Patent ID: 7702357

Claim:
A network interface switching apparatus, comprising: a protocol stack for a given interconnection model configured for operation within a wireless device; a switch engine integrated into a data link layer of said protocol stack and configured to automatically select and establish a network connection session through one of a plurality of wireless network interface devices, an active interface device, associated with a mobile device while in response to said mobile device roaming among a plurality of wireless networks; and a bridge formed within said switch engine between said mobile device and at least two associated wireless network interface devices of different types; wherein said automatic selection is performed to allow said mobile device to provide seamless roaming between different types of wireless networks without closing and restarting the network connection session as established in a session layer above the data link layer; wherein said switch engine provides power management to shut down, or to place into standby, the wireless network interface devices which it determines are not the active interface device thereby managing power consumption.