Patent ID: 8184657

Claim:
An apparatus for providing increased transmission quality of service, comprising: a server configured with multiple transmitters collocated with said server, for transmitting packet data over multiple diverse transmission media along an entire path from the server to multiple receivers at a client; wherein said multiple transmitters are simultaneously and directly coupled to said multiple receivers through said multiple diverse transmission media; wherein said diverse media are subject to different forms of interference; means of detecting quality of service of said transmission; and means for transmitting packet data across said diverse transmission media and performing switching of said packet data with simultaneous transmissions across said multiple diverse media in response to changes in the detected quality of service; wherein said multiple diverse transmission media include both a wireless connection and a power-line connection; said server including programming executable on the server for: (a) selecting a default transmission medium, transmitting a packet or packet string over said default transmission medium, detecting error rate associated with transmitting the packet or packet string, continuing transmission if the error rate is within limits, optionally adjusting transmission rate if the error rate exceeds a first threshold, and changing the default transmission medium and continuing transmission if the error rate exceeds a second threshold or cannot be corrected by the change in transmission rate; or (b) transmitting a packet or packet string over multiple diverse transmission media, continuing transmission if errors do not exceed an error rate, altering distribution or media-time coding of packets between the diverse transmission media if errors exceed the error rate, and changing transmission rates to reduce error rates if sufficient errors arise after altering distribution or media-time coding of packets between the diverse transmission media.