Patent ID: 8825109

Claim:
A multi-mode communication device comprising: at least two network interfaces configured to enable the multi-mode communication device to communicate in at least two modes of communication; and a routing component configured to route application communications among the at least two network interfaces, said routing component configured using rules to select a particular network interface from among the at least two network interfaces, and, based upon a match between an Internet Protocol (IP) header in said application communications and an entry in the routing component, and said routing component configured to: select a first mode of communication from the at least two modes of communications in accordance with the rules to establish a connection for said application communications, configuring at least one of a routing table and a connection table to route the communications via the particular network interface in accordance with an evaluation of the rules; and reevaluate the rules for switching the first mode of communication to a second mode of communication of the at least two modes of communications, wherein, responsive to a particular network service requested, the first mode of communication is switched to the second mode of communication, reconfiguring at least one of the routing table and the connection table, and the connection re-established in response to receipt of a network-side originated request to switch the first mode of communication.