertisements may be blended into a single display page or user interface.

The router135is coupled to the network170via the preexisting data communication link137. The preexisting data communication link137is preexisting in the sense that it was originally deployed for corporate communication purposes, such as electronic mail or processing customer transactions with a credit card clearinghouse. The router135may include protocol conversion capabilities that are needed to interface the access point120with the network170. The router135is described in further detail below and with reference toFIG. 2.

The router135is also coupled to the second firewall140. The second firewall140protects the corporate portion of the network from the customer-generated traffic. That is, merchant-generated traffic passes through the second firewall140, but customer-generated traffic is blocked. This protects the merchant's corporate infrastructure from intrusion from customers or other unauthorized users.

The second firewall140is coupled to the switch145. The switch145may be used to connect a plurality of system entities to the merchant's network. In the illustrated embodiment, the business network150represents a plurality of computing devices or network entities that are part of the corporate infrastructure. The business network150may be a local or wide area network that transports data using a suitable protocol.

The credit card processor155is also coupled to the switch145. The credit card processor155is used to request authorization for customer credit card transactions from a service provider or clearinghouse. More specifically, the credit card processor155communicates with the clearinghouse by using the preexisting data communication link137that is coupled to the network170.

The network170may be a wide area circuit-switched or packet-based network, such as the Internet. In one embodiment, the network170transports data using Internet protocol packets. Elements of the business network150or the credit card processor155may communicate with the switch145or the router135in different protocol (e.g., Systems Network Architecture (SNA)). For example, the credit card processor155may use synchronous data link control (SDLC) to communicate with the router135. The router135, therefore, converts or marshals the data into Internet protocol format packets for transport on the network170.

The content server180is a conventional network server that is coupled to the network180. The content server180may be operated by the merchant or another entity. The content server180may be located in any suitable location including the merchant site100. The content server180is coupled to an advertising database182. The advertising database182includes a plurality of advertisements that can be displayed on the computing device105. The display format of the advertisements can be adjusted depending on the type of computing device105. For example, a laptop computer may have more screen area than a cellular radiotelephone or personal digital assistant.

In one embodiment, the gateway125requests advertising content from the content server180. The gateway125may monitor the domain name system (DNS) requests or other data that is present in the customer-generated traffic to present the customer with content-sensitive advertisements.

FIG. 2is a block diagram of a router according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The illustrated embodiment includes a processor210, a memory215, a protocol conversion module220, and a quality of service module225. The router135receives one or more inbound traffic channels and provides one or more outbound traffic channels. In the illustrated configuration, the processor210receives a first and a second inbound traffic channel and generates an outbound traffic channel that combines the first and the second traffic channels. The outbound traffic channel may be coupled to the network170.

The processor210is coupled to each of the memory215, the protocol conversion module220, and the quality of service module225. The processor210receives the first inbound traffic channel and assigns a priority to the data packets transported therein. For example, the first inbound traffic channel may represent merchant-generated traffic from the corporate infrastructure. This data may have a higher priority than customer-generated data. Higher priority may refer to data throughput speed as well as latency. More specifically, the preexisting data communication link137may have a predetermined data transport capacity or bandwidth (e.g., 1.55 Mbps). More high priority packets can be placed onto the outbound traffic channel than low priority packets to ensure that the higher priority packets achieve the desired transmission speed or latency requirements.

The quality of service module225is used to assign packet priorities. In one embodiment, packet priorities are assigned based on the traffic channel on which the packets arrived. Packet priorities may also be assigned based on other criteria, such as the application type. For example, credit card authorization data from the credit card processor155may be assigned the highest priority in order to ensure reliable and timely transmissions to and from the clearinghouse.

The memory215may include a routing table or other temporary data storage. In an embodiment, the memory215stores packets for inspection by the protocol conversion module220and the quality of service module225.

The protocol conversion module220converts data packets from the inbound traffic channels into a format suitable for transport on the network170. For example, the protocol conversion module220may encapsulate Ethernet or token ring frames into Internet protocol packets.

C. Wireless Access Method

FIG. 3illustrates a method for providing wireless access according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The illustrated method begins with obtaining305a data communication link that is connected to a network. The data communication link may be a data connection that is preexisting at the merchant site100. Example preexisting data communication links include those used for corporate communications, such as electronic mail and credit card transaction processing.

The method then prioritizes310customer-generated data and merchant-generated data. The customer-generated data includes the traffic flowing though the access point120. The merchant-generated data includes the traffic flowing from the business network150and the credit card processor155.

The method combines315the merchant- and customer-generated data flows in an output data flow that can be transported on the preexisting data communication link137. The combined traffic is routed320to the network170.

D. Portal Web Page

FIG. 4illustrates a portal user interface including advertising content according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The illustrated embodiment includes a portal user interface400. The portal user interface400includes one or more display frames for user content410, a first advertisement415, and a second advertisement420.

The advertisements415,420may include promotional items, news, search functions, or other topical content. In one embodiment, the advertisements415,420are bitmap images that are retrieved from the content server180. The content server180may provide different advertisements using various selection strategies, such as elapsed time, scheduled time, and host location. The merchant may also influence the advertisement selections.

The advertisements415,420may be arranged in any suitable configuration on the portal user interface400. For example, variations may be made in the dimensions of the advertisements415,420and the number of advertisements displayed. More specifically, with reference to the illustrated embodiment, the second advertisement420may extend substantially from the top to the bottom of the portal user interface400with a fixed or variable width. The dimensions or number of advertisements may be further dependent on the resolution or size of the display screen. For example, the width or height of the advertisements415,420may be varied such that the user content410occupies a proportional amount (e.g. 70%) of the area of the portal user interface400.

In one embodiment, the gateway125is responsible for inserting the advertisements415,420into the portal user interface400. The gateway125may insert merchant-generated advertisements (e.g.; current promotions) or request specific or general content from the content server180.

User content410displays the customer-generated traffic. That is, the user content410displays the Internet web site or other information that the user is accessing from the network170. The advertisements415,420may be content-sensitive and relate to the content that the user is requesting from the network170.

Having described embodiments of wireless access using preexisting data connection (which are intended to be illustrative and not limiting), it is noted that modifications and variations can be made by persons skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that changes may be made in the particular embodiments disclosed that are within the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims and equivalents.